The ultimate test of whether I like granulation now: do I like this color that is basically just granulation?
I do!
Experiment Results
Gradient: After being prepared for the worst, I was able to get more color than I thought from this infamously low-tinting-strength color. Whether it’s a nice color is a matter of debate. It’s sort of a weird dusty rose. Highly granulating throughout.
Opacity: Transparent and, oddly, the pigment seemed to retract from the (dry) ink of the black bar! What? It’s like, 200% transparent.
Glaze: Nice glaze to a deeper pink.
Lightfastness Test
No difference whatsoever.
Comparison to Other Brands
Winsor & Newton – Potter’s Pink
Really similar to MaimeriBlu in color, granulation level, and tinting strength. The main difference I can observe is that it dilutes to a peachy color instead of clear. (I also had a lot more trouble glazing it, but that could be user error.)
Color Mixes
Monte Amiata Natural Sienna
Warm, granulating siennas to pinks. The MANS warms up the Potter’s Pink and the Potter’s Pink adds granulation and orange tones to the MANS.
Quinacridone Coral
The mix of muted and bold in this combo seems really awkward to me.
Ultramarine Blue
Potter’s Pink floats over the Ultramarine, creating a separated mix that gives the overall impression of a muted lavender. A good sunset cloud mix.
Cobalt Blue
A similar mix to Ultramarine, but a bit more muted and less purpley.
Cerulean Blue
Somehow less gray than the Cobalt even though Cerulean is more green; they just remain so separated that it always give the impression of different colors.
Cobalt Turquoise
Super-granulating gray/pink/green mixes where the Cobalt Turquoise and Potter’s Pink duke it out to float on top! I’m not sure where I’d use this mix, but it’s one of the more interesting possible “grays.”
What Others Say
It has a weak tinting strength in mixes, which most people often regard as a reason not to include it on a palette. However, Potter’s Pink’s strength is not in its intensity, but its granulation. Artists who use Potter’s Pink often note that it’s a great color for muting other colors while adding granulation, and for use in things such as Italian architecture, Scottish greenery, brick red buildings, and skin tones.
Denise Soden, “Color Spotlight: Potter’s Pink”
Basically Potter’s Pink is not the easiest pigment to use as it is SO weak and you have to work really hard to pick up enough pigment for it to do its magic. So its secret will not be revealed to people who want instant success – you have to be willing to work at it for a bit, and that makes it special!
Liz Steel, “Potter’s Pink”
My Review
This paint represents everything I disliked about paints when I started out: hard, granulating, and low-tinting strength. It’s so the opposite of what I traditionally like that I didn’t even bother swatching it when I did dot cards. So I was surprised by how much I liked it when I gave it a chance! It makes mixes that are surprising and interesting – not always useful, but interesting.
As I worked with it more, I also found uses for it. The key was to start to see this as an effect paint, rather than a “color”. Because it’s low tinting strength, it can be dropped into almost any mix to add granulation. Generally it makes mixes look paler, more muted, faraway, dreamy. This is perfect for hazy backgrounds, clouds, anything you want to look more textured, or like it’s receding into the mist.
I also find it a useful color for spring because if you can work up that masstone, it’s a lovely subtle shadow pink.
While it was fun to explore this color (and to overcome my dislike of it) during Liz Steel’s class, ultimately I don’t feel it’s a good enough match with my painting style to make it onto my main palette permanently; if I’m being honest with myself, I prefer bright colors to interesting texture.
On my palette? On my Spring Palette for its usefulness as a shadow pink and delicate mixer. I could also see it on a Granulating palette and/or a Scottish Moors palette.
Favorite brand: MaimeriBlu slightly edges out Winsor & Newton because it doesn’t have the tan cast in dilute, but they’re extreeeeeeemely similar.