Today was a swatching day! For today’s Advent Calendar, I drew Quin Violet (PV19). I previously did a three-way comparison of Quin Fuchsia (PR202), Bordeaux (PV32), and Quin Violet (PV19 beta). I no longer have Bordeaux, but I want to do some more comparing of PR202 and PV19b.
Color Mixes
In the assortment below, I’ve included some swatches I did previously; the ones I did today were the mixes with PBr24, PY110, Transparent Red Oxide, PR178, and PB15:3.
Lemon Yellow (PY175)
PR202 makes brownish-tans and QV makes blech grayish colors.
Naples Yellow Deep (PBr24)
PR202 mixes are warm and friendly; there is a mutedness to the PV19b mixes, though they are more brownish and not as intensely gray as the mixes with Lemon Yellow.
Isoindolinone Yellow Deep (PY110)
I like the PR202 mixes which make striking reds and oranges that are not super-bright, fire engine reds or pumpkin oranges, but are still intense and interesting. The PV19 mixes have more of a brown edge to them.
Transparent Orange (PO71 or PO107)
I used slightly different oranges for this, so maybe it’s not a fair comparison. PR202 mixes crimsons, and QV mixes cranberry reds.
Transparent Red Oxide (PR101)
Both of these do a cool thing of making quite a deep crimson with TRO. The orangeyness of the TRO balances the violet undertones to a warmer red, so the two mixes kind of end up in the same place.
Perylene Red (PR178)
Both make deep crimsons. It’s hard to scan, but I found the PV19 mixes got significantly darker.
Cerulean Blue (PB36)
These are very similar, granulating violets. The PV19’s seem to be slightly higher chroma.
Phthalo Blue Green Shade (PB15:3)
Both options make these lovely deep dark blues and violets with Phthalo Blue Green Shade; including Indanthrone Blue, Carbazole Violet, and Quin Purple hues.
Phthalo Turquoise (PB16)
Mixes are similar, but the Quin Violet mixes are moodier, which is to say, a bit lower chroma and easier to get dark.
Phthalo Green (PG7)
In this case, mixes are grayer with PR202 (which is more of a complement), and more violet and blue with Quin Violet.
Conclusion
Both of these colors are powerful mixers with the capability to make dark darks.
- PR202 mixes more vibrantly with yellow and orange, making intense red-orange hues the avoid the brownness that PV19 can make with yellows.
- PV19 mixes more vibrantly with green, making purples and blues that avoid the grayness that PR202 can bring to the mix.
- Both mix deep crimson with red.
- Both mix nice dark violets and deep blues with any Phthalo Blue.
Personally I tend to prefer warmer colors and for that reason I gravitate toward PR202. This is partially aesthetic and partially practical; I paint a lot of sunset skies where warm colors need to be warm, but I could use some help making violet cloud mixes more muted.