The Bottom Line
Winsor & Newton's Galeria brand is an affordable or student's grade of paint rather than top artist's quality, but it's not a "cheap 'n nasty" paint. It's a versatile paint with good strength in its range of colors, that mixes to make new colors adequately, works easily, and doesn't put too huge a dent in your budget.
Galeria is a good choice when money is a real consideration or you want to experiment without feeling you're wasting paint.
Pros
- Relatively affordable acrylic paint with good color range, available in tubes or tubs.
- Affordable enough for painting huge canvases or experimenting with effects
- May be a student's grade paint, but levels of pigment give strong covering power and adequate mixing
- Spreads and mixes easily; can be used with other brands of acrylics
Cons
- Not going to find more expensive pigments in the color range
- Be sure to note which colors are tints, hues, or mixtures, and which are single, original pigments
- Consistency is on the soft side of buttery (think "room temperature butter")
Description
- 60 colors available (view Galeria color chart)
- All colors available in 60ml metal tubes, 120ml plastic tubes and 250ml or 500ml bottles. 35 colors in 200ml metal tubes.
- 25 colors available in liter containers. Mars black and titanium white available in 2.5 liter buckets.
- Colors are graded as opaque, semi-opaque, transparent, or semi-transparent, indicated on the label. Dries to a satin finish.
Guide Review - Acrylic Paint Review: Winsor & Newton Galeria Flow Formula Acrylics
I'm a great believer in using top-quality artist's paints because the intensity of color of these, and the results you get from color mixing, are unbeatable. But, realistically, it can be inhibiting to work with expensive paints if you're worrying you're going to be wasting it, in which case a good student's grade paint is actually better.
But like with all paint, you still need to be picky about which student's grade paint you use. What you don't want is a paint with only a little pigment and lots of cheap filler.
The colors in Winsor & Newton's Galeria Acrylics have good intensity and covering power, and while they don't produce as saturated color mixes as W&N's artist's range, the results are adequate.
You'll see some colors in its range are "hues" meaning they've used alternative pigments to create traditional colors e.g. cadmium yellow hue. Also, check the labels (or this color chart) for colors that are tints -- these are already mixed with white -- or are mixtures of pigments. You're generally better off buying an untinted color and mixing in your own white. Not all the colors are priced the same; again, check the label to see if it's a Series 1 or 2 color.
If you want to be using a thick paint, you will need to add a texture medium to Galeria for extra body, because its consistency is on the soft side of buttery (it's marketed as "free-flowing"). That, of course, makes it easy to thin down for glazing.
I sometimes use Galeria as a base color when I'm working on a enormous canvas, and to block in the initial shapes. I've also done complete paintings in Galeria (this Venice cityscape is one of them). It's a good paint for experimenting without worrying about wasting paint, for trying things out, and for learning to paint. It's also an affordable choice for teaching students.
