Happy May everyone! So much happened because Liu Yi’s masterclass has suddenly been rescheduled this year. The masterclass will be covered in the next blog post because a supplies review is easier to write. For context, laoshi gave me this set that he collaborated with Paul Ruben’s. He even signed the front of the box for keepsakes. Thank you friends and peers for the help!
Inside the Box
The box comes with a large pink mixing palette, 24 8ml tubes of watercolor paints and a product brochure containing the list of all of its available colors plus their pigment codes. Scanning the barcode on the brochure leads you to their website.
The mixing palette comes with 24 wells to accommodate each color in the set and another separate plate for extra mixing space. This a generous amount of surface area to blend all sorts of colors.
The Colors / Paints
Liu Yi said that the quality of Paul Rubens is in par with Winsor and Newton and I must say it did not disappoint. The tubes contain important information such as pigment code, transparency, and lightfastness. Most of the paints are single color pigments and have a robust consistency with beautiful transparency and intensity. (See photo for color chart and listed pigments.) For an Asian brand, I appreciate that it is transparent with their pigments and follows the western standard closely. It is a good thing especially for those are used to the western art system.
Since this set was given to me, I cannot comment much on the price point. I have googled this product and to be honest it is difficult to find it. The closest I could find was on Aliexpress and it sells for around 170 Singaporean dollars. I think it might cheaper since Liu Yi said that it is fairly new in the market and is not yet totally out especially in the international market.
Thank you for reading!
Penny Tan 
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