Color Spotlight: Sodalite Genuine

Daniel Smith – Sodalite Genuine

Sodalite is one of Daniel Smith’s exclusive Primatek colors made from real minerals. This one is a granulating, very dark blue. I’d say this is a good substitute for Indigo (which is traditionally blue + black) if you’re looking for something in that color family that is more granulating and/or single pigment.

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Color Spotlight: Lemon Yellow Deep (PY159)

PY159 is a granulating, low-strength primary yellow. It’s available as Winsor & Newton Lemon Yellow Deep (shown here), or as Schmincke’s Volcano Yellow (from the Supergranulating line). Experiment Results Gradient: Slighlty dull granulating mid-yellow in masstone, pale yellow otherwise. Very difficult to get a masstone and doesn’t grade easily. Does not rewet easily. Opacity: Semi-transparent… … Read more

Color Spotlight: Goethite Brown Ochre (PY43)

Daniel Smith – Goethite (Brown Ochre)

I like granulation now, so this is part of my effort to revisit colors I previously wrote off because of the granulation. Last week, I did Potter’s Pink for the same reason.

Goethite Brown Ochre is a highly granulating, low-tinting-strength yellow ochre, made with the traditional yellow ochre pigment PY 43. Jane Blundell includes it as one of the fourteen colors in her Ultimate Mixing Palette.

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Color Spotlight: Cerulean Blue Genuine (PB36)

Da Vinci - Cerulean Blue Genuine
Da Vinci – Cerulean Blue Genuine

The color Cerulean, a light sky blue, is traditionally made from the PB35 or PB36 pigments. It’s a semi-opaque, granulating, green-toned blue with limited range of values, erring on the side of being light-colored. It’s nonstaining and highly liftable, making it a good choice for skies (if you like granulating skies). Personally, I usually like a less textured sky – but Cerulean has other uses as well, such as being a beautiful textured green mixer, and muting earth tones into cool, granulating browns.

Warning: Be careful to look at pigment numbers. Some brands, like Mission Gold, call their PB15 Phthalo Blue “Cerulean.” Don’t make the mistake I did when I first started painting, and get “Cerulean Hue” (from Da Vinci or any other brand), made from Phthalo Blue + white. PB15 is not the same color, and will not have the same granulation/magic/mixing properties.

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Color Spotlight: Shadow Violet

Daniel Smith – Shadow Violet

Shadow Violet is a granulating purple-gray that’s made from a mix of three pigments: PB29 (Ultramarine), PG18 (Viridian), and PO73 (Pyrrol Orange). As such, close inspection of the seemingly unassuming shade reveals flecks of violet blue and blue-green as well as and underlying orange cast that make it more interesting than your typical gray, and mimics the overall effect of a real-life shadow with light and dark spots, color variety, and texture. John Muir Laws praises its beautiful granulation and suggests using it as a convenience gray for shadows in nature paintings.

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Color Spotlight: Ultramarine Blue (PB29)

Da Vinci Ultramarine Blue – gradient, opacity and glazing tests, color mixes

Ultramarine Blue is a bright, bold, almost electric violet-blue that is almost always granulating. It typically comes in two flavors: regular and French. French Ultramarine (or sometimes “Ultramarine Deep”) is the more granulating and violet-toned, while the regular Ultramarine is moderately granulating and a bit more medium blue. Some brands also offer a Light Ultramarine or Ultramarine (Green Shade) on the other side of the spectrum.

Let’s start by looking at Da Vinci Ultramarine Blue, a balanced medium color, and then we’ll explore the French and Green shade options as well as other brands.

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