I was so fortunate to receive a gift of Williamsburg Handmade Oil Paints from Karen this year. For those of you who don’t know, Williamsburg Paints were acquired by, and now owned and sold by Golden Paints, upon the untimely death of its founder Carl Planksy . And it just so happens that Golden Paints is within 30 minutes of where I currently live in New york, in New Berlin NY. Golden paints is a truly awe inspiring company. Before I moved to New York and realized that Golden Paints was in fact a local company, I had written them off as large conglomerate who penned the name Golden as a marketing “brand.” I was pleasantly surprised that that the son of the founder of this company Mark Golden and along with his wife Barbara and family manage this almost entirely employee owned company. Last time Karen came to New York we got a tour of the factory by none other than Barb Golden. And when they say “Handmade” they are indeed. Touring Golden Paints was like an artists version of getting the “golden ticket” to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory. Aside from this personal connection I now feel to this place and the people of this company, the paint itself is amazing- rich and very well suited to my style of painting.