Hi, friends! I live in Ontario, and see Mont Marte art supplies at HomeSense, Winners and Marshalls all the time. For the most part, they are not anything to write home about; you generally get what you pay for. However, as a watercolourist who wants to try out gouache, I didn’t want to splurge on a professional set yet. So when I saw this Mont Marte gouache set for CAD$5.99, I bought it without thinking, though I did not expect it to be good.
By the way, I didn’t swatch these because they look identical to the printed swatches on the back of the box. For your information, even though the finish was described as semi-matte, it was matte. In addition, Mont Marte gouache was made in China.
Let’s Make Art “The Witching Hour Gouache Box” projects
I painted “Dancing Ghosts” with Mont Marte Gouache first, and did a second painting with Japanese brand Holbein for comparison purposes. If you wish to read my Holbein gouache review, please click here. I painted these projects on Let’s Make Art cold pressed wood pulp paper.
To be honest, I didn’t feel or see much of a difference between the two. Mont Marte gouache was just as creamy laying down and dried to a matte finish just the same. As for opacity, both could be thinned out to half opaque.
Next, I painted the Jack-o’-Lantern project with Mont Marte gouache. I was able to mix a shade identical to Holbein’s Brilliant Orange with Lemon Yellow and Vermilion. In addition, the black from Mont Marte has a slightly more semi-matte finish than Holbein’s, which was the only difference I can spot.
Overall Mont Marte Gouache Review
As a gouache beginner, I enjoyed painting with Mont Marte gouache as much as I did Holbein! It was a pleasant surprise to spend just CAD$5.99 on a set of twelve 12ml tubes, for the price of one 5ml Holbein tube. For this budget price, the gouache even came with pigment and lightfastness information.
Mont Marte gouache was creamy, easy to blend and dried to a mostly matte finish, no different from Holbein. If you are a beginner who wants to try out gouache, I wholeheartedly recommend Mont Marte gouache.
At the time of this review, I still see Mont Marte gouache sold at Winners, HomeSense and Marshalls in Ontario for CAD$5.99 (plus taxes). If you must get one discount art supply there this is a very good find. 🙂
2 Comments
Hey! Thank you for sharing the review. I was wondering what was the quality like!
Thank you, Vivian! It was surprising to me too, I did not expect it to be half decent. 😛