Gamblin Artist's Oil 37ml Venetian Red

There are nothing like cobalt colors. If all you care about is the hue/color of a pant, chances are you are a novice, and there is no need to spend a ton of money on Cobalts. Stick with Pthalos. But at some point you are going to learn that saturation and value is as important or more than the hue of a color. Plus, at that point you will find that the maneuverability of that pigment is paramount to creating good art. It's all about control. Creating oil paintings is like creating a series of magic tricks on canvas. It may be beneficial to use a dye like pthalo to learn on, but in time, the former explained above will come into play. Also, pthalo colors are just a mess. Also they can easily move all over your art and ruin it. They get everywhere, and if you are like me, you will drag them in to your home and ruin your floors and furniture. Cobalts go exactly where you put them. However, if you have kids that can get to them, or you like to sand, stick to pthalo. Cobalts, cadmiums, and other heavy metals can be deadly when airborne. Even the binder of all the paints can be deadly if you sand them and you breath them in. Use a p100 mask or better if you choose to sand. still, as soon as you become a good enough painter that you can keep most of the paint on the canvas, and not on your body, I would suggest at least adding cobalts to your palette next to your pthalos. It's like learning to drive on a pinto, and switching to a Lamborghini/cobalts...it's like night and day. As for Gamblin, they create some great paint, and at a fair price. Five stars. The only thing I do not care for are the caps. They are hard to close.

For those who work with Gamblin paints you're already aware of the great quality for both students and professional painters. For those wanting to try Gamblin out for their first time I highly recommend them. Their paints have great pigmentation and no unnecessary fillers or additives. These definitely rank among the top high quality paint brands to work with, most of my paints are Gamblin and I don't see that changing anytime soon.