Table of Contents
Review Snapshot: Quick Verdict
The Pros
- Highly Pigmented Paints: Rockwell watercolors deliver strong color with just a small amount of paint, while wetting easily and mixing beautifully.
- Beautiful Granulation: The paints create effortless granulation effects and flow smoothly across the paper.
- Exceptional Paper: Cold-pressed, 100% cotton Baohong paper provides a smooth painting surface and handles granulation and paint flow beautifully.
- Quality Brushes: The Fuumuui brushes hold plenty of paint and water while maintaining an excellent point for controlled brushwork.
- A Complete Painting Experience: The paints, paper, brushes, and masking tape work seamlessly together as a thoughtfully selected watercolor set.
Things to Note
- Primary Colors Only: The set focuses on Chinese Red, Primary Yellow, and Prussian Blue, so color mixing is an important part of the painting process.
- Strong Pigmentation: The Rockwell paints are highly concentrated, so a little goes a long way and may take some getting used to if you're new to heavily pigmented watercolors.
Don’t you just love it when the postman delivers a surprise package—especially when it’s from Fuumuui?
Without delay (aside from grabbing my coffee), I headed upstairs to the studio, closely followed by Alfie, our pug, who was desperately hoping it was a treat delivery for him!
I cleared a space on my desk and started to unwrap the package. Inside was a boxed set I had only heard rumours about, and I honestly wasn't expecting to get my hands on one. (You'll soon find out why!)
It was the fabled watercolour collaboration between Fuumuui, Rockwell Art Supplies, and Baohong Paper, and I was completely unprepared for what was inside.
What's in the Box?
- Baohong Watercolour Paper: A packet of cold-pressed, 100% cotton archival paper resting right on top.
- Rockwell Paints: A box containing three 15ml tubes of paint safely nestled in foam.
- Rockwell Masking Tape: A roll of high-quality tape to secure your work.
- Fuumuui Brushes: Four stunning brushes, including one squirrel hair brush and three sable brushes.
The presentation and packaging are first-class. Every item in this set is carefully selected to provide a painting experience like no other.
Facing My Fears: The Primary Challenge
I’ll be completely honest: this set initially scared me because it only has primary colours. Being colourblind, my first thought was, "What on earth am I going to paint?! I'm going to have to colour mix!"
With no other choice, I had to face my fears and mix colours using Chinese Red, Primary Yellow, and Prussian Blue.
After cleaning the Fuumuui brushes, squeezing the colours into magnetic half pans, and securing the Baohong paper down with the Rockwell masking tape, I was finally ready to paint.
I sprayed the paper with water and let it soak in a little. I was so looking forward to trying this paper, which I had heard so much about—and the texture looked amazing. (Spoiler alert: this is now one of my go-to papers!)
Putting the Supplies to the Test
The plan was simple: have fun and let the magic of watercolour shine through.
I wet my brush, loaded it with the Rockwell paint from the pan, and laid a wash across the paper in a single stroke. At that exact moment, I realised just how highly pigmented Rockwell paints are; a little goes a very, very long way.
Since I had never used Rockwell watercolours before, I loved experimenting and learning how they behave. As I laid down further washes, mountains appeared like magic. These paints are so heavily pigmented that one tube will last for years, they wet easily, flow like a dream, create effortless granulation effects, and mix beautifully. Honestly, I completely forgot about my colour blindness because I was having so much fun!
I can see why the Baohong paper was included in this collaboration box set; it was an absolute joy to paint on. There was nothing I did not like about it. It seemed to know how I wanted the paint to granulate and flow, and the colours dried beautifully smooth on it.
The Fuumuui Brushes: A Joy to Paint With
The set includes four watercolor brush sizes (4, 8, 10, and 14) from the Fuumuui Ultimate collection range. They were an absolute joy to paint with. These brushes hold so much paint and water that I actually had to keep drying my brush!
Well-balanced and holding an amazing point, they completely outperformed my expectations. They are truly excellent quality and have earned a permanent spot in my studio collection.
My Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed testing this incredible watercolor set. What an awesome collaboration where every single product is a winner. I can't overstate how much I enjoyed testing all of these products together—it really is pure alchemy.
A massive thank you to Fuumuui, Rockwell Art, and Baohong for sending me this groundbreaking set to test, and for helping me conquer my fear of colour mixing!
