winsor & newton

What’s the difference between Lavender and Smalt?

by

In this post, I’ll be comparing Winsor & Newton’s Smalt (Dumont’s Blue), which is made from Ultramarine Violet pigment (PV15), with Daniel Smith’s Lavender – a mix of white, Ultramarine Blue, and Ultramarine Violet.

Note that the color WN calls “Smalt” is not traditional Smalt pigment, which is made from finely ground glass containing cobalt. Instead, it’s a version of Ultramarine Violet that leans heavily toward blue, somewhere between a typical Ultramarine Violet and Ultramarine Blue hue.

Because of that, I found it to be a good hue match to Lavender, which is made from a mix of Ultramarine Violet and Ultramarine Blue. The main difference is that Lavender also contains white, so it’s opaque and can have a pastel (“chalky”) appearance. Smalt has no white, so it can get darker, and is more transparent.

Both colors are granulating blue-purples with similar use cases: the violet tones in sky mixes, clouds, hazy distant mountains. I don’t think I need both, so which should I choose?

Read more

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

by

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

Winsor & Newton Dot Cards!

by

I got more dot cards! I’m dotty for dot cards!

Winsor & Newton dot card

Overall Brand Impressions: This is the smallest of the dot card catalogs I’ve tried so far, 109 colors to Daniel Smith’s 238 and Schmincke’s 140. Still, I didn’t swatch them all out because I was running out of room in my color sketchbook, so I started to triage colors I was most interested in. Either way, I didn’t notice any colors missing. 

The colors I swatched out tended to be pleasingly vibrant with a high pigment load, and they were easy to handle even for my inexperienced hands (much easier than Schmincke). Most were non-granulating, which I prefer. I was overall pleased!

The only thing that gives me pause about the company from my experiences so far is their price (a bit on the high side) combined with my impression that they’re sort of nickel-and-dimey. The dots were pretty flat and less generous than other brands’, so I couldn’t do more than basic swatches; I couldn’t make the larger color spotlights, or test-drive a painting with them. Also, standard WN tubes are 14ml, unlike the 15ml of every other brand, driving the price-per-ounce even higher when you take into the account the higher price tag.

Overall, I’m unlikely to choose a WN version of a color unless I have a distinct preference for it over Daniel Smith. So… will it happen??

Below, my dot card journey.

Read more