Winsor and Newton!!! The professional grade and not Cotman. Most, most 
depressing. It's happened on multiple tubes and is most disconcerting to 
find about 1/8 to 1/4 of tube contents just gum arabic.

Cheers,
Patricia Savage
816 Valerie Dr.
Raleigh, NC 27606
www.psavageartist.com
[log in to unmask]
919-859-2789




Kathleen Garness wrote:
> Consie: I second what Patricia says; just scrape it off the top of the 
> tube until you get down to good pigment.
>
> A complaint to the manufacturer isn't much use since they're all huge 
> corporations within larger corporations nowadays. : / But that's worth 
> a try if you have the time. Sometimes they'll send you a new tube just 
> to keep you as a customer. I've had mixed results with that approach. 
> Or you can return it to the store and ask for a replacement! : )
>
> Patricia, what brands are your students using that you're finding this 
> problem in?
>
> Kathy G
>
>
> On Mar 24, 2010, at 2:04 PM, Patricia Savage wrote:
>
>> The yellowish goo is gum arabic. Manufacturers frequently add too 
>> much because it's cheaper than the cost of the pigment. Some pigments 
>> are heavier and require extra gum arabic to aid in their flow, so you 
>> come to expect a couple of extra drops in the top of that particular 
>> kind.
>>
>> I usually squirt the gum out and add a large dollop of pigment and 
>> then mix them together, which leaves me with a too large area of 
>> paint on my palette. Recently I have found that some of my student's 
>> pigments contain too much arabic and never really dry. They stay sort 
>> of liquidy and a tad runny.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Patricia Savage
>> 816 Valerie Dr.
>> Raleigh, NC 27606
>> www.psavageartist.com
>> [log in to unmask]
>> 919-859-2789
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Consie Powell wrote:
>>> What do other folks do in this situation? I have just gotten some 
>>> new tubes of paint (the particular ones are gouache, of very good 
>>> quality, but this has happend with transparent watercolor too...) 
>>> and a few of them are exhibiting a situation I've had happen before. 
>>> When I go to squeeze paint onto the palette for the first time, out 
>>> first comes a runny squirt of often yellowish goo, which I presume 
>>> is gum arabic. Often it is mixed somewhat with the pigment, but is 
>>> way more dilute than the pigment is supposed to be. Often I can tell 
>>> that this is the case when I first open the tube, as I can see it. 
>>> What do others of you do when this happens? (I'm presuming I'm not 
>>> the only one who has seen this...)
>>>
>>> thanks.....Consie
>>>
>>
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>
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