Violet Iron Oxide is a cool purple-toned maroon brown made from the PR101 pigment, the same that is used for Transparent Red Oxide and the opaque Indian Red. In this post, I’ll explore Da Vinci’s very granulating version and compare Winsor & Newton’s more opaque Caput Mortuum Violet.
Observations of Da Vinci’s Violet Iron Oxide
Hue: Dark maroon brown to muted light violet.
Opacity: Honestly pretty transparent at all the concentrations I was reasonable able to get. The granulation splotches themselves are pretty opaque, but this paint separates so much that there is always plenty of space between to see the line(s) you’re painting over.
Granulation: One of the most granulating paints I’ve seen! Extremely granulating at all levels. There is no flat, opaque masstone or pale, smooth dilute in this one – it’s granulating all the way up and down the line.
Gradient: Does not really grade; retains streaky brush strokes. This is common in very granulating colors.
Color Mixes: Adds granulation to everything. Because I think of it as a purple (it’s definitely not orangey), I find it interesting that it seems to turn blackish with blues; and a strikingly neutralized middle gray with Cobalt Turquoise! A nice warm middle brown with Transparent Red Oxide.
Lightfastness
Almost no difference from 4.5 months of light exposure. Very, very slight muting/browning in the lightest tints.
Comparison to Other Brands
Winsor & Newton – Caput Mortuum Violet
Hue: A similar hue to the Da Vinci version, a violet-leaning maroon brown that is gray-mauve in dilute. Much more violet and less orange-toned than Indian Red.
Opacity: Opaque at masstone.
Granulation: Although a fair amount of granulation comes out in mid-tone, it’s far less granulating than the DV version. The masstone is fairly flat, similar to Indian Red. Mixes also look pretty solid and smooth in most cases.
Gradient: Settles into distinct layers (flat masstone, granulating midtone, mauve to dusty lilac dilute tones). Vertical streaks indicate fast moving pigment. May be prone to splotchiness.
Color Mixes: Similar in hue to the VIO ones, but the granulation such as it is is pretty neutralized in all of the mixes. Gets quite dark in mixes. I especially like the dark red with Perylene Scarlet (PR149), and a variety of interesting grays with the blues. Mix with Venetian Red is a reasonable Indian Red hue.
Letter Sparrow – Violet Ochre
I also tried the Violet Ochre from the small batch company Letter Sparrow, from the Grow Untamed palette. This looks more granulating than WN on its own, but also makes flatter mixes, similar to WN. The hue is more brown/maroon with dusty pink/peach dilution rather than the distinct violet undertone of the others.
Comparison to Other Colors
DS Lunar Red Rock (PR101)
Lunar Red Rock is a PR101 variant that is very similar to DS’s Indian Red. In the DS line, the Indian Red and Lunar Red Rock paints are quite violet-leaning (as far as Indian Reds go), but still more crimson and less violet than VIO; there is no specific Violet Oxide equivalent that I’m aware of in the DS line. DS LRR/IR are quite opaque and moderately granulating, but more along the lines of the WN version than the wild DV version.
Perylene Violet (PV29)
I’d say these colors are actually fairly similar in masstone, but Perylene Violet is nongranulating. As they dilute, Perylene Violet goes much more into the purple space, while Violet Iron Oxide looks brown throughout.
Potter’s Pink (PR233)
These colors don’t look all that similar, but they have similar palette roles as granulating agents in the pink/purple colorspace.
The midtones don’t look dissimilar, actually; but VIO is much stronger and more pigmented so you’ll find its midtone near the bottom vs. the weak Potter’s Pink whose midtone is near the top of the gradient. In addition to being stronger, VIO is just much much darker. The dilutes are quite different with VIO going gray-purple and PP going peach.
In mixes, PP is more wild. For example, although it also makes gray with Cobalt Turquoise, its gray shows clear splotches of each color instead of making a uniform tone.
Color Mixes
with Caput Mortuum Violet
These colors mixes are made with WN Caput Mortuum Violet, which is less granulating than the DV version.
Imidazolone Yellow (PY154)
Although I often don’t like mixing bright and earth colors, these are pretty decent sand colors.
Yellow Ochre (PY42)
Warmer golden browns.
Venetian Red (PR101)
An Indian Red hue from the adjacent colors.
Quinacridone Rose (PV19)
Cobalt Blue (PB28)
Color-separating gray-violet-blues. You can get quite a dark color, but you need to really dig in the Cobalt Blue; in practice I found it a lot harder to get a dark color with Cobalt Blue than with Ultramarine Blue.
Ultramarine Blue (PB29)
Similar to Cobalt Blue mixes, but overall darker and easier to get dark values.
Cerulean Blue (PB35)
Muted dove grays similar to those with Indian Red and Cerulean, though a bit more violet.
Phthalo Turquoise (PB16)
Close to complementary, capable of making grays and blacks. It’s worth noting that I wasn’t sure which of these were even blacks when they were wet. There is a bit of hue shift. There are some nice browns here too.
My Review of Violet Iron Oxide
I enjoy the hue and texture of this color. The distinct purple tones give an interest that elevates it from a basic brown. It occupies a similar palette role as Perylene Violet, but can be easier to work into a landscape. I love the way it mixes luscious darks. The way it neutralizes blues is surprising, and useful if you can remember to use it (and not try to make violets as I would expect).
I have not found this to be a color that lends itself especially well to my typical boreal forest landscape, but in the desert, I found it to be the perfect match in both hue and texture for certain bands of purpleish sandstone in Red Rock Canyon.
If you are using this in a palette with Indian Red or Venetian Red, you may find that they look very similar dry. If I can only have one opaque, granulating PR101, I would probably go for Indian Red as the most versatile.
On my palette? Desert Palette, but not main.
Favorite version: WN Caput Mortuum Violet is, to me, the most useful in terms of mixing, but DV Violet Iron Oxide is the undisputed champion of granulation.