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This article is written by Michelle G. Brown 

I was SO excited to get my hands on a full set of Ranger’s Dina Wakely paints – all 12 of them, plus her black gesso. I just love seeing all of the colours together! Pretty as a rainbow.

I made sample swatches to see the colour and how opaque the paints are. Then I mixed each colour with the white from the range (about 1:1 ratio) and also with an acrylic glazing medium (also about 1:1 ratio) and added those to the swatch pages.

The names of the colours are:

Page One: White, Sky, Turquoise, Lapis and Night

Page Two: Yellow, Tangerine, Ruby, Magenta, Blackberry Violet

Page Three: Lime and Umber

As I knew I would most likely be drawing and writing over the paints (it IS “mixed media”, after all!) I tested three markers on the swatches:

– The Sharpie Meanstreak,

– the Sakura Permapaque White and

– my “Julie Prichard” Golden Black pen {Montana Marker with Golden Fluid Acrylic}

Most colours are fairly opaque and thick and luscious. When I was watching Dina playing with these paints at CHA 2014, she described them as “creamy” and I would have to agree.

Dina talked about choosing her favourite colours; some bright and some serious. And about the importance for having her paints in tubes to make them easier to apply and close the lids with one hand, as Dina lives in Arizona, where it gets HOT and paints dry out!!

In the wake of my inspiring week at Art Is You Melbourne, I wanted to continue to play my new Dina Wakely paints in the styles of the two artists I had taken classes with; two artist with two very styles styles.  And then I wanted to have a play in my own style. Here are the three canvases to show you the diversity of these paints.

Seth Apter Style

If you would like to learn more about Seth Apter’s painting, you can find him at The Altered Page.

Kecia Deveney Style

To learn more about Kecia, you’ll find her at Lemoncholoy’s Flight of Fancy.

Michelle’s Style

My full tutorial for this piece will be available soon!

What I like about the Dina Wakely paints:

– love the range of colours

– love their thickness and “open time” (longer drying time to allow blending)

What I don’t like about the Dina Wakely paints:

– my only gripe is not about the paints but the packaging: when these paints lie on the table, the back side of the label don’t show what colour it is. I found it frustrating to have to pick up a few tubes before I found the colour I was looking for. I’m sure this could be fixed by continuing the band of colour on the front of the label onto the back, making it easier to see which colour is which when they are all spread out.

– also I’d like a few more colour, especially a medium shade of green; the LIME is divine but I need a darker green too! And maybe a “nice” brown and beige!

Overall conclusion:

*LOVE* these paints and will continue to play with them, and most likely buy some more. I hope there will be more colours out too. They are a great quality paint for a reasonable price – I have bought [italic] them AND used [italic] them, so that’s a great endorsement from me! (Who will often buy expensive materials and then not use them for fear of “wasting” or “ruining” them!)

Happy creating,

Michelle

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Michelle G. Brown is passionate about mixed media art and enjoys sharing her knowledge and techniques with you to allow you to express your own creativity. Michelle understands that many of us have an inner need to create. By learning a few basic techniques the amazing world of mixed media art is accessible to everyone!

Michelle lives with her husband and two boys in Melbourne, Australia.

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