Color Spotlight: Deep Scarlet (PR175)

Daniel Smith – Deep Scarlet

A very transparent, deep, slightly muted orange-red.

Experiment Results

Gradient: I liked the overall handling of this color which dispersed easily and made a nice, glowing gradient from a deep, slightly textured barn red through to a light red. When it dried, though, I was disappointed to see that it had dried unevenly in masstone and the little bubbles dried without popping, creating a weird line of dots. I’ve never seen that before in another paint – usually any bubbles naturally pop before it dries.

Transparency: Transparent.

Glazing: Not the most dramatic glazing I’ve ever seen but it does glaze to a deep red similar to its masstone color.

Mix This Hue

I was able to get pretty close to a Deep Scarlet hue by mixing two Da Vinci colors: Alizarin Crimson (Quinacridone) and Burnt Sienna Deep.

Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone + Burnt Sienna Deep mix, compared to Deep Scarlet.

Comparison to Other Colors

Pyrrol Crimson

Compared to straightforward crimsons, like Daniel Smith’s Pyrrol Crimson, Deep Scarlet is more orange-toned and a bit more muted.

Deep Scarlet (left) vs Pyrrol Crimson (right)

Other Earth Reds (Quin Burnt Scarlet, Perylene Maroon)

On the spectrum of earth reds, it’s less orange than Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet (PR206), and more orange than Perylene Maroon (PR179).

From left: DS Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet, DS Deep Scarlet, Da Vinci Perylene Maroon

Color Mixes

Lemon Yellow

Lemon Yellow + Deep Scarlet
Winsor Lemon (PY175) + Deep Scarlet (PR175) on Arches

A range of oranges more muted than those you’d make from LY + Transparent Pyrrol Orange. I’m especially happy with the high-pigmented pumpkin.

Rich Green Gold

Rich Green Gold + Deep Scarlet
DV Green Gold (PY129) + DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) on Arches

I’m surprised by how nice I find this. I like the red-brown, which is sort of TRO hue.

Monte Amiata Natural Sienna

MANS + Deep Scarlet
DS Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (PBr7) + DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) on Arches

Nice glowing, yet slightly muted, corals

Transparent Pyrrol Orange

Transparent Pyrrol Orange + Deep Scarlet
DS Transparent Pyrrol Orange (PO71) + DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) on Arches

These are similar colors, so it’s a subtle grade, but you can see that the Deep Scarlet is a darker value and redder than the TPO. Deep Scarlet deepens the oranges to pumpkin shades (you can get a similar mix with Lemon Yellow).

Because Deep Scarlet is also orange-toned, these never quite get to a middle red.

Transparent Red Oxide

Deep Scarlet + Transparent Red Oxide
DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) + DS Transparent Red Oxide (PR101) on Arches

Quin Rose

Quin Rose + Deep Scarlet
DV Red Rose Deep (PV19) + DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) on Arches

Now, here is a combination that makes a middle red – a deep, crimson shade.

Indanthrone Blue

Deep Scarlet + Indanthrone
DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) + DS Indanthrone Blue (PB60) on Arches

I’m kind of digging these black cherry and blackberry shades.

Ultramarine Blue

Deep Scarlet + Ultramarine Blue
DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) + Holbein Ultramarine Deep (PB29) on Arches

Dark, deep blues and muted purples. Although the actual sunset sky rarely gets super red like this, there is something sunsetty about this gradient to me.

Cobalt Blue

Deep Scarlet + Cobalt Blue
DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) + DV Cobalt Blue (PB28) on Arches

Deep Scarlet and Cobalt Blue mute each other, but are not perfect complements – the mix is a grayish-purple rather than an even gray. I like this gradient, too.

Phthalo Blue Red Shade

Deep Scarlet + Phthalo Blue Red Shade
DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) + Holbein Phthalo Blue Red Shade (PB15:1) on Arches

Slightly purplish grays in the middle. Redder mixes are Perylene Violet-hued. Deep Scarlet mutes the blue.

Phthalo Blue Green Shade

Deep Scarlet + Phthalo Blue Green Shade
DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) + Holbein Phthalo Blue Green Shade (PB15:3) on Arches

More orangey mixes than the Phthalo Blue Red Shade. Kind of gray in the middle, but difficult to get balanced without slightly pink or slightly blue undertones.

Prussian Blue

DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) + HO Prussian Blue (PB27) on Wonder Forest paper

I found these grays so surprisingly realistically shadow-looking. Like they’re all slightly pinkish or bluish but it looks like real shadow more so than the PBGS mixes (in my opinion). Maybe because Prussian Blue is darker so the dark grays look more shadowy? IDK but I really like this combo.

Cobalt Turquoise

Deep Scarlet + Cobalt Turquoise
DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) + SH Cobalt Turquoise (PG50) on Arches

I find these mixes muddier, perhaps because of the opacity of the Cobalt Turquoise.

Phthalo Green

DV Phthalo Green (PG7) + DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) on Wonder Forest paper

You can get near-black with deep color here. However, they’re not complements; the middle tone is more of a cool brown than a gray.

Serpentine

Deep Scarlet + Serpentine
DS Deep Scarlet (PR175) + DS Serpentine Genuine on Arches

Better. The green turns the Deep Scarlet into red-browns, and the red turns the Serpentine into a brownish-yellow color. Dilute mix is a tan.

My Review

I initially found it difficult to find a palette role for this color; it’s too bright for an earth color but too muted for a bright. Of course, I am drawn to it as an earth color because I like things to be too bright.

When taking Liz Steel’s class, one of the exercises was to make a “master palette” included all the mixed colors (e.g. how to mix red, orange, yellow, etc. with your palette, even if you don’t have a specific paint for each shade), and that included dark versions of each one. After messing around with a few things, I found Deep Scarlet useful for mixing the dark versions of warm colors like orange and red.

On my palette? Currently trying this one out on my main palette!

Favorite version: Daniel Smith is the only company I know of that offers a PR175.

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