Artists & Illustrators - April 2016_

58 Artists & Illustrators

THE PERFECT PALETTE

DARKS

Strong darks and blacks mostly

still use carbon created from

burning wood, bone or fossil

fuels and it is reasonable to

assume that using what is

essentially soot in your painting

will deaden the mix. Not all strong

darks contain carbon, however.

In concentrated form you can

see that all of these darks

appear black, but when diluted

they often reveal a colour bias.

All of these paints are very

different in composition.

Schmincke’s Neutral Grey lives

up to its name as a neutral mix

of blue and orange. The Payne’s

Grey from MaimeriBlu

meanwhile is a mix of Ivory Black

and Ultramarine pigments, in

which the latter is clearly visible.

Meanwhile, the Neutral Tint is

strangely named as this colour

traditionally has a violet bias,

while the two blacks tested were

surprisingly no less transparent.

My dark of choice is Neutral

Tint because of its warm bias.

A gallery owner once warned me

that a painting wouldn’t sell if

there was no warmth in it and

unless I have a good reason to

do otherwise I follow that rule.

THERE ARE A LOT OF WHITE PIGMENTS BUT ONLY

TWO REALLY MATTER TO THE WATERCOLOUR

PAINTER: CHINESE WHITE AND TITANIUM WHITE

Schmincke

Neutral Grey

Pyrrole Red + Titanium White

Phthalo Blue + Titanium White

Modern Aureolin + Titanium White

Ultramarine + Titanium White

Quinacridone Magenta + Titanium White

Phthalo Green + Titanium White

MaimeriBlu

Payne’s Grey

M Graham & Co.

Neutral Tint

MaimeriBlu

Ivory Black

Daniel Smith

Lamp Black

Schmincke

Neutral Tint

WHITE

White is no less contentious with

watercolour painters. Some refuse to

have anything to do with it, but I have

always used it for highlights and I am

increasingly seeing its value in the mix.

There are a lot of white pigments

but only two really matter to the

watercolour painter: Chinese White

(PW4) and the more opaque Titanium

White (PW6). If you are unconvinced

by the idea of mixing with white, have

a look at the pigments listed on your

current set of paints. PW4 is a

common ingredient in many colours,

including Naples Yellow, so you may

find that even if you are anti-white you

actually use it without realising.

A touch of white can give a subtle

useful shift to a colour without having

a serious effect on transparency.

Ultramarine with a touch of white

comes very close to a Cobalt Blue and

can help give more body to a blue sky.

57 Grahame Booth.indd 58 18/02/2016 14:57