Monday 20 March 2017

A Brief Look at Schmincke's New Paints (Pigments) - Pt 1 Yellows and Reds

Schmincke recently extended their range (see previous post) with 35 new paints. This is a major upgrade and well worth consideration. A  qualification. I have not purchased any of these paints as yet so this is purely a look at the characteristics of the pigments involved. My references are Handprint and the Pigment Database. Handprint is becoming out of date and some of these new pigments are only listed in the Pigment Database (The Color of Art Pigment Database) which, though highly technical, is an amazing source of information. 



 The new colours.



Rutile Yellow PY53. Antimony Titanium Yellow Rutile. PY53 is in common use as a pale yellow in many other ranges. It is described as a 'pale, light greenish lemon yellow....'one of the cleanest and brightest of the inorganic pigments'. I have this in another range and it's a fairly weak colour.

Turners Yellow PY216. Winsor & Newton list a Turners Yellow' but it is a different pigment.  Soplafex Yellow...'clean bright yellow to orange'.

Yellow Orange PY110. Isoindolinone Yellow 'synthetic organic....light deep yellow with red undertone'...'nice deep yellow'. This pigment has been introduced by other makers and is of fairly recent origin.

Quinacridone Gold Hue PY150/PR101. This is a convenience paint. PR101 is a synthetic pigment replacing many earth colours with a variety of hues. PY150 is Nickel Azo Yellow..".Deep dull reddish yellow ...slight fading"

Saturn Red PO64. This seems to be a new pigment. Benzimidazolone Orange, 'Bright reddish orange'

Transparent Red Deep PR144. Another new one. 'Azo condensation red...mid shade red'.

Geranium Red PR242. Another new pigment. Diazo condensation scarlet...'bright yellow red...fades, , hue shift towards bluish'

Quinacridone Red Light PR207. Quinacridone Scarlet....yellow red, fades.

Ruby Red Deep. PR264. Pyrrole Red Rubine. 'Dark, deep red, violet undertone, fades slightly...good substitute for Alazarin crimson'

Vermillion Light. PR188. Napthol Scarlet Lake, Bright yellowish red, darkens, dulls slightly...opaque forms are more lightfast'.This latter comment refers to the fact there are several versions of this pigment which vary in transparency. PR188 has been a staple - as Scarlet Lake - in Winsor & Newtons range.


Perylene Dark Red PR178, Perylene. Anthraguinone Red. 'deep red -fades slightly,'

Bordeaux  PR187 Permanent Pink FL. Azo Alazarine (blue shade)....Monoazo Benzimidazolone. 'Bright or deep bluish red'.

Potters Pink PR233. Chrome Tin Pink (Potters Pink) Synthetic organic...Dull, light red pink. 'May contain lead oxide but unlikely on modern formulations'. Winsor & Newton introduced this colour in their last upgrade.

Brilliant Opera Rose PR122/Fluor. Quinacridone Red. ACRA Magenta. 'Clean bright blue shade, light red....dulls slightly, hue shift towards light mid-red'. This refers purely to PR 122 a very popular pigment. Fluor is a dye which is likely to fade. This colour was originally  introduced by Holbein and became a popular choice of flower painters, despite containing a dye. Winsor & Newton in their last upgrade introduced this paint (including a dye) and claim it is reasonably lightfast.

Quinacridone Magenta PR202. Quinacridone Crimson. Bluish Magenta to mid red.

There are some colours amongst the earths that are yellow and others like Green-Gold but I'll cover them in the next instalment which will include some quite interesting colours.

In covering the red pigments it may be noted that 'fading' features. This shouldn't necessarily put you off. Bruce McEvoy of Handprint said quite categorically that he didn't believe some of the ratings claimed by manufacturers, and suggested  that many reds were suspect and you should conduct your own lightfastness tests. I did  a few over three months and didn't see any deterioration but don't claim my tests were definitive. It's somewhere in the back catalogue.

The above is not meant to be definitive but just to give some indication about these colours/pigments so that - if your interest is aroused - you might try one or two. I believe Schmincke are an excellent brand and these additions make them well worth consideration. Two of my favourites in the existing range are Translucent Orange (PO71) and Translucent Brown (PBr41).

There are a number of new pigments to watercolour amongst these latest Schmincke paints. The emphasis is also on single pigments paints - 31out of 35 - which I like.



No comments: