Shiva Casein Colors

Comments about Shiva Casein Colors:

Used to use caseins exclusively. Last few years have used pen/brush and colored India Inks as my main medium. Realizing how much I miss caseins, I have returned to to my old favorite.

Comments about Shiva Casein Colors:

After reading one reviewer's mention of a strong perfume smell to this product, I just bought a single tube of white to try it out. Wow, is it ever powerful! I love how creamy the paint is and how well it covers, but unfortunately, the strong perfume scent will prevent me from ever being able to use it, which is a shame. It's so much more affordable than gouache. :( I would only recommend it with the proviso that it is very strongly perfumed, which some of us cannot tolerate.

Comments about Shiva Casein Colors:

i use them for plein air painting then glaze with oil or just varnish at home.

Comments about Shiva Casein Colors:

I've used acrylics, powdered pigment with liquid acrylic, oils, oil pastels with thinner, chalk pastels...oh, everything you can think of on every surface over the past 50 years of painting. Casein is an almost unheard-of paint that is far better than anything else. The texture is sooooo smooth, and you can make it lay on the brush for everything from fine lines to large swaths.
I started off using an egg tempera recipe given to me by William Cumming, passed to him by Guy Anderson. But because I have MS, I try to limit my exposure to toxins. So I changed to mixing in Elmer's glue with water - it acts as a perfect, non-toxic binder.
If you don't want the plastic feel of acrylic, or the harsh chemicals of oils, try Casein.

Comments about Shiva Casein Colors:

If you are an oil painter, casein is very useful for underpaintings, it dries fast and is permanent. I used to underpaint with acrlylics, but I have read that oil might not stick to it as well as it stick to casein paint.

Comments about Shiva Casein Colors:

I've been using Shiva casein paints for years. They are an excellent consistent product. Easy to use and long lasting.

Comments about Shiva Casein Colors:

These casein paints perform the way I thought they would; but the mixable colors are better than I hoped. I find the variety of thick and thin options and the texture of the paint really work for me.

Comments about Shiva Casein Colors:

The paints are easy to work with.

Comments about Shiva Casein Colors:

I am new to casein, having read a ton prior to trying. Water based without the need for solvents. Shiva colors are wonderful in depth and hue, easy to work with (I prefer oil painting brushes over acrylics for this medium) and mix very well. Blick's service and packing was great! I am very pleased, and will be ordering more Shiva in the future. I have heard interesting things about their half-black, and I wish I had ordered the bigger tube of the titanium white.

Comments about Shiva Casein Colors:

I purchased a limited pallet of colors (About 6 tubes) on these paints because I wanted to give them a try. I find them an intriguing medium to work with because they have similar working properties to Gouache and somewhat to Oils but they dry super fast. I wanted to try experimenting with these as an under-painting for oils. I started out using these on a board which did not yield the best result I found, and I think this may have been my fault due to the type board I chose to start working with. However when I tried these on a canvas board that was formulated for water-media I got much better results. So as of this review the jury is still out with me as I have a lot more experimenting to do but I believe these paints do offer a lot of promise for future works.