Daniel Smith & Indian Yellow

Recently one of my painting friends and senior member of Avon Valley Artists - Yvonne Harry - has been engaged in an exchange of e-mails with Daniel Smith over the DS version of Indian Yellow. Essentially Yvonnes complaint was that the colour was simply not recognisable as Indian Yellow as understood by artists.

To give a little background it was originally, so we are told, produced in India in a revolting manner, cows being fed a particular type of leaf to produce a highly pigmented yellow cow dung from which the paint was extracted.  I have since read that this story is questionable but has been repeated time and again. As in other cases where the natural pigment became unavailable, or was ruled out on various other grounds, the paint manufacturers have produced alternatives under the same name. This then becomes complicated when there is no unanimity on what pigments to use. With regard to `Indian Yellow' the most popular pigment seems to have been PY153, although  Winsor & Newton called its PY153 paint `New Gamboge'.

The above swatches are from Yvonne and illustrate what she means about the colour being `off key' for want of a better description. I don't have the DS version being very happy with the much cheaper Daler Rowney version, which is PY153 until they run out. I have managed to buy a number of tubes so they should last a while!

Indian Yellow, as sold by all other makers is on the orange side of yellow - a deep yellow in other words - whereas the DS version  seems - to my eyes from the `Try -it' colour sheet - more inclined to a muddy orange. It is PY108 a different pigment to other makers. I realise that personal preference is a factor here and other views may differ.

The plot thickens when another of the AVA senior artists, Jan Weeks, reported that her latest tube of `Moonglow' was a different shade to the previous one. Jan is a very experienced and talented artist so she cannot be easily dismissed.

Different shades? What do you think?

`Moonglow' is a mixed pigment paint PG18/ PB29/PR177. A green, blue and red combination. Despite being a three pigment mix it has become  a favourite of many.

Yvonne was initially very annoyed at the response from Daniel Smith, which was rather patronising, but she is a determined lady and after further correspondence that changed.  In fact she has now received three 15ml tubes, Serpentine Green, Bordeaux and Carbazole Violet FOC as a peace offering and all is now well, although her opinion of Indian Yellow remains. She gave me a `sqeeze' of all these colours and they are lovely.

I think I should emphasize this isn't a general criticism of Daniel Smith paints. There is universal agreement they are excellent and handle beautifully, if somewhat expensive in Europe. The range is huge and there are so many tempting colours that are hard to resist, the inclination is to buy colours you don't really need. I've done it but then face the problem of how to use them. Artists palettes vary in size but  I would think the majority are in the 12 - 24 range. Daniel Smith produce well over 200 colours and do you really need up to 20 reds, 20 yellows etc? All it does is confuse the issue of what to buy. I think the Primateks are a different matter and would refer to the piece Bruce McEvoy of Handprint wrote about them some time ago. 

I do have one issue with Daniel Smith though. Sometime ago I read they had developed a method of making multi pigment paints behave as though they were a single pigment. This has implications when mixing with other colours.This applied to the Cadmiums where a `hue' equivalent was offered. I e-mailed them and enquired whether they did the same thing with other mixed pigment paints. I received no reply and a second e-mail also went unanswered.

A replacement for PY153, New Gamboge, Indian Yellow etc?

In 2012 the popular pigment PY153 Nickel Dioxine Yellow was discontinued, no doubt because of lack of demand from the chemical and/or auto industries. As has been pointed out previously makers of watercolour or other types of paint are very much at the bottom of the pile and have to take whatever is available. Although not offered by a huge number of paint makers PY153 was the pigment used by both Winsor & Newton and Daniel Smith for the popular New Gamboge paints. Both have already reformulated with a multi pigment mix. In addition Rowney and one or two others called it `Indian Yellow, supposedly a replacement for the notorious original Indian Yellow. Why notorious? It has been said, and repeated many time, that this paint was made in a vile process by feeding cows in India with certain types of leaves, that turned their urine yellow, and this was the foundation of the paint. Although this story has been repeated many times I, in my capacity as a (very) amateur historian, researched the story and discovered that it might all be nonsense with no real basis in fact.   

The Rowney Indian Yellow is a staple in my palette so I have to decide at some stage on a replacement. I still have a full tube so this isn't urgent. Handprint claims several orange-yellow and yellow-orange paints make adequate replacements but basically plumps for three, PY35, PY65 and PY110. Before I continue you will find that several paint suppliers still list PY153 and may continue to do so. Can you trust the labelling? Possibly but I have my doubts and in fairness one can't expect a manufacturer to immediately change the labelling for just a single paint. I notice that Winsor & Newtons new style bare metal tubes appear to have the information printed on them so that may mean they can change details quite rapidly.  Winsor & Newton have also said that their usage of pigments is so large that, when a pigment is discontinued, they run out quite rapidly.

The left swatch is Indian Yellow from Rowney. The two middle swatches are Permanent Yellow Deep (PY139) from Maimeri and Venezia respectively, while the right  one is Cadmium Yellow Light ((PY35) from Lukas. The closest appears to be the Lukas paint but, being a Cadmium, is opaque and also toxic. The two Maimeri paints appear more orange. Neither PY65 or PY110 are (as yet) widely available but PY65 is listed by W & N  as Winsor Yellow Deep, also by DaVinci as Hansa Yellow Deep and Arylide Yellow Deep. Daniel Smith call it Hansa Yellow Deep. So far PY110, which is highly praised by Handprint, is only on offer from Daniel Smith and Graham - Permanent Yellow Deep - Indian Yellow  respectively. This may change  in the medium to long term.. Daniel Smith call PY108 Indian Yellow.

What to do? I don't have to change immediately so will ponder the problem for a while. My inclination is to try PY110 maybe from Daniel Smith. Any corrections or additions to the above are welcome and can be incorporated in the text.

Rhinos

The last meeting of Avon Valley Artists had as the subject `Animals'.  I selected a photograph of two Rhinoceros - probably mother and son (or daughter) but I can't be sure of this. The composition appealed to me, especially the head of the larger animal. 

`Rhinos' 18" x 12" Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140lb (300gsm) Not

I first made a careful drawing using a Pentel 205 2B Size 05 mechanical pencil. Although careful this was not over detailed. As can be seen in the photographs above I began by painting the head of the larger animal, starting with the horn and working across. I then painted the smaller one. There was a limited amount of over painting, particularly with respect to the darks, and I did a little more work on the rear leg of the smaller animal as Yvonne pointed out it was light by comparison with the adjacent darks. The background colours are Hansa Yellow Medium (Daniel Smith PY97) and Cobalt Teal Blue - I love this colour!

The main colours used were Quinacridone Gold (Daniel Smith PO49), Quinacridone Burnt Orange (Daniel Smith PO48), Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Moonglow (Daniel Smith), Cobalt Teal Blue (Daniel Smith PG50) with the darks mixed from various combinations of Moonglow, Ultramarine and either Burnt Sienna or Burnt Umber. There is a little Ivory Black (Maimeri) in the eyes and a couple of other places. The Daniel Smith Burnt Orange is the same pigment (PO48) as the Graham Quinacridone Rust. I think it a little redder.

Brushes used were the Escoda and Isabey Kolinsky retractables sizes 4 to 10. Overall I am quite pleased with this one.

Green-Gold - Pigment Yellow 129 ( PY129)

This is an interesting pigment which is given the `Top Forty' accolade by Bruce McEvoy of Handprint. It has never been a `must have' palette colour but is beginning to appear in an increasing number of ranges, although to date neither Holbein, Rembrandt, Schminke or Maimeri  offer it.

As usual naming isn't consistent, as apart from those who call it Green Gold, Winsor & Newton, Daler Rowney, Da Vinci, variations are Green Yellow (Lukas), Brown Green (Sennelier) Azo Green (Graham), Golden Green (Old Holland), all the same pigment PY129! To complicate matters Daniel Smith's Green Gold isn't, but a mixture of three pigments PY150, PY3 and PG36,  two yellows and a green. However we then find another Daniel Smith paint, Rich Green Gold, which is PY129! The Australian company Art Spectrum have two colours with PY129 as one ingredient with PG7 as the other, Australian Green Gold and Sap Green Permanent. It does not appear in any student ranges.

With that out the way I'll once again refer to Bruce McEvoy of Handprint. 

"copper azomethine green (PY129), commonly the ingredient in "green gold" paints is a lightfast, semitransparent, staining, mid valued, moderately dull yellow pigment,".......Unrated by the ASTM, manufacturer tests rate it as having "very good" to "excellent" lightfastness". Bruce agrees. 

The thing about this colour is that in tints it shifts from a yellow green  to a beautiful light yellow. I don't actually find it dull in the latter case, perfect for the colours of early Spring. Bruce rates it excellent for all genres, but especially for landscape and botanical painting. It also mixes well with several; other colours depending on what you wish to achieve. The Handprint information while still very valuable is not as up to date as one might like but even so is still worth consulting www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/watery.html .

Bruce states that if you are an advocate of the `split primary' palette then `copper azomethine' is the perfect lightfast, transparent "cool yellow" pigment to pair with it's lightfast, transparent "warm yellow" twin, nickel azomethine yellow PY150. This is Nickel Azo Yellow from Daniel Smith and Graham, Transparent Yellow Winsor & Newton, Translucent Yellow Schminke, Yellow Lake Sennelier. This latter pigment seems destined to enter most ranges although not yet universal. One of my members  Rui rates the Schminke paint highly. Any additions or corrections to the above welcome.

I have used Green Gold, mainly Rowney, for some time and also have the Winsor & Newton version. My use has been primarily in Spring foliage but Bruce suggest mixing with Qinacridone Magenta for portraits. I'll have to give that a try.

Tiger with cub.

Looking at Gerard Hendriks way with birds and animals and  his `painting a day' series, I was prompted to try something sort of similar myself. I've already had a shot at a few birds and expect to do more but in this instance came across a photograph that appealed so off I went. I aimed to produce a kind of snapshot.

Tiger with cub. Waterford 16" x 12" 140lb Not

I first made the drawing using a mechanical pencil  05 with 3B lead. I concentrated purely on the head and cub and only extended the body so far - a sort of vignette. Colours were primarily Quinacridone Gold (Daniel Smith PO49), Quinacridone Rust (Graham PO48) and also some Quinacridone Burnt Orange (Daniel Smith PO48). Although this latter is the same pigment as the Graham Q Rust it is darker and redder. There is also Cobalt Teal Blue (Daniel Smith PG50) and Ivory Black (Mamerii PBk11), There are slight touches of Raw Sienna and either Raw or Burnt Umber. Possibly some Cadmium Orange (Maimeri). The background is Cerulean.

I was rather pleased with the result but soon realised I had not quite got the head proportions right. The head is slightly too long in relation to the width. I did try and correct  but it only worked so far. My wife spotted it straight away but I felt that some aspects of the painting worked  well so what the heck!

 I  used the Da Vinci Artissimo 44 Size 2 Kolinsky for most of the painting and a smaller Isabey 6228 for the detail bits like the eyes. Afterwards I added some white gouache in a few places.

Avon Valley Artists Thursday 25 October

This week the subject was `Fruit' just that. Although attendance has not been great this session we had the unusually low figure of only eight members present. 

Thin on the ground!

Those present painted either from photographs or fruit they had brought to the hall.

Robert

Eileen

Helen

Pauline

John
 

 

Yvonne

 See www.watercolourflorals.blogspot.co.uk/ as Yvonne has already done a comprehensive post with photographs, description of paints used and other information. Well worth a look.

Pat

Where is mine?

This is my setup, the drawing completed the previous day and starting with the pineapple.

Fruit. 16" x 12" Centenaire 140lb (300gsm) not

The colours in the pineapple are mainly Quinacridone Gold (DS PO49), Quinacridone Rust (Graham PO48). There is also a little Cerulean and Burnt Umber. The top is a mix of Cerulean, Viridian, Hansa Yellow Medium (DS PY97) and Cobalt Teal Blue DS PG50). The apples are (left) Quinacridone Coral (DS PR209), Sap Green (Graham), and a touch of yellow. The right hand apple is Quinacridone Rose (Graham PV19), Quinacridone Purple (DS) and Sap Green. The orange is Cadmium Orange (Maimeri PO20), Transparent Orange (Schminke PO71) and some yellow. The grapes are Moonglow (DS) and some Quinacridone Rose. The (difficult) melon is a mix of Quinacridone Gold, Raw Sienna and Raw Umber.  The pear is Raw Umber and ? (can't remember!). It isn't perfect - mine never are - but I am reasonably happy with the result.

 

 I used the Escoda 1214 retractable Kolinsky sable Size 12 for 90% of the painting. This is the equivalent size to several other size 10s or even 8 in some cases. Escoda's are smaller in general size for size but are good and well priced.

 

 

 

A final view of all the paintings.

 

Quinacridone Purple - Pigment Violet 55 ( PV55)

This is a new colour introduced by Daniel Smith in early 2011, who claim exclusivity, at least for the present.  It is a transparent non-granulating, medium staining, pigment described by the pigment website www.artiscreation.com/violet.html as a `Bluish Violet to Violet Blue'. Note there is no such thing as a `true' purple pigment which would be `PP' so we are in fact seeing a variation of violet. As a Quinacridone there won't be any of the possible lightfastness (fading) problems with dark violets like PV23 and PV37.

Up to now most purple shades listed by manufacturers have been convenience formulations composed of  a red and a blue. There are a few single pigment mixes, one being Dioxazine Purple (PV37 Graham) - but see previous comment. The usual method of creating a purple is to mix a red and a blue. But which red and which blue?  The Daniel Smith Purple is a mix of Ultramarine Blue (PB29) and Quinacridone Rose (PV19 - Violet Shade?) .For those who follow the single pigment argument - and not everyone does - the idea of such a purple holds attraction. Recently the colour has become available in the UK, initially it seems only via the SAA (Society of All Artists)  www.saa.co.uk/ I have just bought a tube and made the following swatches as well as giving small amounts to Yvonne Harry and Jan Weeks, fellow friends in Avon Valley Artists, to test. North American artists can obtain it from the Daniel Smith website and also their retail shops plus other designated stockists.

The swatches on the left are pure Quinacridone Purple with the strongest at the bottom. The orange is Schminke Translucent Orange, a sort of compliment although not exactly so. I haven't explored the possibilities for mixing with other colours. 

Yvonne Harry  `Fuschias' using Quinacridone Purple
www.yvonneharryfloralwatercolours.com
www.watercolourflorals.blogspot.co.uk

Yvonne's comments are:

".......I have used it on the attached painting as promised. There was enough for the top two blooms, mainly, and then I had to mix my equivalent for the bottom flower. You can see that it is much duller than the upper two. .........I expected it to be closer to a blue than a magenta, but why I should think that I have no idea. I mixed it occasionally with Opera Pink and where I needed darks I dropped a little Ultramarine into the wet paint. This seemed to do the job.

Like all Daniel Smith paints I have tried, it flowed well, remoistened easily and was a pleasure to use. I am converted to the Daniel Smith and Graham paints for the future.I think it makes lovely shades of purple/magenta and the fact it is a single pigment does give it more freshness.and transparency.. All in all I was delighted to use it and am having some of that. I have ordered a tube from the SAA as Jacksons had none in stock".

Jan Weeks has this to say:

" I have tried out the Quinacridone Purple, a lovely clear colour, and I would imagine it would be very useful for painting flowers, but would have limited use in landscapes and figurative work. I don't think I will be adding this one to my palette but enjoyed testing it".

Yvonne is mainly a flower painter with Jan more of a landscape artist so you have two viewpoints starting from different directions. I do think it will be very useful for flowers and possibly some still lifes.

ADDED 17/10/2019. After several months this paint went hard and could not be squeezed out. I discarded it but when it now happens, and it does with several other paints, especially those with added white, I cut the tubes open and use as pan paint. This works with the first tried the Daniel Smith Lunar Black. PV55 has now been introduced in other ranges including the budget one Van Gogh and also White Knights.

More Plein Air

With the weather somewhat better I was able to do some outdoor painting this week. This was at the Thursday morning session of my Avon Valley Artists group. Although the weather was good, of the nine members present I was the only one to opt for painting outside. I was situated just outside the hall - literally feet away - and attempted a subject I've tried before, never very successfully. One of the reasons was that due to later in the day grand parenting duties I didn't want to travel too far. Yvonne Harry, who is second from left has her annual weeks solo exhibition at Wells, starting on Saturday in the Chapter room at the Cathedral. I shall be there next Monday with the wife and grandaughter, another budding artist.

I had no intention of attempting the whole scenario and opted to concentrate on part of the cottage and the tree on the right. The wall at front was to be left well alone!  

I initially made a fairly loose and uncomplicated drawing then began to paint, first splashing water onto the paper. My object was to paint with freedom and avoid any `tightness' by trying to be too close to the actual scene. This is risky. Initially I painted the tree using plenty of water and pigment letting the wet areas blend and using a couple of riggers to draw in the branches. Green used were mainly Sap Green (Daniel Smith (PO49/PG7)) and Hookers Green (Graham PG7/PY110)) with a little Green Gold (Rowney PY129). There is also some Cobalt Teal Blue (DS PG50) at the top of the tree. The trunks and branches are various combination of Raw Umber, Cerulean, Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue. A little Gold Ochre was added later. I splashed both Hookers and Sap Green onto the tree at various stages. 

 20" x 14" Fabriano Artistico Extra White Not

I experimented on the building using granulating colours, Daniel Smith Lunar Violet, Earth, Red and  Blue. I wet some of the area with W & N granulating medium prior to putting the paint on. Other colours on the cottage included Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Rust (Graham PO48), Raw Sienna and Gold Ochre. (W & N PY43). There is some Mineral Violet (Graham PV16) at the lower part of the cottage. Diluted Cerulean and Cobalt Blue in the sky with a little Burnt Sienna to grey them.

Brushes used were the Rosemary Kolinsky Mop Size 1, Escoda Tajmir Kolinsky retractable size 10 and a couple of riggers. I think that's it.

On reflection I overworked the tree and when I've subsequently  looked at this painting  my dissatisfaction grew, so it now resides on the reject pile waiting for an opportunity to paint on the reverse side. I'm also beginning to think that my love affair with Grahams Hookers Green is a mistake. It is rather a dull colour and can have a deadening effect. It needs to have another colour added to counteract this. You also have to be careful with the DS Lunar colours. They are on the dull side and can also deaden a painting if not used properly - which I fear is what has happened here. With these colours you need to  think carefully about what other colours to mix with them. I intend to do some serious trial and error work on landscape subjects, especially trees. I've previously noted the way in which the Belgian artist Gerda Mertens draws and paints trees.  I was in two minds whether to post this or not but as I adopt - well almost - a warts and all approach to showing my work it might help others to avoid such frustrating failures. However I've already moved on and have completed a flower painting for the August challenge which - so far - I haven't downgraded!  Today I'm planning two drawings for future works, one of Evie and the other another Indian. As far as Evie is concerned there has been an amazing development. My painting of her has come in for some criticism - rightly - and it has sparked something off. Believe me you couldn't make it up and all will be revealed soon.

Purple & Green

Once again due to the weather it wasn't possible to paint outdoors so the AVA group were again in St. Marys Church hall this last Thursday morning. As the forecast had been pretty poor I had already prepared two drawings of flower subjects the previous day. They were based on photographs I've taken recently and I decided to paint the oriental poppy I  photographed in Pats garden the previous Saturday. Its a simple composition but there is a lot to be said for simplicity.

15" x 11" Saunders Waterford Extra White 140lb not

I determined that I would adopt a very loose approach other than for the flower itself. I initially splashed clear water onto the paper in a random fashion, which was near vertical so that dribbles ran down to the bottom. For the flower, which I painted first I used Permanent Magenta (Rowney PV19), the violet shade of PV19. I previously masked out the anthers in the centre using Pebeo Drawing Gum and part of the centre itself. I then began to put in the green leaves that surrounded the flower in a loose manner which was helped by the wet paper. Hookers Green (Graham PG7/PY110), which is quite dark at full strength, was used for the darks but I softened the edges in places to get a balanced mixture of hard and soft edges. The other greens used were Sap Green (Daniel Smith PO49/PG7), a brighter green, and Green-Gold (Rowney PY129), a so-called two tone paint, which varies from light green to yellow when heavily diluted. 

Once the flower was dry I darkened certain areas as per the photograph with a stronger mix of Permanent Magenta, again softening the edges to avoid a `hard' look.  After this the rest of the green foliage was painted. I should say I `splashed' colour on at various times, some of which finished up on my face, spectacles and  right arm! I still have trouble getting splashes exactly where wanted. This caused some amusement and generally my fellow painters keep well clear when I'm in action. Finally I dropped some Primary Blue Cyan (Maimeri PB15-3 Green Shade) into the dark areas of the flower when still wet and let them blend.

At the very end I removed the masking fluid and finished off the stamens and centre with light use of white gouache.. Apart from the centre of the flower I only used one brush the Da Vinci Artissimo Series 44 Size 2 Kolinsky Mop, roughly equivalent to a size 14 round. The small brush for the centre was the Isabey Size 6 retractable which is small for a number 6, closer to a 4.

The colours of green and magenta are near compliments, not exactly so but I thought they work quite well together and was not displeased with the final result. The whole exercise, including the drawing took about 1 1/2 hours. I have another flower painting drawn up and Mick has set a flower painting, a hollyhock, as the August Challenge.

Latest Painting

This is a study of Moorhens, one of my favourite birds or should I say wildfowl. The little chicks are far more savy than Mallard ducklings and more seem to survive, although Moorhens don't have such large clutches, six or seven eggs being average. In addition, although the chicks can mainly feed themselves, any older siblings from earlier  nests will assist in looking after them. I have been very impressed with the way several artists, noted in earlier posts, handle animals and birds. I intend to spread my wings and try some more.

"Moorhens" 15" x 11" Not 140lb.

For the birds I used Daniel Smith Indigo (PB60/Pbk6) and Graham Prussian Blue (PB27). On the adult bird in addition Cobalt Teal Blue (DS PG50), Cobalt Magenta (Rowney PV14) plus Mineral Violet (Graham PV16). Various greens for the lily pads Graham Hookers Green (PG7/PY110), Sap Green (DS PO49/PG7), Hansa Yellow Medium (DS PY97). There are touches of other colours including Cerulean, Gold Ochre (W & N PY43) and  Green Gold (Rowney PY129). The reds are a mixture of Quinacridone Rose (Graham PV19), Quinacridone Coral (DS PR209) and ???. Oh yes some Raw Umber for the edges of the lily pads.

My usual brushes with the Isabey 6201 retractables sizes 6 & 4 for the small detail, Rosemary Series 33 Kolinsky Size 6 plus the Isabey Kolinsky 6228 Size 8. As this was done on the reverse side of a discarded painting, I have lots of those, I'm not certain what make the paper is. I quite like the result and have another Moorhen study in prospect. 

Daniel Smith Pt.3

Following up the previous posts on Daniel Smith the question arises are they worth the extra premium UK  and European buyers have to pay? I say this because prices in the USA are lower and in addition DS, through their retail shops and internet site, have regular special offers - lots of them in fact. If we had  similar offers then I'd not hesitate to say yes, although I like Graham and have not tried DaVinci, both highly rated by American artists. What we shouldn't lose sight of is that we have several very good manufacturers in Europe who have been making watercolour paints for a very long time, much longer in fact, and comparing quality and price there is a very good case for sticking to them, certainly on many of the standard colours.  Winsor & Newton, still and for  many years the top rated watercolours by many professional artists, are much more competitive in price here than in North America, where I sense they are losing out to the American makes. At the beginning of this year the new much higher prices for W & N made Daniel Smith  more competitive but almost immediately discounted offers appeared. Perhaps W & N realised the threat these new paints posed which they certainly do.

Previously I have noted that the DS range is split into three or four groups. The standard colours, those that follow most other makes, comprise the biggest number - 100 plus. Standard but still including some unique colours not duplicated elsewhere. The remainder include the Primateks, Duochrome and Iridescent paints. These two latter are for specialist purposes and most watercolourists would stick to the standard colours. What about the Primateks? Here I urge you to carefully  read what Bruce McEvoy of Handprint writes in a very comprehensive review  www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/primatek.html  Essentially Daniel Smith has been gathering mineral pigments from mines all over the World. They don't have pigment numbers and are expensive. 

Here is a further selection of colour swatches. I have added pigment details and will add them to the previous posts. You will note that in many instances the pigments are those in common use by the other makers.

Cobalt Blue Violet  (PV19/PB28)

Duochrome Autumn Mystery

Cobalt Teal Blue (PG50)

Garnet Genuine 

German Greenish Raw Umber (Pbr7)

Green Apatite Genuine

Lunar Blue (PBk11/PB15)

Serpentine Genuine

Undersea Green (PB29/PO49)

Hansa Yellow Medium (PY97)

Quinacridone Sienna (PO49/PR209)

Quinacridone Rose (PV19)

I could go on forever - well almost - but with the other illustrations in Pt. 1 & 2 you should have a good idea of what is available. I am personally intrigued by the number of granulating paints offered. Rui who comments on here is fulsome in his praise of the Lunar colours for their granulation properties and I intend to try some other than black which I already have.  Jan Weeks love Serpentine Green, Moonglow and Cascade Green. Rui likes them  but says you need to be careful what you mix Cascade Green with.  German Greenish Raw Umber is another favourite.

A good source of individual pigment details is; www.premiumartbrands.com/products/watercolour-tubes-15m/  For the complete range try www.danielsmith.com/item--i-G-284-600 If you print this off it runs to 19 pages! The Daniel Smith website, which is a selling site with various other brands and products is: www.danielsmith.com/ There is a mass of information including `peeks' at some DVD instructional videos they sell. In addition if you go onto Youtube `videos',and type in `Daniel Smith Watercolors' you'll get a mass of promotional videos with lots of information. In the USA the wonderful Dick Blick site has very good pigment details, although each colour has to be looked at individually.

Finally quality versus price? Are Daniel Smith watercolours worth the extra premium we are charged in the UK and Europe? As things stand Daniel Smith are the most expensive watercolours in the UK. Winsor & Newton are cheaper, certainly while the special offers continue. It isn't straightforward to compare them as the number of price categories vary manufacturer by manufacturer. Daniel Smith, Holbein and Old Holland have six, Sennelier five, Maimeri, Winsor & Newton, Bloxx, Schminke four while Daler Rowney and Rembrandt only three, although in reality Daler Rowney have only two prices as has Lukas.  Graham and DaVinci are only available from one source, Lawrence of Hove who have a fixed carriage charge on top of the prices but they do offer 20% off for 6 or more tubes. This is further complicated in that manufacturers don't all sing from the same song sheet. Apart from basic colours like the earths, usually in the cheapest category, other colour ratings vary from one make to another. In order to get an accurate picture you must compare them not just by colour, which can confuse, but more accurately by pigment numbers. Some manufacturers Winsor & Newton, Lukas, Sennelier, DaVinci and Rembrandt offer larger tube sizes that are cheaper per ml. This is another factor although personally I think W & N would have been far better with a 21ml or 24ml large size rather than 37ml. The further I get into this the more complicated it becomes so I'll leave it at that and may return to the subject at a later date. 

So are Daniel Smith paints worth the cost? Are they better than the paints from say Winsor & Newton or some of the others listed? They are good but so are most of the other artists quality makes and in the end it comes down to the depth of your pocket and personal preferences. For the average watercolour painter probably not, but they do have a whole range of wonderful, often unique, colours  so I shall continue to buy them, although selectively. For impulse buyers like me they are very seductive. As for the other makes Daler Rowney, Lukas, Rembrandt and Maimeri are very well priced and offer good quality with a choice of around 70 colours. 

Daniel Smith Pt.2

Following on from Pt.1 here are the pages from the 238 Dot Try-iT sheets. To summarize they are dots of paint on watercolour paper covering the entire range of Daniel Smith watercolours, although new ones are added quite frequently and may not be on here, Quinacridone Purple being one example. The idea is that you pick up colour with a wet brush and make swatches. It may just be me but I found that it was difficult to get really strong colours and they tended to lean towards tints. The dots also vary in size, some being a lot more generous than others. This is why I've handled them like this as the swatches I made were too pale. One slight deficiency is that pigment details are missing so you have to get them separately. They are easily available so it isn't a problem. Click on the sheets to enlarge. So many wonderful colours where do you start?

Here we have yellows, through reds to purples.

Basically  earth colours.

Blues and Greens

Only Blacks washed out

This then is the range and a comprehensive one without doubt. A bewildering selection with many options in most colours. Here are a few more swatches of particularly interesting paints.

Sleeping Beauty Turquoise

Lunar Blue (Pbk11/PB15)

Lunar Earth (PBr11)

Lunar Violet (PV15/PBk11)

Daniel Smith are a very innovative company. Perhaps they stray too far in that direction at times such as `scented' watercolours, which was a special limited edition they did a few months ago. A matter of opinion I suppose. 

One intriguing area is the Cadmium hues. There are four colours that come into this classification Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red Scarlet and Cadmium Red Medium.  What's so special? DS claim to have used a process called co-precipitation which makes them behave like a single pigment paint, even though they are composed of more than one. This they claim makes the `hues' even more opaque and with brighter chroma than the normal Cadmiums. As a result they have discontinued some - not all - of the equivalent Cadmium paints. I e-mailed them to ask if they applied this process to other multiple pigment paints and if not why so, but received no reply. A second e-mail was also unanswered.  Perhaps they thought I was being provocative but it seemed to me a reasonable question. So much for their vaunted PR. They aren't the only ones who react in this way when making enquiries that ask pointed questions. I was intending to complete this epistle on Daniel Smith  with Pt 2 but have many more paint swatches so will complete the coverage in Pt 3 when I will attempt to tackle the tricky question of price and whether they are in fact worth buying by comparing competitor makes, both in ranges and price. We seem to be paying a significant price premium in the UK compared to the pricing in the USA with regular special offers.

 Additional topics. Why buy the Primateks? See what Bruce McEvoy of Handprint has to say about them. Rui, who  comments on here, has given his views about several DS colours, including the Lunar ones so I will include them. I would love to be a fly on the wall when Winsor & Newton and other competitors are discussing Daniel Smith. This third part will be posted within the next week or so.