Occasionally I come across color mixes that look like “perylene violet” to me. I’m also not the biggest fan of the paint, so I’m motivated to find a way to replace it. Here are some color mixes I’ve tired to emulate a Perylene Violet hue.
In the upper left is Daniel Smith’s Perylene Violet. From there:
- DS Naphthamide Maroon + a hint of DS Phthalo Blue Green Shade: A very close match. Naphthamide Maroon already looks a lot like Perylene Violet, but slightly warmer. I think I could had added even more blue here.
- Holbein Pyrrol Rubin (PR264) + Holbein Indigo: A reasonably close match though both of these colors are ones I’m on the fence about having in my palette because PR264 is said to be low end of lightfast and Indigo is a complex mix with black.
- Holbein Pyrrol Red (PR254) + WN Phthalo Turquoise: A bit too blue, needs more warm tones. Similar chroma and value range.
- Dioxazine Violet + Indian Red: Unable to get dark tones; color-separating.
- Bordeaux (PV32) + Phthalo Green BS (PG7): Much too blue/violet and saturated.
Here’s another round of mixes.
- HO Perylene Maroon (PR179) + HO Quin Violet (PV19): A much warmer, rosier color that I actually like a lot better.
- HO Pyrrol Red (PR254) + HO Phthalo Blue RS (PB15): A bit too blue; adding more red made it more gray.
- DS Indanthrone Blue (PB60) + HO Pyrrol Red (PR254): Also bluer.
- DS Indanthrone Blue (PB60) + HO Perylene Maroon (PR179): Too brown.
- DS Carbazole Violet (PV23) + HO Perylene Maroon (PR179): One of the closest mixes, in terms of both hue and handling!
This set of mixes was added 6 months later, in September 2024. In this case, I used Schmincke Perylene Violet for the comparison, which is slightly bluer-toned than the DS version above.
- DS Perylene Red (PR178) + DS Indanthrone Blue (PB60): This is the closest match I think of all! It’s actually a bit warmer than the SH PV29 comparison, but I think it is an even closer match for the DS one.
- Opus (Da Vinci) Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone (PV19) + DS Indanthrone Blue (PB60): a bit too vibrant
- Maimeri Blue Sepia (PY164) + DS Quinacridone Magenta (PR202): Decent match, a bit too vibrant, but gets that nice blend of violet and brown
- Opus (Da Vinci) Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone (PV19) + Prussian Blue (PB27): too vibrant and violet
Winners
The closest mixes were:
- Naphthamide Maroon + Phthalo Blue. Naphthamide Maroon is already very close.
- Perylene Maroon + Dioxazine Violet. Very similar handling.
- Perylene Red + Indanthrone Blue. This is my favorite in terms of both of these colors being independently useful in my palette. I also like the versatile way you can use both components to tilt the mix warmer or cooler.
Here’s a closer look at my favorite mix, Perylene Red + Indanthrone Blue.
Here’s an example sketch using these two colors to make a dark red.
