Watercolor Dirtbag
This classic granulating violet pigment, originally synthesized in 1859, was beloved of Monet for his Water Lilies paintings. Pigment Stats Pigment Number: PV14 Chemical Name: Cobalt phosphate Toxicity: Toxic. Gets a B at ArtisCreation, the same rating as other cobalts. Requires a Prop 65 warning in California. Lightfastness: ASTM I (Excellent). Observations of WN Cobalt … Read more
PY164 is a rare brown pigment offered by few manufacturers. Although I have only tried MaimeriBlu’s version, I went with the Roman Szmal name, Manganese Brown, for this post, because I think is a more specific and accurate way to describe this pigment. Most brands use the word ‘Sepia’ to mean a mix of PBr7 and black.
DS New Gamboge is one of the first colors I ever tried since it’s in the Daniel Smith Essentials starter set. I did previously make a Color Spotlight of it but I shifted the page to be about PY110, one of its components, when I got on a single pigment kick. But I’ve decided to separate it out again, since it serves a slightly different palette role than either of its components and I think it deserves separate consideration once more. I’m come full circle!
PR101 is a multipersonality pigment that is typically used to create earth reds (e.g. Indian Red) or earth orange burnt sienna alternatives (e.g. Transparent Red Oxide), sometimes even earth violets (e.g. Caput Mortuum Violet). This paint by MaimeriBlu is the only time I’ve seen it used to create a straightahead brown. Of the typical three PR101 offerings, it is most similar to the earth violets, but it is different enough in palette role (a neutral brown/burnt umber alternative) that I decided to make it its own Color Spotlight entry.
Welcome to the comeback Color Spotlights! I posted new Color Spotlights every Saturday for two years (January 2022-March 2024), but I thought I’d finished about six months ago when I kind of ran out new paints to try. (It’s not like I’ve tried every brand of every pigment, but I had sampled enough that new colors were becoming increasingly a reach.) But this month, I’m cleaning up a few more unusual or forgotten colors, and I have new Color Spotlights going up every Saturday in October!
PY97 is an odd one for me to have missed, since it’s such a normal color: a straight-ahead middle yellow, and the most basic primary yellow Daniel Smith has to offer!
Strontium Violet is a low-strength, granulating, cool violet similar to Ultramarine Violet (PV15). I tried Schmincke Horadam’s version, which I realized was called “Cobalt Violet Hue” after already writing “Strontium Violet” (the Roman Szmal name and closer to the generic pigment name). PV62 Pigment Characteristics Pigment Name: Strontium Phosphate Violet Chemical Formula: Sr5(PO4)3Cu0.3O Chemical Components … Read more
I got this mineral color in an earth trio set from small batch handmade paint company Greenleaf and Blueberry; the other colors were Yellow Ochre (PY43) and Red Ochre (PR102). This expensive, soft blue-grey mineral has been used as a pigment since Roman times and is found in the work of Vermeer. My handwritten notes: … Read more
I originally had this on the page with Yellow Ochre, but I decided it had a different enough hue to merit its own Color Spotlight. Much more orange than a traditional Yellow Ochre, this is a useful color for autumn.
This is a unique mineral color made by the small paint company Greenleaf & Blueberry! It’s a granulating warm-leaning neutral gray.
Lamp Black is most likely the basic black you’d get in a set. It’s an opaque black made from carbon, so it’s very very black. PBk6 Pigment Stats Pigment Description: Carbon Black Lightfastness: Excellent (ASTM I) per ArtIsCreation Toxicity: Non-toxic (A) per ArtIsCreation Staining: Heavy staining My Observations of Da Vinci Lamp Black Tinting Strength: … Read more