Watercolor Dirtbag
Transparent Red Oxide and Quinacridone Burnt Orange are both transparent, highly granulating earth oranges — alternatives to Burnt Sienna. Both can be mixed with Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150) to create a Quinacridone Gold hue. So what’s the difference between them, and why might you choose one over the other?
It’s the battle of the granulating earth oranges!
It’s no secret that my favorite earth yellow is Daniel Smith’s Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (PBr7). But I also like a yellow ochre; for example, Holbein’s Yellow Ochre (PY42). They’re so similar that I wouldn’t want to have both in my palette at the same time, so which should I choose? Which is better in which situation?
In analyzing my palette, one of the “gaps” I identified was a dark red to help me mix reddish browns and deepen my red and orange mixes, especially for autumnal paintings. There were a few options for this slot:
I’ve given Perylene Maroon a couple of shots and never really liked it, but I like both QBS and DS unmixed. They’re actually quite similar:
In terms of hue, Quin Burnt Scarlet is a bit browner and duller, and DS is a bit closer to a typical red-orange.
It’s hard to tell from the above because I made a concentrated effort to make a dark pasty mix on the leftmost square, but in general I also find it more difficult to get a dark tone from Quin Burnt Scarlet; the second square is more representative the darkest typical tone. The Deep Scarlet is very easy to get dark.
Both are transparent, staining, and non-granulating.
Since they’re really similar unmixed, which is better in mixes?
After swapping out options for a dark magenta last week, I found that I had stuck too close to home and chosen colors too similar to my primary magenta. So, today, I’m comparing my favorite of those options – Bordeaux (PV32) – with two strikingly dark purple colors: Perylene Violet (PV29) and Carbazole Violet (PV23).
I have two great options for a primary magenta, Quin Magenta (PR122) or Quin Rose (PV19), both of which are extremely bright but don’t get that dark. I like to have a way of making a dark version of each of my colors, but none of my usual ways of darkening magenta quite work for me.
Could a new pigment help?
Jane Blundell’s Ultimate Mixing Palette includes the highly granulating ochre Goethite Brown Oxide (PY43), with Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (PBr7) listed as an alternative. But what’s the difference between these two colors?
Phthalocyanine blue (PB15) is an incredibly intense, staining, transparent, non-granulating, lightfast pigment that comes in two versions:
(I’ll call them GS and RS in this post.)
What’s the difference, and which should you choose?
Sometimes two colors you like are so similar that it seems silly to have them both on your palette, but how do you choose which one to use? It’s like that for me with Quinacridone Rose (a pink made from the pigment PV19) and the color that I usually call Purple Magenta (PR122), which is also known as Quinacridone Lilac (in Daniel Smith) or Quinacridone Magenta (in Holbein and some other brands).