🎨 St. Petersburg White Nights – Extra Fine Watercolors Dot Card, 105 Colors

🎨 White Nights Watercolors

Everything you want to know before (and after) you paint

🕰️ How long have White Nights watercolors existed?

The tradition of fine art paint making in Saint Petersburg dates back to the 19th century.
The company now known as Nevskaya Palitra was officially founded in 1934, continuing a long-standing craftsmanship in artist materials.

St. Petersburg White Nights watercolors represent the modern evolution of this tradition.

🇷🇺 Where are White Nights watercolors made today?

White Nights watercolors are produced exclusively in Russia, in Saint Petersburg, at the historic Nevskaya Palitra factory.

All stages of production are handled in-house, ensuring consistent quality and reliability.

🎨 Are White Nights artist-grade watercolors?

Yes. White Nights are artist-grade watercolors, used by professional artists, illustrators and fine art schools worldwide.

🍯 Why do they contain gum arabic and honey?

Gum arabic is the traditional watercolor binder, ensuring proper adhesion to paper.
Honey helps improve:

• smooth, controlled flow
• easier rewetting
• luminous washes

This combination gives White Nights their characteristic soft handling.

💧 Do they rewet easily once dry?

Yes. Especially in full pan form, White Nights watercolors rewet easily with water and regain their color strength quickly.

🎯 What does single-pigment mean and why does it matter?

Single-pigment colors contain only one pigment, offering:

• cleaner color mixes
• better tonal control
• more predictable results

Many White Nights colors are single-pigment, depending on the set.

🌈 Do they mix well?

Yes. Their balanced formulation and high pigment concentration allow for smooth, clean color mixing.

☀️ Are they lightfast?

White Nights watercolors offer good to very good lightfastness, depending on the pigment.
As with all professional watercolors, lightfastness varies by color.

🧳 Full pans or tubes – which should I choose?

It depends on your painting style:

• Full pans: travel, urban sketching, controlled use
• Tubes: larger washes and studio work

Paint quality is the same in both formats.

🎒 Are White Nights suitable for beginners?

Yes. They are an excellent choice for beginners looking for artist-quality watercolors at a reasonable price.

🌙 Why are they called “White Nights”?

The name refers to the famous White Nights of Saint Petersburg, when summer daylight lasts almost through the night, reflecting the brightness of the colors.

How to properly use watercolor Dot Cards

Dot Cards are not just color samples. They are real watercolor paint, dried onto paper, and they function like a compact testing laboratory. Everything you see there—intensity, transparency, granulation, behavior in water—is exactly what you will get from the tube.

Using them correctly starts simply. Lightly wet your brush, gently touch the dot, and let the color activate on its own. Do not rub or press. The paint needs a little time to “wake up,” just as it does on a palette.

Instead of limiting yourself to simple swatches, try different applications: a diluted wash, a more concentrated stroke, wet-on-dry and wet-on-wet. That is where you will see how the pigment moves, whether it granulates, how much it stains the paper, and how it behaves in layers.

Dot Cards are also ideal for mixing. You can test combinations, understand whether two colors harmonize or turn muddy, and explore warm and cool relationships without commitment. Even better, use them for small sketches—a leaf, a cloud, a shadow. At such a small scale, you immediately understand whether a color truly suits you.

The main reason Dot Cards are so useful is that they help you choose consciously. You are not relying on photos or names. You see how the color works on your own paper, with your own brush, and in your own way.

Keep them as a reference archive. Note impressions, mixes, techniques. Over time, you will build a personal color journal that is more valuable than any ready-made chart.

Dot Cards are not demos. They are education in miniature. And when used correctly, they change the way you choose and think about color.