Color Spotlight: Perylene Red (PR178)

A non-granulating middle red option that’s the middle in many ways: the middle of an orange-red or a purple-red; the middle of opaque and transparent; the middle of bright and muted. Experiment Results Hue: Deep bold red / borderline crimson in masstone. Dilute tones are right down the middle light red: not peachy or orangey … Read more

Color Spotlight: Sanguine Red (PR187)

Sanguine Red is a limited edition color introduced by Winsor & Newton in their Twilight series. It’s made from PR187, a pigment I’ve never seen in any other brand. This is a middle red, neither orangey nor purpley. Experiment Results Gradient: Grades from a deep (but not dark) red to a light red. Definitely less … Read more

What’s the difference between Pyrrol Scarlet (PR255), Scarlet Lake (PR188), and Quin Coral (PR209)?

In choosing between these three scarlets, I decided to do a “what’s the difference” post! Hue: Pyrrol Scarlet and Scarlet Lake have almost the same hue. Quin Coral is a bit more blue-toned and looks pinker, less orangey. Opacity: Pyrrol Scarlet is semi-opaque, where Scarlet Lake is transparent. (This does not appear to be an … Read more

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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Color Spotlight: Napthol Scarlet (PR188)

Often called Vermilion (although it is not the traditional/historical Vermilion pigment), PR188 is a smooth, transparent, brilliant red-orange shade. Pigment Stats for PR188 Pigment Description: Naphthol Red Lightfastness: Very Good in most ranges, however Bruce MacEvoy and Kim Crick (my usual go-tos on lightfastness) have some reservations (see What Others Say below). Toxicity: Nontoxic. Cost: … Read more

What’s the difference between Deep Scarlet and Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet?

In analyzing my palette, one of the “gaps” I identified was a dark red to help me mix reddish browns and deepen my red and orange mixes, especially for autumnal paintings. There were a few options for this slot:

  • Perylene Maroon (PR179)
  • Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet (PR206)
  • Deep Scarlet (PR175)

I’ve given Perylene Maroon a couple of shots and never really liked it, but I like both QBS and DS unmixed. They’re actually quite similar:

DS Quin Burnt Scarlet on top, DS Deep Scarlet below

In terms of hue, Quin Burnt Scarlet is a bit browner and duller, and DS is a bit closer to a typical red-orange.

It’s hard to tell from the above because I made a concentrated effort to make a dark pasty mix on the leftmost square, but in general I also find it more difficult to get a dark tone from Quin Burnt Scarlet; the second square is more representative the darkest typical tone. The Deep Scarlet is very easy to get dark.

Both are transparent, staining, and non-granulating.

Since they’re really similar unmixed, which is better in mixes?

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