Da Vinci PV19 Comparison: Is Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone Reduplicative With Red Rose Deep?

DV Red Rose Deep (PV19), top, vs DV Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone (PV19), bottom

I chose my watercolors by slot: my favorite green-blue, my favorite black, my favorite yellow ochre… Of course, slot boundaries and malleable. Over time, I broke out reds into several categories: bright magenta/rose, bright orange-red, deep crimson, and deep scarlet. My bright orange-red (which varies between Quin Coral or Scarlet Lake) is pretty different from my deep scarlet (Deep Scarlet), so no problem there. However, when it comes to my “cool reds,” I think my bright and my dark are too similar!

My quin rose choice is Da Vinci’s Red Rose Deep, and my crimson choice is Da Vinci’s Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone. They both use the same pigment, PV19, and now that I look at them together, I’m wondering if they’re basically… essentially… the same color?

This is the problem with choosing colors one-by-one like this: as your slots become increasingly fine, you may end up with some pretty similar colors. In fact, you’re likely to, since the common denominator is you, with your same aesthetic preferences. In my case, apparently, I tend to go for lively, cheerful, deep pinks! RRD is one of the more “crimson-like” roses, and ACQ is one of the more “rose-like” crimsons.

So, are these colors reduplicative? Do I only need one, and if so, which one? Or do they actually serve different palette roles?

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Finding a Dark Magenta: Comparing Quin Fuchsia, Quin Violet, and Bordeaux

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.

  • Adding blue makes it purple
  • Adding green (the complement) makes a weird gray
  • Adding earth orange makes crimson red
  • I’m not a fan of the muddy mixes with black

Could a new pigment help?

Comparison of Magents
Holbein Quin Magenta (PR122) vs. DV Quin Fuchsia (PR202), DS Bordeaux (PV32), DV Quin Violet (PV19)

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What’s the difference between Quinacridone Rose (PV19) and Quinacridone Magenta (PR122)?

SH Purple Magenta vs DS Quin Rose: mixing oranges with Pure Yellow vs. mixing purples with PGBS.

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).

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