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journal links 2008 Bruce MacEvoy

watercolors

the world's finest guide to watercolor painting over 2,500 unique users per day

Welcome to the best and most comprehensive resource for watercolor painters on the Internet. You'll find here information on all aspects of watercolor painting: papers, brushes, paints, "color theory," painting techniques, art instructional books, and more. I've created these materials for painters who are weary of art marketing hype, inaccurate art theory, and the numbing workshop mentality that invites you to learn somebody else's "winning" painting style in ten easy minutes. The depth of information will not be to everyone's taste. To those who do spend time here, I hope you find something to stimulate and guide your personal watercolor journey. Explore, read what interests you ... and go paint!

The site map will give you a sense for what's available and how the site is organized. The map is a clickable index linked from every subdirectory page on the site ... and from the site map you can navigate directly to any specific section. Topics are organized into sections within each page, and crosslinked to other relevant material. Nearly all the information on this site is based on my independent research and personal painting experience. I make a special effort to describe my procedures completely, so that you can apply them for yourself. Several art materials companies and individuals provided me with invaluable guidance and encouragement. My sincere thanks to David Albrecht (GretagMacbeth), David Aldera (NY Central Art Supply), Claire Conway (New York Metropolitan Museum of Art), Dr. Stuart Croll (Department of Polymers and Coatings, North Dakota State University), Dr. W. Daniel Edwards (Department of Chemistry, University of Idaho), Dr. Mark Fairchild (Munsell Color Institute), Alun Foster (Winsor & Newton), Art & Diana Graham (M. Graham & Co.), Ron Harmon (Daniel Smith), Jon Lloyd (Daler-Rowney), Mark Gottsegen (University of North Carolina), Sue Petherbridge (Society of Dyers and Colorists, UK), David Pyle (ColArt Americas), Dr. Andrew Young (San Diego State University), and to the many teachers, curators, scholars, retailers and practicing artists who have written to express their appreciation, offer suggestions, point out corrections, ask questions, clarify misconceptions, or share their experience. You are helping to make this a community resource for watercolor artists around the world. This is a nonprofit, educational web site. I accept no donations or free

product samples; all costs of materials used in testing have been paid by me personally. Art reproductions appear here under the fair use provisions of copyright law. Whenever possible, artists have been notified of and asked to approve the use of their works. Errors and omissions are my responsibility, but I am grateful to the many readers who have contributed by email. Corrections, comments or questions are welcomed. Email me by clicking on the link comments : requests anywhere it appears on the site.

I want to say some personal things first, to put your approach to this site in perspective. I think the intellectual or "rational" approach to life is useful in well defined ways. It does not necessarily determine what is right or best for individuals to do; and intellectual expertise in itself is not genuine artistic progress nor rewarding recreation. The intellectual approach in art only matters if it can help you make better paintings. On the other hand, evidence, experimentation and explanation can provide answers or solutions when your painting progress has gotten stuck in some kind of problem, and it can help dispel the false ideas that arose in earlier times among misinformed people. In the end, common sense should indicate when and how a factual approach can be useful. There are too many words on this site. I am sorry about that. The verbal overgrowth is part of my struggle with myself, and with painting technique. In that sense the site is only one enormous diary, or web log. Read critically. Explanations are not as interesting as art, so I ask you to redeem the time you spend here by reaffirming your commitment to painting, and painting often. Good luck!

Why have I taken on such a huge effort, without pay, without institutional support? Because my character insists on an accurate understanding of my artistic materials. Having done the research necessary to answer my many questions, I chose to publish it where others might use it in their own artistic exploration. And this too: I believe watercolor is still the painting medium with the greatest potential for new discoveries. For this to happen, things must change. Watercolor artists must set their aspirations higher than the county fair and bistro art display, and aim for the international art market. Until art

schools wake up and serve these aspirations, watercolor artists must learn about their materials and techniques through intensive independent study and collaborative discussion. They must emphasize permanent paints in order to bury the fugitive reputation that sticks to the medium from past negligence. They must replace misinformation and myth with fact.

My guiding idea has been that you, the painter, can teach yourself to see and by seeing more clearly, improve your painting skills through consistent, attentive, observant practice. Seeing means a more alert, questioning approach to the natural world and to the works of other artists; it means challenging your own painting stereotypes and aspirations; and it means opening yourself to your inexplicable, imaginative gift images. It also means a greater awareness of your art materials, your working habits, and the consequences of your design decisions and physical painting movements. All these apparently different types of seeing are really aspects of the same fundamental ability, and it is this ability that determines the quality of your work. In that spirit, the site is really a record of my steps toward teaching myself to see through watercolors a comprehensive art notebook, told from many points of view, in many different voices. We live in an age of precanned media sensations, voyeuristic spectator recreations, nonsense political obsessions, cunning corporate deceptions and tacky psychobabble self explanations. By our outer directed passive involvement, we become spiritual slaves in a world of unimaginable freedom. Watercolors are so simple, inconsequential, low tech, that they slide like children's games through our oversophisicated world. Their poetry and sensual complexity make us realize that we have somehow lost our childlike ability to see with the creative eye that reveals a world of strange and unexpected beauty. There is much technical information on this site, but technical knowledge is not the point. As the English mathematician Christopher Zeeman said, "Technical skill is mastery of complexity while creativity is mastery of simplicity." Always seek your own simplicity and beauty.

The best artists are willing to learn by personal discipline and personal exploration. They do not accept what they are told; they see for themselves. But in watercolor there is an especially long, rich and varied tradition, from the early topographers to J.M.W. Turner, Winslow

Homer, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Eliot O'Hara, Fairfield Porter, Gerhard Richter and Eric Fischl, of artists who by trial and error taught themselves how to paint in watercolor ... because they were intrigued, fascinated, inspired by the medium. Georgia O'Keeffe began to paint in transparent watercolors in 1916, and though she had used gouache in her work as a commercial illustrator, she described her first experiences this way: After about ten attempts I certainly had to laugh at myself It's like feeling around in the dark thought I knew what I was going to try to do but find I don't guess I'll only find out by slaving away at it. "Slaving away" is a grim way to put it, but a surprising number of watercolorists teach themselves in much the same spirit. Amateurs can go astray without guidance from others. Books provided me some guidance, but I discovered they were often mixed with misinformation or simplistic half truths. From the quixotic J.W. von Goethe down to today's clumsily edited, knock off instructional books Winning Watercolors In Ten Easy Minutes! artists are too often provided with misleading or inaccurate information. I found the surest method was to watch myself paint, experiment with different methods, and bring my conclusions back into my painting practice. However, the key is this: we learn how to paint only by doing many paintings. We watch what happens as we paint them, and look at what happened after they are done. No one else is going to hold your brush and do your paintings for you, or convince you your skill is complete when you know in your gut you can do more. There is simply no other way to grow. John Marin wrote to an admirer requesting advice: You are to heed what I say and go on a watercolor debauch it's quantity not quality you are after not to take this too literally but what I mean is to get in front of any old landscape and spend reams of paper and paint on it painting 3 or 4 a day and then at the end of the season you'll if you are naturally gifted have learned something about watercolor then naturally you'll come to quality. The journal describes my watercolor progress, and includes links to the paintings I made as I learned. You may see parts of your own journey in it. I've also added a page of recent works to report my current activities. The other parts of the site ... the guide to watercolor pigments, the color vision studies, the many pages on techniques ... these summarize

my practical experience and independent research. Based on that knowledge, my book reviews praise some of the best and critique (sometimes in depth) a few of the worst among the many painting tutorials available. Recording my progress on this web site has sometimes been the only reason I made progress at all. Maybe reading it or simply knowing that someone was crazy enough to put it here can help you, too. Keep on painting!

The contemporary German painter Gerhard Richter was asked why he painted so few watercolors early in his career. His reply: At the academy, drawing and oil painting were taught, not watercoloring. It didn't belong to the classic course of study. One drew with charcoal and pencil, afterwards one painted in oil: smaller oil sketches, larger oil studies, finally the oil paintings themselves. In the museums, too, there were only oil paintings or at best drawings to be seen, but no watercolors. What was true in the 1960's is still true today: the exhibition catalog to the New York MOMA's 2002 retrospective of Richter's career reproduces (postage stamp size) a single watercolor painting a monochrome self portrait from 1949. Artists often teach themselves how to watercolor because academies spurn the medium: not serious, not high art enough, certainly not "investment quality" enough! The workshop mafia owns it by default. These artists publish dozens of art instructional books each year, all designed with a superficial approach and a cheery style. They appeal to your delusion that you can learn by purchasing things, or copying what someone else tells you is right; they're designed to become obsolete in 18 months, so that you'll crave newer books when they appear. Watercolor was once considered an important medium. And it is gradually reclaiming its place as a vehicle for the most beautiful and unexpected artistic expression. Not because artists read books (or web sites), but because they will not relent in their personal commitment to master the medium and make it speak their vision. J.M.W. Turner, J.S. Sargent, John Marin, Edward Hopper, Charles Burchfield, and many others have done amazing things with watercolor, each in their way, often working entirely on their own. I introduce some of these artists and their works in the section on

watercolor artists. Despite the academies and the museums, watercolors are a rich and vibrant tradition. And there are many beautiful things still to be done.

I built this site because watercolor lifted me out of my life in a way that placed me back in my self. It made the world I saw incredibly more vivid and unexpected: it taught me to see, it taught me to teach myself to see. Watercolors are no longer pale and understated and miniaturist. They can be vibrant and daring and large. Watercolor is a swim in the metaphysics of life, a mirror of one's personal relationship with the world. The vitality in watercolor is the life of art itself alert, spontaneous, surprising, improvisatory, relentless, risky, and leaning a little on luck. Let it be unpredictable ... colorful ... wet.

This is an "index of links" to every page, subsection and full page graphic within the Handprint Watercolors web site; skim this page to survey the available topics. Then check the FAQ page for answers to the most common questions, including instructions on copyright and reprinting materials for personal or educational use.

site map

The content of all pages on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported. home page intro site search (provided by Google) FAQ (frequently asked questions) updates recent works links mail journal watercolor papers guide to watercolor papers Alcantara Amatruda Arches (Arjo Wiggins) Canson

Fabriano Hahnemhle Hayle Mill Jack Richeson Kilimanjaro Lanaquarelle Moulin de Larroque Pasquale de Ponte Ruscombe Mill St. Armand Saunders Waterford Strathmore Twinrocker Van Gelder Velk Losiny Whatman Winsor & Newton Zerkall the paper furnish how paper is made paper finishes paper formats weights of paper how paper is sold

how watercolor papers are made

how to test watercolor papers storing, mounting & framing paper hazards handling papers storing papers mounting and framing

watercolor brushes guide to watercolor brushes Cheap Joe's Daniel Smith daVinci Escoda Grumbacher Isabey Kalish Loew-Cornell Raphal Rekab Robert Simmons

Rosemary & Co Utrecht Winsor & Newton Yarka

how watercolor brushes are made types of brushes brush manufacture brush hair & bristle how to test watercolor brushes the good brush a basic brush set buying brushes brush care & storage using brushes cleaning brushes brush remedies storing brushes watercolor paints how to choose watercolor paints how watercolor paints are made paint ingredients
the backbone composition pigment brightener binder plasticizer humectant filler other additives water handmade watercolors natural inorganic synthetic inorganic natural organic synthetic organic

pigment types

pigment manufacture paint manufacture the material attributes of paints pigment & paint attributes
color appearance particle size lightfastness tinting strength refractive index

 basic paint tests

draw down sample tinting test dissolving test sedimentation test drying and rewetting test black field test microscopic examination

specific gravity

test paintings making paint swatches doing your own lightfastness tests labeling, lightfastness & toxicity pigments, paints & "colors" the marketing romance paint ingredient information lightfastness tests lightfastness with a grain of salt artistic responsibility health & environmental issues Art Spectrum Blockx DalerRowney Daniel Smith DaVinci Holbein Lukas Maimeri M. Graham & Co. Old Holland Rembrandt Robert Doak Schmincke Sennelier Utrecht Winsor & Newton Yarka magenta red orange earth (brown, gold or ochre) yellow green blue

watercolor brands

guide to watercolor pigments

 purple black, gray & white what the ratings mean watercolor drying shifts hue purity of watercolor paints earth pigments tour earth pigments map daniel smith primatek paints cadmium color key 2004 lightfastness tests tube, pan & liquid watercolors a brief history of watercolors tube vs. pan when to use paint tube tricks dry pan tricks liquid watercolors

gouache & bodycolor interference paints palettes a basic palette related paint resources the keystone paints exploring the mixing strategy expanding the palette common palette issues

the complete palette key to the palette scheme palette types brand matters transparent opaque nonstaining staining saturated earth textured combining paints in a palette

palette paintings

intro 1. value design palette 2. velzquez palette classical palette 3. "primary" triad palette chuck long marlies najaka 4. split "primary" palette nita engle michael rocco lucy willis mel stabin 5. artist's "primaries" palette charles leclair jeanne dobie trevor chamberlain dale laitinen liz donovan 6. secondary palette carol carter jim kosvanec 7. modernized paul signac

technique spirit of watercolor the work place watching yourself paint plateaus and pits saving your work the sketchbook drawing techniques the essence of drawing drawing materials drawing papers drawing technique drawing styles not a new idea copying the image tracing the image documenting with photographs creative editing with photographs representing the world

aids to drawing

modeling form with light & shadow elements of perspective page 1: perspective in the world page 2: central perspective page 3: two point perspective page 4: three point perspective page 5: advanced perspective techniques page 6: shadows, reflections & atmosphere composition and design principles of design elements of design a pattern vocabulary notan rules of "good shape" design & context the key format proportions constructing the format proportions composing with the format proportions other format proportion schemes format proportions in western paintings are the proportions "real"? use what works

format proportions

preliminary studies layout and proportion the value sketch color studies color harmony & color design basic issues in color design traditional hue harmonies eight approaches to color harmony concepts in natural color harmony principles of natural color harmony design guidance ruskin's last word the osa uniform color scales major palette types life without a palette rinse water & pure water work routine & storage mixing tube paints

working with paints

 mixing pan paints brush mixing tricks basic mixing method learning color through paints three guiding principles 25 color study topics paint wheels why make a paint wheel? how to make a paint wheel three paint wheels lessons from a paint wheel the luminosity myth techniques for glowing color "not black, not light" learning how dilution feels learning how dilution looks how dilution affects lightness how dilution affects chroma technical data

the secret of glowing color

the six levels of paint dilution painting in neutrals neutrals in context near neutrals and color design seeing color value seeing hue bias mixing complementary paints the material qualities of paint

watercolor mixing complements the brush and brushstrokes brushstroke attributes the swiss army brush how a brush works brush wetness & capacity brushstroke evolution brush technique the confident brush

the six degrees of brush wetness other application techniques splattering brushes sponges

sticks palette knives razor blades resist and tape water and air

steps in a painting preparing papers for painting evolution of the paper surface to cockle or not how to not stretch papers how to stretch papers my fastening method how to cut or tear paper

the nature of water the six stages of paper wetness wet in wet (1) the balancing act flow, backrun & diffusion how wet is the paper? surface vs. inner wetness balancing wetness in paper, brush & paint four edge shaping techniques an inventory of marks charging, blotting & shaping controlling backruns working with wet paper brushes & brush wetness paint & pigment attributes strategies for learning seven popular effects

wet in wet (2)

monotype laying a wash the setup, brushes & papers pigment types paint behavior tilting the wash wash brushstrokes to wet or not to wet wash strategies hints and guidelines

using glazes

resists and edge control watercolor drybrush texturing methods lifting and fixing signing, documenting and copyright mixed media painting outdoors plein air paint kit mixing green the green mixing system green mixing recipes pigment choices green mixing problems

painting portraits painting the figure color theory modern color theory (concepts) talking about color misconceptions in traditional color theory additive & subtractive color mixture visual color relationships

CIECAM aCbC plane PDF version of CIECAM aCbC plane CIELAB a*b* plane PDF version of CIELAB a*b* plane comparison of hue circles modern color theory (applications) material color relationships talking about paints many painter's palettes principles of color contrast color symbolism color theory summary additive color mixing subtractive color mixing substance uncertainty "theory" vs. experience

additive & subtractive color mixing

tonal value the dominance of value the value scale hue, lightness & saturation the artist's value wheel shades, tones and tints grayscales & gamut mapping shadows, saturation and value painting values

the artist's value wheel PDF version of the artist's value wheel color temperature warm vs. cool colors what causes warm color effects? the origin of warm/cool the warm/cool contrast in paints unsaturated color zones painting warm or cool

learning color through paints three guiding principles 27 color study topics color wheels creating a color wheel "primary" color wheel
"primary" colors and paints why use "primary" colors? mixing step scales true "primary" color relationships secondary colors and paints complementary colors a complementary grain of salt tertiary colors and paints the old & modern tertiary colors artists mix paints, not "colors"

secondary color wheel

tertiary color wheel

more is less? a gamut comparison color names

mixing with a color wheel complementary color contrasts saturation costs the color wheel fallacy basic mixing method split "primary" palette unequal color spacing

an artist's color wheel visual vs. mixing complements the artist's color wheel tour of the color wheel why the difference? making your own color wheel

the artist's color wheel (CIECAM version) PDF version of the artist's color wheel (CIECAM version) contemporary color harmony basic issues in color design traditional hue harmonies three theories of color harmony introduction to full color harmonies dynamics of full color harmonies a natural color harmony ruskin's last word the causes of color surfaces & lights surface & shadow color special material colors physical color changes

color in the world

books buyer beware learning the basics

The Watercolor Book David Dewey Watercolor School: A Practical Guide to Painting in Watercolor Hazel Harrison Watercolor For the Serious Beginner Mary Whyte Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting Edgar A. Whitney Basic Watercolor Answer Book Catherine Anderson Watercolor: A New Beginning Ann Lindsay StepbyStep Guide to Painting Realistic Watercolors Dawn McLeod Heim The Palette Magazine William Lawrence & Christopher Schink The New Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain Betty Edwards

Keys to Drawing Bert Dodson The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing Anthony Ryder The Drawing Book Richard McDaniel Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Watercolor Marian Appellof

pigments, paints & papers

Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color Philip Ball Hilary Page's Guide to Watercolor Paints Hilary Page The Wilcox Guide to the Best Watercolor Paints Michael Wilcox The Artist's Guide to Selecting Colors Michael Wilcox The Book of Fine Paper Sylvie Turner The Watercolor Artist's Paper Directory Ian Sidaway

color science & "color theory"

Color and Culture John Gage The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat Martin Kemp Color Categories in Thought and Language C.L. Hardin & Luisa Maffi The New Munsell Student Color Set Joy Turner Luke Interaction of Color Joseph Albers Theory of Colours Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors MichelEugne Chevreul Modern Chromatics Ogden Rood Exploring Color Nita Leland Color Right From the Start Hilary Page Color Choices Stephen Quiller Painter's Guide to Color Stephen Quiller Transparent Watercolor Wheel Jim Kosvanec Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green Michael Wilcox Color Theory Made Easy Jim Ames Zoltan Szabo's Color-by-Color Guide to Watercolor Zoltan Szabo Color in Contemporary Painting Charles LeClair Color: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing

Colors Betty Edwards

advanced instruction
Making Color Sing Jeanne Dobie Painting Light and Shadow in Watercolor Skip Lawrence The Natural Way to Paint Charles Reid Painting Flowers in Watercolor Painting What You Want to See Taking Risks with Watercolour Shirley Trevena Painting Spectacular Light Effects in Watercolor Paul Jackson Capturing Light in Watercolor Marilyn Simandle & Lewis Lehrman Watercolor from the Heart Barbara Nechis The Art of Watercolor Painting Charles LeClair Leonardo on Painting edited by Martin Kemp The Elements of Drawing John Ruskin The Art Spirit Robert Henri Art and Visual Perception Rudolph Arnheim Art & Illusion Ernst Gombrich Art & Fear David Bayles & Ted Orland

how to by subject
Painting Watercolor Florals That Glow Jan Kunz Botanical Illustration in Watercolor Eleanor Wunderlich Painting Crystal and Flowers in Watercolor Susanna Spann Building Brilliant Watercolors Judy Treman The Sierra Club Guide to Painting in Nature Cathy Johnson Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting John F. Carlson Trevor Chamberlain: Light and Atmosphere in Watercolour Trevor Chamberlain & Angela Gair Painting Watercolor Portraits Al Stine Basic Techniques for Painting Textures in Watercolor Rachel Rubin Wolf Painting Realistic Watercolor Textures Michael Rocco How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself Nita Engle

handbooks

The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques Ralph Mayer Painting Materials: A short encyclopedia Rutherford Gettens & George Stout The Painter's Handbook Mark David Gottsegen

artists introduction botanical illustration the topographical tradition the poetic landscape francis towne thomas girtin joseph mallord william turner william blake john constable late georgian watercolors thomas rowlandson john sell cotman peter de wint david cox william henry hunt richard parkes bonington victorian watercolors samuel palmer john ruskin alfred william hunt the preraphaelites hercules brabazon brabazon james mcneill whistler 19th century european watercolors 19th century american watercolors winslow homer paul cezanne auguste rodin thomas eakins

maurice prendergast frederick childe hassam paul signac john singer sargent wassily kandinsky emil nolde john marin raoul dufy william russell flint paul klee edward hopper arthur dove charles demuth marguerite zorach georgia o'keeffe the ohio watercolorists charles burchfield george grosz egon schiele fairfield porter california scene painters andrew wyeth philip pearlstein gerhard richter joseph raffael trevor chamberlain carolyn brady francesco clemente carol carter retailers Amsterdam Art Art Supply Warehouse Cheap Joe's Daniel Smith Artist Materials Dick Blick Artist Materials Jerry's Artarama

Ken Bromley Art Supplies Montmartre Art Supplies New York Central Art Supply Pearl Paint Utrecht Art Supplies

Papers are the foundation, the source of light, the support of your art. Yet watercolor artists often do not understand how papers are made or how they differ from one manufacturer to another. Here is all the information you need to choose papers intelligently. guide to watercolor papers Descriptions and test evaluations for mouldmade and handmade watercolor papers from fourteen manufacturers. how watercolor papers are made How papers are made, with a guide to watercolor paper sizes, weights and commercial packaging. how to test watercolor papers Details of the watercolor tests and the paper attributes they were designed to measure. other painting supports Yupo printable plastic, watermedia board, clayboard, other. storing, mounting & framing Safeguarding and handling your painting supports before and after painting.

papers

guide to watercolor papers

Paper is the support and source of light for a painting. Yet, with the exception of a single book, there are no test based comparisons of watercolor papers of the same kind that are made for watercolor paints. So I adapted or developed my own paper tests to evaluate how the papers would respond to typical watercolor use. (The page on how to test watercolor papers describes the tests mentioned in the paper reviews.) This sampling of twenty brands includes most of the better known mouldmade papers and several notable handmades or historical papers. Retail availability permitting, I evaluated the complete range of finishes commonly rough (R), cold pressed (CP) and hot pressed (HP) from each manufacturer, using a full sheet (22" x 30") in the 300 GSM basis weight or the nearest equivalent (for example, 280 GSM for Velk Losiny Moldau paper). Color and lightness comparisons between brands were made with the CP sheets. Prices listed (current as of June, 2002) are the lowest U.S. retail price for a single R or CP full sheet ... some manufacturers charge more for the HP finish.

papers

Alcantara Amatruda Arches Fabriano Hahnemhle Hayle Mill Jack Richeson Kilimanjaro Lanaquarelle Moulin de Larroque Pasquale de Ponte Ruscombe Mill St. Armand Saunders Waterford Strathmore Twinrocker Van Gelder

Velk Losiny Whatman Winsor & Newton Zerkall A paper's surface finish varies by weight: heavier sheets by the same manufacturer typically have a coarser texture in the same nominal finish. (See for example the comparative images of cold pressed finishes in 300 GSM and 640 GSM Arches Bright White.) Heavier sheets also show a greater difference in finish between the felt and wire sides. Finally, in most papers the R finish has a slightly darker tone than the CP finish, and the HP is lighter than either, regardless of the basis weight. Retail availability permitting, I evaluated the complete range of finishes (usually R, CP and HP) from each manufacturer in the 300 GSM basis weight or the nearest equivalent (for example, 280 GSM for Velk Losiny Moldau paper). Color and lightness comparisons between brands were made with the CP sheets. No Japanese, Indian or other non-European papers are reviewed here because it would have been an overwhelming task to sample them fairly. I hope to try them someday. Where can you buy all these papers? The most popular brands are available from any of the recommended online retailers; be sure you comparison shop, as prices can vary widely. The most comprehensive inventory of art papers I am aware of is available from New York Central Art Supply ... call and ask for their paper department, and be sure they send you the latest copy of their paper catalog. You can find paper manufacturer addresses and phone numbers in the books by Sylvie Turner and Ian Sideway. For additional information about papers, I urge you to visit the Hand Papermaking web site, which includes a complete index to the current and past issues of their handsome magazine, published quarterly since 1986. The Twinrocker Mill site is also a great resource for paper information, links to related papermaking sites, and images of papermaking processes and equipment.

Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Arches
Papermaking was established at Arches et Archettes around 1620. Located on the Moselle River in the Vosges region of France (northeast of Dijon), the Arches paper manufactory grew rapidly during the 18th century to provide most of the paper used in France (including the document paper and currency for the French Revolution). In the early 1950s, the Arches factories were consolidated with papermakers in Grenoble and Paris to become Arjomari Prioux. This company was in turn recently acquired by the manufacturing conglomerate Arjo Wiggins. (Arches is usually pronounced "ARSH" in the USA and always in France.) ARCHES Aquarelle papers are among the most popular watercolor supports in the world. Papers are mouldmade, 100% cotton, acid free, surface sized with gelatin (the HP sheets are also internally sized) and air dried (the largest sheets show dime sized crush marks in the corners, created by the wooden clips used to hang the sheets for loft drying). There are two natural deckles, and sheets are marked both with the "Arches France" (with infinity symbol) watermark and a curved "Arches Aquarelle" embossed chop; the watermark and chop read from the wire side. The rattle is loud and bright (almost metallic) indicating excellent pulp maceration; the paper burns to a fibrous, silvery gray ash. Available in white sheets, in five weights from 185 to 850 GSM, and in rolls or the popular watercolor blocks in weights of 185 and 300 GSM. Price of a single 300 GSM full sheet is about US$3.20. The Rough finish (grain torchon in French) is a relatively mild texture for a rough sheet (and is slightly rougher on the wire side). Color is ivory, one of the warmest sheets tested, which made the ultramarine wash appear slightly dull. The sizing is relatively light, causing some blossoming in the magenta strokes; washes went on smoothly with no banding in the cobalt pigment, but the brush was exhausted fairly quickly and pigment texture was suppressed. Scrubbing left noticeable streaking; resists came off cleanly, but color lifted only with difficulty by scrubbing, and seriously damaged the paper surface (causing extensive wicking at the edge of repainted areas). The Cold Pressed

ARCHES AQUARELLE (300gsm R, CP, HP)

finish (grain fin) has a very subdued texture excellent for detailed work, though there are somewhat deeper depressions streaked throughout the sheet, parallel to the grain (again, the tooth is noticeably rougher on the wire side). Color is warm, a pale ivory, as dark as the R sheet. The sizing is relatively light; the sheet takes washes very evenly but exhausts the brush slightly more than usual. Gently displays pigment textures (although the cobalt violet caused some banding), and there was slight blossoming in the magenta stripes. Scrubbing left very noticeable streak marks; the green lifted completely with no damage to the paper surface or visible in the repainted area. Resists lifted cleanly and left a crisp edge. The Hot Pressed finish (grain satin) is extremely smooth, with no perceptible texture on the felt side (the wire has a slight eggshell texture), although the finish in the heavier weight (640 GSM) is coarser. Miniscule tufts of fiber jut out across the surface, giving the paper a slightly gritty roughness to touch; these fibers trap grainy pigments such as ultramarine blue or the cobalt blues, creating a speckled effect in washes. Color is a dull ivory white, slightly warmer than other HP sheets. The sizing is moderately heavy so a charge of paint covered a large area; washes showed noticeable banding and blossoming of color edges, but only moderate blossoming in the magenta; the fiber tufts caught pigment to create a slight stippling effect. Resists lifted cleanly; scrubbing left slight streaks that enhanced pigment texture; the green lifted completely but with a roughening of the surface that caused a slight wicking in repainted edges. The surface sizing is relatively hard in the Arches sheets, making the surface somewhat abrasive to graphite or charcoal pencils, which can also be difficult to erase. To minimize these problems, I use a kneadable eraser and a relatively soft lead pencil with light pressure. Pencil marks largely dissolve under painting, and charcoal will smear under water unless sprayed with a workable fixative before painting. The paper surface is sensitive to scraping or embossing, which seem to fracture the internal sizing and cause a bruiselike discoloration under wash coats. Large sheets are slightly scarred at the corners by the clips used to hang them during loft drying, but these marks are not ususally intrusive; however the chop is obvious under a finished painting. The sheets emit a subtle yeasty,

slightly bitter smell when thoroughly wet, and this is especially noticeable in the larger sheets. I've found the sheets tend to cockle excessively after repeated wash applications, and will curl widthwide (with the cylinder mould) to the point where I've had to clip the margins of 640 GSM full sheets to a painting board in order to keep them workably flat. The Arches papers are also available in the USA as six sizes of watercolor blocks, ranging from 7" x 10" to 18" x 24", in all three finishes in the 300 GSM weight. (Arches also makes blocks in a 185 GSM weight but these are hard to find in the USA, although they are usually available in Europe.) The blocks now have an excellent contrast across the three surface finishes; the CP sheets have been softened to an almost linen texture, and both the finish and the surface sizing seems less heavy than the R sheets. The surfaces are highly reliable and I have never encountered the wash blotching that can happen with uneven sizing applications in other brands. One drawback: the Arches blocks are bound with a black, tarry adhesive around all four sides, and this adhesive tends to crack if exposed to large or repeated changes in humidity or temperature, especially at the bond between the papers and the backing board or between two groups of papers. In extreme cases the papers separate completely from the backing board. Despite this, Arches is my preferred surface for plein air painting, moreso as they are available almost everywhere. Arches watercolor papers are one of the most durable and reliable supports, especially for large painting projects. In my tests they did not tolerate extensive reworking, though they produced beautiful textured effects when several layers of paint are modified by gentle rubbing and lifting. I have also received comments from longtime Arches users, who write that the quality of the sheets has declined over the past 10 to 20 years, in particular as regards the durability of the sheets and the assertiveness of the R finish. For all that, these are beautiful supports, physically strong with a beautiful texture in all finishes. They are also one of the few commercial papers (along with Saunders Waterford) available in the spectacular emperor format (40" x 60"). ARCHES Bright White is a recent addition to the line,

following a growing industry trend toward whiter supports. (Sheets marketed as "bright white" should only be used after you consider Sylvie Turner's warning that they usually contain more chemical additives, and are more likely to change color or deteriorate over time.) Papers are mouldmade, 100% cotton, acid free, surface sized with gelatin (the HP sheets are also internally sized), air dried, with two natural deckles, carrying both the "Arches France" with infinity symbol watermark and a curved "Arches Aquarelle" embossed chop. Now available from many direct order retailers (including Daniel Smith, New York Central Art Supply, and Cheap Joe's) as single sheets or packs in 300 or 640 GSM weights. Price of a single 300 GSM full sheet is about US$3.20. The Cold Pressed finish is slightly less textured than the CP finish in the regular color, with a subtle wove texture (and more pronounced tooth on the wire side). The photo shows the difference in surface texture between the 300 and 640 GSM weights characteristically, a heavier sheet by the same manufacturer will have a deeper, more pronounced texture. The sheets are not at all "bright" white in comparison to Kilimanjaro, Winsor & Newton or Larroque: they are approximately the same tone as Lanaquarelle. The sizing is moderately heavy; both sheets take very even washes and display pigment texture well, but exhasted the brush more quickly than usual; there was no blossoming in the magenta. Resists lifted cleanly; scrubbing left sluffing and visible streaks in the 640 sheet but not the 300; color lifted completely in both weights, but left visible damage (wicking at the edge of repainted areas) in the 640 GSM weight.

Fabriano
Founded in 1282, the paper mill at Fabriano (on the Esino River inland from Ancona, Italy) is the oldest continuously operating paper mill in Europe. The Cartiere Miliani Fabriano claims to have innovated three techniques which are still a part of papermaking today: the identification of papers using watermarks, the hydraulic hammer pile for pulverizing the rags, and gelatin sizing to strengthen paper and render it more receptive to ink and paint. Mechanization came in the late eighteenth century, largely through the efforts of Pietro Miliani. The Fabriano firm was acquired by the Miliani family in the 1950's and has remained at the center of its business operations to this day. The Fabriano firm supports an enormous span of papermaking activities, from paper for the first issue of EU currency to art papers skillfully handmade with the traditional pulp furnish and cold water techniques. Some of their handmade papers include earth pigments from Sienna and Umbria regions, which gives them a luxurious, weighty quality combined with a remarkable softness of texture. Three lines of Fabriano paper are important for the watercolorist: Fabriano Artistico papers are a well-known, widely used and fairly inexpensive watercolor support. Papers are mouldmade, 100% cotton, acid free, surface sized, with two natural deckle edges, and the watermark "C.M. FABRIANO - 100/100 COTTON" along both edges. The rattle is moderately bright and somewhat rounded; the paper burns to a very light gray, fragile ash. Available as white sheets or rolls, in the standard three finishes (R, CP and HP), in weights of 200, 300 and 600 GSM. Price of a single 300 GSM full sheet is about US$3.20. The Rough finish (grana grossa in Italian) offers a really unusual texture: a fairly smooth surface cratered with many differently sized, overlapping "ball peen" indentations. This produces the most pronounced pooling of granular pigments (cobalts, ultramarine blue, cadmiums) of any moderately priced paper; the drawback is that the cratering will intrude texture throughout a wash, making the paint appear spotted or splotchy. Color is a creamy warm white. The sizing is

FABRIANO ARTISTICO (300gsm R, CP, HP)

moderately heavy: despite its texture the surface does not exhaust a brush, and it takes washes very evenly with very little banding and no blossoming in the magenta areas. Resists lifted cleanly with no surface damage; scrubbing left visible streaks under a wash; however the sap green lifted completely with no visible damage to the surface. The Cold Pressed finish (grana fina) has a robust wove texture, much like a coarse linen sheet; the texture on the wire side is mixed and much less pronounced. Color is a creamy warm white. The sizing is moderately heavy; it takes washes very evenly without exhausting the brush (but with noticeable cobalt banding in the paper texture); there was no blossoming in the magenta areas. The paper curled excessively when wet, but dried flat. Resists lifted cleanly with no damage; scrubbing left visible streaking and increased pigment texture in the wash; the green lifted completely with slight surface sluffing and wicking at the edge of repainted areas. The Hot Pressed finish (grana satinata) has one of the more refined HP surfaces available: no protruding tufts of lint, and a very tiny, subtle wove texture is just visible to the eye under oblique light. Color is a reflective ivory, one of the warmest HP sheets, but it shows all colors to good advantage. Unfortunately the sizing is poorly adjusted: both the ultramarine washes and magenta stripes blotched and blossomed uncontrollably, and the paper curled excessively as it dried. Scrubbing roughened the surface and sluffed off little rolls of paper, leaving obtrusive streaks that showed up under a wash; resists left no damage, and lifting the sap green color roughened the surface but did not affect the appearance of the repainted area. Fabriano provides the Artistico grade in watercolor blocks. These have a less assertive texture; the CP finish in particular does very well with granulating pigments such as cerulean blue. The sheets very infrequently show the same blotching under washes, caused by a contaminant in the surface sizing that repels water, that frequently appears in the Lanaquarelle sheets. The blocks are also considerably more absorbent (lightly sized), which causes more pronounced blossoming and unevenness in wash areas than occurs in the single sheets.

Fabriano Uno papers are a recent addition to the art paper offerings. Sheets are mouldmade, 100% cotton rag, acid free, internally and surface sized with Aquapel, with two natural deckle edges, with the watermark "+ Fabriano Uno" along one edge ("one the first watermarks in recorded history, a simple cross symbolizing the marriage of tradition and innovation," in the words of the inspired Fabriano marketeer); the watermark "reads right" from the wire side. The rattle is bright with a slight warble; the paper burns to a talc white, fragile, powdery ash. Available in white sheets, in four finishes (R, CP, HP and a novel finish unique to Uno called "soft-pressed" or grana dolce, SP), in weights of 200, 300 and 600 GSM, or in blocks of 300 GSM. Price of a 300 GSM full sheet is about US$3.50. The range of textures in the Uno line is much less contrasted than in the Artistico. The Rough finish is noticeably less textured than the R finish in many other brands (compare, for example, to Arches, Whatman or Winsor & Newton). The tooth is extremely even, gappy but not very deep, and slightly lighter on the wire side; deckles are small, thin and irregular. Color is a medium white. The sizing is moderate; takes washes very well without exhausting the brush, with enhanced pigment texturing and a very slight banding of the cobalt pigment; and very gentle blossoming in the magenta areas. Resists came off cleanly without surface damage; scrubbing left no marks; the green did not lift completely and caused slight wicking at the edges of repainted areas. The Cold Pressed finish is again slightly less textured than the same finish in other brands. It has a subdued linen texture, similar to the wire side of the Artistico sheet, that is receptive to detail; the deckles are thin and very ragged. Color is a cool medium white. The sizing is slightly thin; the sheet took washes well without exhausting the brush, displayed the flocculation nicely but also caused banding in the cobalt pigment. The magenta blossomed slightly in the wash area. Resists came off with no damage; scrubbing left very faint streak marks easily masked by the ultramarine texture. The green lifted with effort but the scrubbing did not damage the paper or cause wicking when repainted. The Soft Pressed finish appears to be the CP texture run under a slightly higher pressure calendering; the wire sides of the SP and CP sheets are almost indistinguishable. I find little to choose between the two surfaces. The color is a cool

FABRIANO UNO (300gsm R, CP, SP, HP)

grayed white. In most respects the paper behaves much like the CP finish, excepting that the magenta blossoms noticeably and the green only lifted with a lot of sluffing and visible damage to the surface, though repainted areas were discolored but did not wick at the edges. The Hot Pressed finish has a gentle eggshell texture, clean of fiber imperfections, with an irregular, ghostly blanket running across the felt side; the deckles are very thin, ragged, and characterful. Color is a bright medium white. The sizing is very good; there was little blotching or banding in the washes (for an HP sheet); but the magenta areas blossomed strongly. Resists lifted cleanly without damage. Scrubbing left visible marks; the green did not lift completely, caused sluffing, and left a noticeable discoloration under the repainted areas (but no wicking at the edges). Fabriano Esportatzione is a renowned and very expensive paper that Sylvie Turner calls "especially delicious." All sheets are handmade, 100% cotton and cotton rag, neutral pH, acid free, internally and tub sized with gelatin, with four natural deckle edges, the CP sheet is watermarked "Hand Made" and "CM Fabriano Italy" in opposite corners along one deckle edge. The rattle is solid and slightly wooden; the paper burns to a very scanty light gray ash. Available as an ivory white, in CP and R finishes only, in weights of 200, 315 and 600 GSM. Price of a single 315 GSM full sheet is a stunning US$24.85 (!) or more, and only a few suppliers (such as New York Central Art Supply and Jerry's Artarama) carry it in the USA. The Rough finish is an extraordinarily assertive, declarative surface, with a very coarse and deep tooth gathered into broad striations running across the grain, punctuated with very small gouges scattered across the surface in different orientations. This is a finish that can emerge from underneath even the most exuberant acrylic or watercolor gestures. Deckles are almost nonexistent. Color is a deep ivory, the warmest of any sheet tested. The sizing is moderately heavy; the texture quickly exhausted the brush and broke up the strokes: washes must be applied juicily and aggressively. Pigment texture is impossible to read over the jumble of tooth. The magenta went on without any blossoming. Resists came off cleanly and scrubbing left no marks whatever. The green lifted with only slight sluffing of the surface but caused noticeable wicking at

FABRIANO ESPORTATZIONE (640gsm R, CP)

the edges of repainted areas, and color sunk in the deepest cracks was impossible to dig out. In general this sheet should only be attempted with a very assertive, exuberant style; it won't support detail, delicate pigment effects, or much reworking. The Cold Pressed finish is much smoother and, although similar in texture to many other CP sheets, has a density of grain and a firmness in the tooth that lets it draw texture from many kinds of brushstrokes. Deckles are small and very thin. Color is a very warm ivory white, one of the darkest sheets tested, which will dull most transparent colors painted on it. The surface sizing is well judged: the sheet took washes very evenly, without exhausting the brush; there was faint banding in the cobalt pigment, a slight display of ultramarine flocculation, and absolutely no blossoming in the magenta. The resists came off cleanly, without scarring; scrubbing left absolutely no marks. The green lifted only with effort and significant damage to the surface; the edges of the repainted area wicked extensively. The sheet holds moisture once wet, and the internal sizing does not close all the interstices in the pulp, with the result that paint may wick beyond brushstroke edges in areas where two or more juicy layers of paint have been applied. Fabriano makes other handmade sheets, and of these the Fabriano Umbria papers are also suitable for watercoloring. This paper has no surface sizing and responds with slightly more absorbency than a surface sized paper. Fabriano also offers the inexpensive Fabriano Watercolor paper in sheets or blocks, a student grade made from high alpha wood cellulose.

Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Hahnemhle
The Hahnemhle paper mill was founded in 1584 to supply paper to the administrative offices of the Duke of Brunswick. In 1886 the original mill was named after one of its owners, Carl Hahne; his last name is also the German word for "cockerel," which became the company's watermark. The firm merged with Schleicher & Schll early in the 20th century and continues operation today in Dassel (Germany). The Hahnemhle Aquarelle papers are mouldmade, 100% cotton, neutral pH and buffered with calcium carbonate, internally and tub sized, air dried, two natural deckles, with the "shield and cockerel" watermark (the shield should be on the left). The rattle is subdued and rubbery; the paper burns to a powdery, HAHNEMHLE AQUARELLE pure white ash. Sheets and blocks are available in (300gsm CP) white, chamois or gray, in CP, R and an "Extra Rough" sheet with a unique "coarse canvas" texture, in a wide range of formats, in weights of 200, 230, 300 and 600 GSM. Price of a single 300 GSM full sheet is about US$4.45. The Cold Pressed finish is subtly textured compared to CP finishes in most other brands, with a gentle irregularity to the surface that makes it responsive to detail. The hand is very silky and the surface is evenly absorbent to washes. The deckles are slightly larger and more irregular than usual, with pronounced scalloping and tearing along the edge. Color is a bright bluish white. Unfortunately the sizing is much too thin: wash strokes banded uncontrollably and adjacent areas refused to join smoothly, pigment texture was completely suppressed, and the paper wicked up a fat stain wherever the brush was lifted from the paper. Overpainting the wash caused unsightly wicking at the edges of the repainted area. Resists came off only with great effort, and left the surface damaged; scrubbing left a slight streaking. The green was impossible to lift and caused sluffing and extensive wicking at the edges of repainted areas. An interesting paper for calligraphic and single coat painting styles, but completely unsuitable for any techniques requiring washes, multiple glazes, corrections, or pigment lifting.

The Hahnemhle Albrecht Durer Watercolor is mouldmade, 25% cotton and 75% high alpha cellulose, neutral pH, internally and surface sized, two natural deckles, with the "Albrecht Durer" watermark. The rattle is medium loud and flappy; the paper burns to a powdery, pure white ash. Sheets are available in CP only, one size (91/2" x 121/2"), and one weight (300 1/2 1/2 GSM). Price of a single 300 GSM 9 " x 12 " sheet is about US$1.50. The Cold Pressed finish (like the Aquarelle sheet) has a smooth, almost velvety feel, although it is slightly rougher than the Aquarelle. This is an exquisite little sheet, with a delightful upward cupping of the edges on the felt side and a regular scalloping in the deckles, giving it the appearance of a shallow porcelain dish. Color is a slightly bright medium white. The sizing is perfectly judged: the sheet took washes flawlessly with no banding (not even in the cobalt pigment), and displayed the pigment texture wonderfully. The magenta went on absolutely evenly without a hint of blossoming. Scrubbing left no marks whatever and the resists came off cleanly without damage to the surface. The green lifted completely with very slight sluffing, but no trace of wicking at the edge of the repainted area. All in all a superb sheet. If your painting style can fit in the miniature format, don't pass up the chance to give this little woodpulp paper a try.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

HAHNEMHLE DURER AQUARELLE (300gsm CP)

Hayle Mill
The Hayle Mill in Kent, England was purchased by John Green in 1815, and the Green family produced papers there continuously until the mill closed in 1987. Papers manufactured at Hayle were used by English and continental watercolor artists from J.M.W. Turner on. The mill continues to sell old paper stock and papermaking equipment, and a variety of old papers can still be obtained under the J. Green or Hayle Mill trademarks from stores that carry historical watercolor papers (such as NY Central Art Supply). For many contemporary artists, the remaindered and fragmentary stocks of Hayle Mill papers, often dog eared, torn, foxed and yellowed, remain the last genuine contact with the papermaking craft of many decades ago. The J. Green & Sons RWS Watercolor paper was for many years the official paper of the Royal Watercolor Society. From 1895 to 1962, in response to continued market pressures on the quality of watercolor papers, the mill made papers furnished only of cotton rag, gelatin, alum, rosin and soap, and watermarked as the "official paper of the Royal Watercolor Society." Sheets are mouldmade, 100% cotton, neutral pH, internally and tub sized with gelatin, air dried, with two natural deckle edges, and marketed under a wide range of watermarks (my samples have "Hayle Mill - 41" centered along one edge and "Hand Made" in an opposite corner). The rattle is loud but not too sharp; the paper burns to a blackish, brittle ash. The paper feels rather thin and warps easily when wet, but withstands extensive working and holds colors very well. The age of the sheets caused some foxing, warping or discoloration in individual pieces. Price of a single 300 GSM full sheet, rough finish, is about US$7.00. The Extra Rough finish is a coarsely marbled, assertive surface with a fat, rounded tooth and fairly regular wove texure; deckles consist of a slight crimping of the edges. Color is a dull warm white. The sizing is heavy and resisted the wash mixture on the first pass; once wetted, the ultramarine went on very smoothly without the least banding; pigment tended to collect in the crevaces, however, reducing pigment texture. The magenta showed no blossoming. Scrubbing left

J. GREEN & SON RWS WATERCOLOR (300gsm XR, R)

absolutely no marks; resists came off cleanly. The green lifted quickly and completely, with no visible change to the paper or repainted area. The Rough finish is a mixed texture of wove and blanket, providing a stuccolike range of rounded tooth on each side; deckles are limited to a crimped curling of the edge. The color is a dull warm white. The sizing is heavy and seems to have picked up oil with age; washes skipped and beaded up on the first pass, and several strokes were required to wet and cover the surface, exhausting the brush quickly. Once wetted, washes went on smoothly with moderate flocculation in the ultramarine and slight blossoming in the magenta. Resists came off quickly with no surface damage; scrubbing left no marks whatever. The green lifted like chalk from a blackboard, with absolutely no visible change in the surface or repainted area. According to Sylvie Turner, the J. Green & Sons Crisbrook "has been and possibly still is one of the papers most sought-after by artists for both watercolour and printmaking." Papers are handmade, 100% cotton, neutral pH, internally and tub sized with gelatin, air dried, with two natural deckles, and marketed under different watermarks (my samples have "Hand Made" and "ENGLAND 1970" in opposite corners along one long edge). Ironically, Crisbrook was first produced at Hayle Mill in 1927 as a cheaper version of another paper, and production continued with several changes in the furnish, sizing and finish. The rattle is moderately loud and snappy; the paper burns to a near black, very brittle ash. The pulp texture in my samples is uneven and in some sheets becomes irregular or "curdles" within a few inches of the deckles. (These are clearly the last remaining sheets of the run.) Price of a single 300 GSM full sheet is about US$8.00, although these papers are now almost impossible to find on the retail market. The Cold Pressed finish has a somewhat fine texture, with a stubbly, rounded tooth and an even wove pattern in all directions. The pulp is not evenly distributed in the sheets I acquired, clumping and thinning toward the long sides (caused by less than expert casting of the pulp). Color is a dull ivory white, one of the darkest sheets tested. The heavy sizing seems to have picked up oils over time; washes simply beaded up and would only take with repeated brushing; there was moderate

CRISBROOK HANDMADE (300gsm CP)

flocculation and absolutely no cobalt banding in the wash strokes. The magenta brushed on unevenly but with no blossoming. Resists came off cleanly, and scrubbing left no visible marks. The green sponged off easily with no visible change in the paper or repainted area.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Jack Richeson
The Jack Richeson company is a family owned art supplies manufacturer and distributor located in Wisconsin (USA). They provide a large selection of products, including brushes and artist's easels, under their own name, and are sole owners of other brands such as Yarka, Best Easels, Unison pastels and Shiva oil paints and oil bars. Founded in 1981 by Jack Richeson and his wife Ruth, the company has expanded largely by acquiring niche or languishing brands and rebuilding them through inflated list prices that are aggressively discounted for favored retailers. Richeson's watercolor paints are made by and sold under the Yarka brand, and they offer a reasonably wide selection of their own watercolor brushes. The Jack Richeson Watercolor papers are a slightly warm white sheet. Sheets are mouldmade, 100% cotton, and pH neutral, internally sized with Aquapel and externally sized with animal gelatin, with two natural deckle edges, and the watermark "JACK RICHESON" in the lower left corner (the watermark reads right from the felt side). Finish is comparable on both the wire and felt sides. The rattle is slightly muffled, indicating the cellulose fibers were not intensively macerated and are not tightly compacted. The papers burn to a very light gray, fragile ash. Available in CP or R finish, in weights of 300 or 640 GSM as single (30"x22") or (60"x40") sheets, or as watercolor blocks in (15"x11"), (22"x15") formats. Price of a single 300 GSM 22" x 30" sheet is about US$4.00. The finish deliciously combines a slight linear pattern from the mould with an even, gentle tooth from the blanket, visible as a regular texture of shallow dimples. Deckles are medium sized and appear sheared or flexed along the length of the sheet, as if the paper had been pulled sideways from the mould. The color is a bright and slightly warm white. The sizing is minimal: the sheet exhausted the wash rather quickly, and the cobalt banding was hardly visible; the magenta went on smoothly with no trace of blossoming; the ultramarine gave a soft, subdued flocculation. Resists came off cleanly and easily. Scrubbing did little to lift color and if pursued caused unsightly streak marks and bruising; any lifting causes some damage or discoloration

apparent under the repainted area. This last point bears emphasis, because the sheets were sold to me by Robert Doak (Brooklyn, NY) as having an ample surface sizing of vegetable starch which would hold the color on the surface and make pigments easy to lift. Just the opposite is true. The sheet soaks up paint like a raw cotton swab, and once applied (whether wet in wet or wet on dry) nearly all paints are impossible to lift cleanly. (Some paint does lift, of course, but the range of manipulation possible through rubbing or lifting is very limited.) Backruns are difficult to produce intentionally, and surface moisture quickly migrates into the core of the paper. For sceptics, here is a simple and convincing test: draw a pencil line on the sheet with a soft lead graphite pencil, then paint over the line with a diluted watercolor paint. Not only does the line remain intact after the paint has dried, you can actually erase the line with a kneadable eraser without lifting any of the paint, which has sunk underneath it! If a significant layer of surface sizing were present, the graphite would either dissolve away when the paint was applied or would fuse with the sizing as it dried, making it difficult to erase. The paint color is also no brighter than it is on most other sheets. In sum, these papers hardly live up to the claims made for them by Stephen Quiller, Doak and others.
Last revised 02.20.2004 2004 Bruce MacEvoy

Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro papers are the house brand of art retailer Cheap Joe's, marketed to be "The Whitest Watercolor Paper On Earth." Joe's won't provide the name of the paper manufacturer, though it is apparently a European company widely known for its affordable, student grade watercolor papers. The Kilimanjaro sheets are mouldmade, 100% cotton rag, acid free, pH neutral and buffered, internally sized, with two natural deckles, and carrying the embossed "KILIMANJARO" chop in the lower left corner of a long edge. The rattle is loud and fairly bright; the papers burn to a brittle, light gray ash. However, sheets marketed as "bright white" should only be used after you consider Sylvie Turner's warning that they contain more chemical additives, and are more likely to change color or deteriorate over time. Available in white sheets, CP finish only, in 300 or 640 GSM weights, and as watercolor blocks or pads. Price of a single 300 GSM full sheet (sold only in packs of 10 or more) is about US$2.50. The Cold Pressed finish has a gentle tooth and very consistent stubbly texture; the deckles are thin and even. The color is a moderately cool white, but not at all "the whitest watercolor paper on earth" as the marketers claim: one fourth of the papers tested here appeared brighter or whiter. The sizing is moderate and the paper has good absorbency; the sheet took a wash with noticeable banding in the cobalt pigment and minimal flocculation in the ultramarine, and there was no blossoming in the magenta. Resists came off cleanly, but scrubbing left visible streaks under a wash. The green did not lift completely with sponging, and produced a very large, unsightly wicking around the repainted area. All in all, this paper shows pigment color well and is easy to work with, but not suitable for work that requires extensive lifting or editing. Lacking assurance that it does not suffer from the permanence problems of "bright white" papers, and given the moderate durability of its surface, I would rate this as an average quality watercolor paper.
Last revised 02.20.2004 2004 Bruce MacEvoy

KILIMANJARO (300gsm CP)

Lanaquarelle
The Papeterie de Lana, located in Docelles, France (near Arches) began papermaking in 1590 and has been in continuous operation ever since. It was recently acquired by the French paper manufacturing group Aussedat Rey, which is in turn owned by International Paper (whose subsidiaries in the USA include the brand names Strathmore, HammerMill, and Beckett). Lanaquarelle papers are mouldmade, 100% cotton, acid free, internally and surface sized, with 2 natural deckles, with a curving "lanaquarelle France" chop embossed in one corner. The rattle is moderately loud and bright; the papers burn to a brittle, light gray ash. The surfaces sluff easily under repeated washes or sponging, making this paper unsuitable for styles that require scumbling or lifting. Color is a lovely warm ivory, midway between the whitest and darkest sheets tested. Available in white single sheets, rolls or blocks, in the standard three finishes (R, CP and HP), in three weights (185, 300 and 640 GSM). Price of a single 300 GSM imperial (22" x 30") sheet is about $3.00. The Rough finish is comparable to the CP finish in some other brands (Arches, Winsor & Newton). It has a small, stubbly tooth that is very evenly spaced across the sheet; the wire side is slightly smoother. Deckles are very small and even. The color is a middle white, neither warm nor cool. The sizing is moderately heavy: the sheet took an even wash without exhausting the brush. There was no ultramarine flocculation or blossoming in the magenta area, but there was noticeable cobalt banding. Resists came off cleanly with no damage; but scrubbing sluffed off large quantities of paper, scarred the surface, and left very unsightly streaking under a wash. The green lifted completely but left scarring visible under the repainted area. The Cold Pressed finish has even less character than the R, again with a very consistent and rounded tooth, perfect for detail work. The wire side is smoother than the Fabriano Uno SP, approaching a HP texture. Deckles are again small and even. The color is a middle white, neither warm nor cool. The paper responded to scrubbing, resists and lifting with less damage than the R sheet; the washes were more even and without flocculation, but still with

LANA LANAQUARELLE (300gsm R, CP, HP)

noticeable cobalt banding. The Hot Pressed finish has very smooth surface with a gentle striated pattern in the eggshell texture; again the deckles are small and even. The color is medium white. The sizing is excellent; the sheet takes a wash with very little banding, pigment texture or splotching (in comparison to other HP sheets), the magenta blossoming was rather subdued. Scrubbing or lifting still visibly scarred the paper and showed through repainted areas, but less so than in the other Lana finishes. I should mention that I've had bad experiences with the Lanaquarelle watercolor blocks. I've often found that several sheets in a block are not acceptably sized: a random splatter of excess external sizing (or some other contaminant that repels water) appears on the paper surface. When a wash is laid over these areas, the water rolls off without penetrating the paper, leaving an ugly white blotch. If gently scrubbed or sponged, left to dry, then brushed lightly to remove sluffed paper and loose fibers, the sheets seem to tolerate some reworking, as repainted areas did not wick at the edges. But the streaks and discolorations from lifting can be very noticeable under washes, so this paper cannot be recommended for assertive lifting techniques.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Moulin de Larroque
One of two paper mills operated by Georges Duchne that are devoted to hand papermaking techniques. Founded in 1972, the mill is located in the village of Couze-Saint-Front (near Bergerac, east of Bordeaux, France), housed in a 13th century stone mill house over the Couze River. The Moulin de Larroque manufactures 120 kinds of paper for use by artists and bibliophiles. The Larroque-Duchne Aquarelle Album sheets are handmade, 100% cotton, neutral pH, internally and surface sized with gelatin, oven dried, with four 1/4" natural deckles, no watermark. The rattle is moderately loud and wooden; the papers burn to a medium dark gray, fibrous ash. Only available as single white sheets, rough finish, in three formats (9" x 13", 12" x 17", and 17" x 22"), 400 GSM weight only. Price of a single 400 GSM 12" x 17" sheet is about US$4.00. The Rough sheets are a very bright white (the whitest of all sheets tested), with uneven deckles and an irregular rectangular shape (corners are somewhat rounded and opposite sides are occasionally not parallel, due to shrinkage during drying). The texture is assertive almost to the point of being dominating: the tooth is uneven and knobby, and sometimes gets less coarse within an inch or two of the long edges. Precise edges or thin lines are hard to do, and paint occasionally wicks through surface voids beyond the painted edge. The surface does not withstand hard use: it takes one or two washes well, but repeated washes or aggressive brushwork or lifting techniques quickly soften the surface, dislodging thin rolls of paper. Pigment texture is suppressed by the coarse finish, though slight banding did appear in the cobalt violet. The magenta went on smoothly with absolutely no blossoming, indicating heavy surface sizing, and in general blossoming is minimal. Resists could not be removed without peeling off thin sheets of paper, but scrubbing sluffed the surface and left very dark streaks under a wash and heavy wicking at the edges of repainted areas. The green could not be completely removed without digging well under the surface, and surface imperfections were fairly common, causing unexpected discolorations in a wash (which usually disappeared

LARROQUE-DUCHNE AQUARELLE (400gsm R)

when the sheet dried). Larroque also produces a Ficelle Linen sheet suitable for watercolor (internally and externally sized) in a single color (soft gray), finish (cold pressed), format (15" x 19"), and weight (250 GSM); a single sheet costs around US$7.20.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Saint Armand
The Papeterie de St. Armand (514-9318338; 3700 rue St. Patrick, Montral, Quebec H4E 1A2) was established in 1979 in Montral to produce handmade papers "in the traditional style with a dash of modern technology." The staff make approximately 400 sheets a day under the guidance of founder and master papermaker Dave Carruthers. Both handmades and machinemades come from the same pulp stock; the mill uses cotton, flax, hemp, jute, linen rags, coffee bean bags, cotton T-shirts, denim pants, even recycled money. The St. Armand Dominion Aquarelle papers are handmade, cotton rag with linen, acid free and pH neutral, air dried, internally and surface sized, with four natural deckle edges, and the "Papeterie de St. Armand" trademark embossed in the lower right corner. The rattle is subdued and rubbery; the papers burn to a wispy, very light gray ash. Single sheets come in white, the standard three textures (R, CP and HP) finished the same on both sides, in the imperial format and three nonstandard sizes (18" x 24", 30" x 40", and 36" x 48"), in weights of 300, 400, 600 and 900 GSM. Price of a single 400 GSM full sheet is $9.00. The Cold Pressed finish is quite rough, approaching Esportatzione R for the coarseness of its wove texture. The surface is lumpy and uneven, with interesting variations along the deckle. The sheet is quite stiff for its weight; the surface irregularities relax only when the entire sheet is thoroughly wet, and the cockling in partially wetted or drying sheets can become quite pronounced. The color is a soft greenish gray. The sizing is good; the sheet took washes very evenly with no pigment texture or banding (even in the cobalt violet); the magenta showed no blossoming. Resists came off easily and cleanly; scrubbing left no marks whatever. The green did not lift completely and caused extensive wicking at the edges of repainted areas. Indeed, most paints, even earth pigments or cobalts, do not lift easily (even immediately after they have been applied), but this invites you to use a gradual buildup of loosely applied and diluted tints, which cumulate to an evocative, rough stucco or masonry effects in the color appearance and in the the surface finish revealed

St. ARMAND DOMINION AQUARELLE (400gsm CP, HP)

through the separation of wash pigments and everything is crisply visible against the cool whiteness of the sheet. The Hot Pressed finish is easily as coarse as the CP finish in any other sheet; the deckles are large, stiff and very ragged or curled. The color is again a light greenish gray. The paper behaves much like the CP finish, except that there was more pigment texture in washes (but without the cobalt violet banding), slight blossoming in the magenta, and increased wicking around the edges of repainted scrubbed areas. The surface of both sheets has a wonderful broad undulating rhythm, like the surface of a calm ocean, that contrasts with the much finer pattern of the tooth.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Saunders Waterford
Saunders Waterford is the brand manufactured by St. Cuthberts Mill, located in the Axe Valley in Somerset site of the earliest papermaking mills in England. Current operations combine traditional techniques with computerized mechanization to produce a consistent and high quality sheet. Now part of the Invernesk group, the mill produces special makings and stock runs for retail brands such as Winsor & Newton. The Saunders Waterford papers are the premium quality watercolor papers made by St. Cuthberts; they combine features of the previous T.H. Saunders papers but with a tougher surface. Sheets are mouldmade, 100% cotton, internally and surface sized with gelatin, acid free, two natural deckle edges, with the watermark "T H SAUNDERS ENGLAND" or "SAUNDERS WATERFORD" along one deckle edge and the trademark "Waterford Series" embossed in one corner. The rattle is loud and fairly bright, indicating the pulp was well pounded; the papers burn to a light reddish gray to medium dark gray ash, indicating moderate inclusion of additives. The wire side has a subtle, gently undulating wire pattern. Available in white sheets or rolls, in a variety of formats, in R, CP and HP finish, in six nonstandard weights from 150 to 638 GSM. Price of a single 285 GSM full sheet is about US$2.40. The Rough finish is one of the coarsest of any R sheet available, although the tooth is rounded and in low relief, excellent for granular pigments. The deckle is thin and ragged. The color is a warm ivory, slightly warmer than the Arches sheets but not as warm as the Esportatzione. The sheet took a very even wash, with very little pigment texture or cobalt violet banding. The magenta went on smoothly without any blossoming, indicating good surface sizing. Scrubbing left a distinct streak visible under a wash; resists lifted cleanly without damage to the surface. The green sponged off easily, with no damage or change in the repainted area. The Cold Pressed finish is similar to the Arches CP, although the surface stands up less well to scraping or assertive brushwork. The color is a warm ivory white. The sizing is slightly lighter than in the R sheet: the CP took a wash evenly but with noticeable cobalt violet banding and negligible blossoming in the magenta. The

SAUNDERS WATERFORD (300gsm R, CP, HP)

lifting capabilities of the paper are generally excellent: scrubbing left barely visible streak marks, and the green sponged off with difficulty but with no damage or discoloration to the paper or repainted areas. Resists came off easily. The Hot Pressed finish has a clear eggshell texture, comparable to the Fabriano Uno SP, with a much wider weave than other HP papers. The color is a dull ivory, the darkest of all HP sheets tested. This sheet took one of the most even washes of an HP sheet, but with strong cobalt violet banding; the magenta blossoming was slight, and flocculation almost absent, indicating good sizing for an HP sheet. Resists came off quickly and cleanly, but scrubbing left a noticeable streaking. The green lifted completely with no visible damage or discoloration. All the sheets are dimensionally quite stable, cockling very little even after repeated applications of wash solutions. The Waterford sheets are generally very good for washes and limited lifting techniques; they have the advantage of solid dependability on all dimensions of performance. Cool colors tend to look slightly dull against the ivory tone of the support, which however makes the sheets especially suitable for warm toned portrait, figure or landscape work. And Waterford is one of the few commercial sheets (with Arches and Lanaquarelle) that is available in the spectacular emperor format (40" x 60"). Overall, Waterford has become one of my favorite mouldmade sheets.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Twinrocker
The Twinrocker paper mill, founded on April Fool's Day of 1971 by Howard and Kathryn Clark, has been instrumental in the revival of hand papermaking in America. (They sell a complete range of hand papermaking supplies, including ready to use pulp, pigments and sizing, moulds, deckles and instructional books, videos and workshop lecturers.) Located in Brookston (near Springfield), Indiana (USA), Twinrocker specializes exclusively in a large range of art papers, including papers for charcoal, pastel, printmaking, book repair and watermedia painting in a variety of colors and furnishes; they also manufacture stock sheets for retail brands such as Daniel Smith and NY Central Art Supply. They can produce a "special making" or custom paper runs to any feasible client specification of furnish, inclusions, tinting, weight, hardness, finish and format, and can even include a custom watermark. The mill runs a subscription service to keep buyers up to date with paper samples and specials. It was also the first paper mill to launch its own web site, where you will find a highly informative video on hand papermaking. Twinrocker White Watercolor papers are handmade, 100% cotton and cotton rag, acid free, wove finish, air dried, internally and surface sized with gelatin, four natural deckle edges, with the Twinrocker symbol (a two-sided rocking chair that resembles an anchor) embossed in one corner. The rattle is moderately loud and snappy, and brightest in the HP sheet; the papers burn to a very wispy, scanty white ash, indicating no fillers or inorganic additives. Twinrocker also offers an exaggerated, decorative 2" "feather" deckle on most of its watercolor papers: handle with care and always store these papers flat, as the deckle can be fragile. Papers available in sheets only, in two finishes (R and CP); the CP sheets can be calendared for a slight extra charge to make an HP finish on one or both sides. Watermedia papers come in weights of 200 ("heavy text"), 255 ("light art"), 410 ("art"), 460 ("heavy art") and 650 ("board") GSM in a variety of formats; a recent check of their inventory showed the 410 GSM "art" papers available in 22 different round, square or rectangular dimensions (up to 34" x 48"). Price of a single 410 GSM regular deckle full sheet is about US$12.00.

TWINROCKER WHITE WATERCOLOR (410gsm R, CP, HP)

The Rough paper has a relatively subdued, dense finish for a handmade sheet, with patterns of surface texture and surface undulations visible at many different spatial frequencies. The deckle is small, firm and gently irregular. Color is an unbiased white that displays all transparent and diluted colors with bright effect. The sizing is perfectly adjusted to permit beautifully even washes that seem to glide over rather than sink into the surface; a little wash goes a long way, yet flocculation shows up nicely and there is only a slight blossoming in finely divided pigments. In my tests the resists lifted cleanly and easily; scrubbing and resists left absolutely no marks on the paper, and the green lifted with difficulty but without damage to the surface or discoloration under repainted areas. The Cold Pressed finish is much smoother than most commercially available CP sheets, very hard and free of lint; some may find it acceptably equivalent to a hot pressed surface. Color is approximately a middle white. As with the R sheet, the sizing is perfectly adjusted to permit beautifully even washes that seem to glide over rather than sink into the surface; a little wash goes a long way, yet flocculation shows up nicely and there is not a trace of blossoming in the magenta. Scrubbing and resists leave absolutely no marks; however color lifts with difficulty and with very slight damage to the paper (colors wick slightly into the rubbed area). The Hot Pressed finish is a beautiful smooth surface with irregular dimpling and patches of eggshell texture scattered randomly across it; the deckle is firm and nicely scalloped. The color is a middle white, neither warm nor cool. The main differences in the HP sheet were increased flocculation and cobalt banding in the washes; slightly more pronounced blossoming in the magenta, and a faint streaking caused by the sponge scrubbing. Overall, the Twinrocker watercolor white is one of the most impressive watercolor papers reviewed here, well worth trying out for your most ambitious projects. I have been especially impressed with the furnish and finish consistency of the sheets, the receptive quality of the surface sizing, and the brilliant appearance of watercolors on these sheets. Don't underestimate the range of Twinrocker papers. They will produce a "special making" of papers to your

specification for a minimum order of $500; for sizes up to a full sheet there is a $150 set up fee and a $250 fee for sheets larger than that. They also have many other papers in stock or in back inventory that are internally or surface sized for watercolor use. Among them are Taupe (a middle value warm gray), Heartland (a white paper with additions of natural colored fibers), and Bleached Abaca (a gentle buff white obtained through sun bleaching of abaca fibers). For more information, visit their web site, or call 1-800-757-TWIN.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Velk Losiny
The Velk Losiny paper mill in northern Moravia (Czech Republic) has been in continuous operation since 1496. Today the papermaking operations are housed in three Baroque era buildings, which serve both as a working mill and a papermaking museum. The Velk Losiny MOLDAU watercolor papers are handmade, of 60% linen and 40% cotton rag, acid free and neutral pH with calcium buffering, loft dried, internally and externally sized, with four very small, natural deckle edges, watermarked with "Velk Losiny Moldau" along the long edge. The rattle is bright but thin; the papers burn to a white, delicate ash, indicating a nearly pure cellulose content. Available in white, laid CP (evenly textured) finish only, in letter, half sheet and full sheet formats only, in 280 GSM and 380 GSM only. Price of a single 280 GSM full sheet is about US$9.75. The Cold Pressed sheet is an intriguing and pleasing support, distinctly two sided. In the 280 GSM sheet (shown at right), the wire side resembles a fine corduroy with a pronounced laid pattern; the felt side is much smoother and muted by the blanket texture, the laid pattern apparent only in patches. In the 380 GSM sheet the texture is coarser but not rougher, a beautifully broad tooth that is almost an even dimpling, that is more similar on both sides. Deckles are only a thin crimping along the edges. The color is a soft, slightly warm white. The sheets took a very even wash, with slight cobalt banding and absolutely no blossoming in the magenta. However, if you induce backruns by adding paint or water to a moist area, the bloom is very even and subtly textured. The finish exhausted a brush fairly quickly, but on the wire side of the 280 GSM sheet the wash strokes exploded into pinholes, creating an interesting speckled texture. Resists came off cleanly, and scrubbing left absolutely no marks. The green lifted completely but caused a slight wicking at the edges of repainted areas. The cotton content and slightly lighter weight make this sheet noticeably softer and more rippling in the hand than usual. Overall, a marvelous paper for expressive brushwork, abstact designs, and crystalline bloom or blossom effects. One of my

VELK LOSINY MOLDAU (280gsm CP, wire / felt)

favorites, especially in the heavier weight.

Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Whatman
James Whatman, a former leather tanner, began papermaking at the Turkey Mill in Maidstone (Kent, England) in 1740. He innovated wove textured papers in 1755, at the request of the printer James Baskerville (who wanted a finer surface to show off his newly designed serif font). In 1759 Whatman died and the mill operations were taken over by his son, James Whatman II (1742-1798), in 1763. In 1765 Whatman began using laundry blue to whiten naturally yellowed sheets of recycled pulp, and rapidly built the mill to become one of the largest suppliers of book, watercolor and engraving papers in Europe. In 1790 Whatman suffered a stroke and operations were handled by his assistant William Balston, who (to obtain investment capital) entered into partnership with two local businessmen in 1794. This partnership dissolved in 1805, resulting in two independent Whatman suppliers: William Balston built the Springfield Mill, the first in the world to power the new Fourdrinier machines entirely by steam; the partners retained the Turkey Mill and continued making watercolor papers by hand until 1859, when Balston and sons purchased all rights to the Whatman name. Whatman handmade papers were very popular with English and European watercolor painters from J.M.W. Turner through the early 20th century. Production of handmade watercolor papers ceased in 1955, and of mouldmade papers in 1962, but the mouldmade papers were reintroduced in 1983 after the company was restructured as the Whatman Reeve Angel group in 1974, then as Whatman plc. in 1990. Their watercolor papers are currently sold through Daler-Rowney. Note: Whatman stopped production of their watercolor papers in Summer, 2002 but restarted production with new equipment a few years later. This review refers to the older papers, which are sold out of all sources I have contacted.

Whatman Watercolor papers are mouldmade, 100% cotton, internally sized with Aquapel, acid free and neutral pH, two natural deckle edges, with a "WHATMAN" watermark and the mill monogram. The rattle is moderately loud and rubbery; the paper burns completely, with absolutely no ash. Available in white sheets only, in a variety of formats, in R, CP and HP finishes, in weights of 185, 290 and 400 GSM. Price of a single 290 GSM full sheet is about US$3.90. The Rough finish has a knobby tooth, evenly spaced, that resembles the Lanaquarelle finish. The wire side is WHATMAN WATERCOLOR (300gsm R, CP) softer textured, the deckle is small, even and typically curled. The color is a cool bright white, one of the whitest sheets tested here. The sizing is moderately heavy: the sheet took a wash reluctantly, after rebrushing, and barely showed flocculation or banding in the wash pigments. Magenta went on without any blossoming. Resists peeled off with effort and with very slight damage to the surface. Scrubbing left slight streak marks; the green lifted completely and easily and caused a very slight darkening under the repainted area. The Cold Pressed finish is very handsome, with shallow dimples in the tooth; again, the wire side is noticeably less textured. The deckle is larger, thinner and more uneven than the R sheet. The color is also a cool bright white, one of the whitest sheets tested here. The sizing is moderately heavy: the sheet took a wash with noticeable banding in the wash strokes, little pigment texture, and exhausting the brush. The magenta areas went on without any blossoming. Resists tore away paper when lifted, especially around the edges of the masking tape. Scrubbing left a very dark streak under a wash; the green lifted easily and completely, with very slight sluffing but no residual damage to the paper or discoloration of the repainted area.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Winsor & Newton

Winsor & Newton, headquartered in Harrow, England, is an English art supply manufacturer dating from 1832. The company originated in the trade in paints and painting supplies of the colourmen William Winsor and Henry Charles Newton, and since that time has been at the forefront of technical innovations in the manufacture and packaging of watercolors. Winsor & Newton Watercolor papers are made exclusively for the company by Invernesk. Sheets are mouldmade, 100% cotton, internally and tub sized with gelatin, neutral pH, with two natural deckle edges, and the "Winsor & Newton" watermark (with the trademark sea lion) in the corner along one long edge. The papers have good dimensional stability; they curl gently under a wash and dry flat. The rattle is loud and bright, with a slight warble; the papers burn to a medium light gray, fibrous ash. Papers are available in white only, in three standard finishes (R, NOT, HP), in 185, 300 and 640 GSM weights, and as sheets, sketchbooks, and watercolor blocks. Price of a single 300 GSM full sheet is about US$3.00. Winsor & Newton papers have a fairly good separation in textures across the three available finishes. The Rough finish resembles Arches CP, but the tooth is slightly deeper, and identical on both sides of the sheet. The color is a cool middle white. The sizing is moderately heavy: the sheet took the wash smoothly and without exhausting the brush, showed slight flocculation and banding in the pigments; the magenta went on with very slight blossoming. Resists came off easily and cleanly. Scrubbing left a very slight streaking under the wash; the green lifted completely but with effort, and caused a slight sluffing but no discoloration or wicking around the repainted area. The NOT (Cold Pressed) finish is subtly textured, good for detail but also capable of imparting some brushstroke texture. The wire side is coarser, with broader and shallower depressions in the blanket pattern. Deckles are very small and regular. The color is a slightly cool middle white. The sizing seems rather thin: the wash applied smoothly without exhausting the brush, with slight flocculation and cobalt banding and good color; the magenta went on without any blossoming. Resists

WINSOR & NEWTON WATERCOLOR (300gsm R, CP, HP)

came off easily and left no damage. Scrubbing left a slight streak mark under the wash; the green lifted only with difficulty and the sponging damaged the paper surface, causing gross wicking and discoloration in the repainted area. The Hot Pressed finish is hard and heavily calendered to a dull gloss, with a coarse eggshell texture emerging after the sheet is wetted. Deckles are very small, thin and irregular. The color is a soft bright white, one of the brightest HP finishes tested. The sizing is relatively thin: the sheet took a wash easily and with a beautiful even color (absolutely no splotching or blossoming), without exhausting the brush, but showed pronounced banding in the cobalt violet and very slight flocculation in the ultramarine. The magenta blossomed slightly less than on the other HP sheets. Resists came off cleanly, leaving very crisp edges. However scrubbing left a noticeable streak mark; the green did not lift completely and the sponging caused sluffing, swelling and roughening of the paper surface and heavy wicking and darkening of the repainted area. The Winsor & Newton watercolor blocks are manufactured with a brittle, white binding adhesive, which is more durable than the black adhesive used by Arches; but it is sometimes difficult to separate sheets with a knife. The surface is dense and relatively nonabsorbent, which shows pigment textures to good effect but also causes bronzing or streaking in heavily applied paints much more often than I'm used to. Overall these are nice sheets, beautifully displaying the paint color and texture, but unfortunately not tolerating much reworking in the CP and HP sheets.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Zerkall
The Zerkall paper mill, by the Rur River near Cologne (Germany), dates from the late 16th century. Now known as Papierfabrik Zerkall Renker & Shne, and managed by the Renker family for four generations, it produces a very large range, including some of the finest mouldmade papers manufactured in Europe. The company has earned a high reputation for creating custom papers for specialized publications and small presses, including special makings to complement the design of limited editions. For large art papers, Zerkall has a special mould machine to produce sheets with four deckles up to a maximum size of 60"x88". The Zerkall Aquarag papers are designed for general watercolor use, but have been adopted for printmaking and etching as well. Sheets are mouldmade, 100% cotton (containing a mixture of cotton rag and cotton linters), acid free and calcium buffered, internally sized with starch and tub sized with Aquapel, with two natural deckle edges and two torn edges (almost indistinguishable from the deckles) along the long sides, and the watermark "ZERKALL" within a rectangle. Sheets are two sided: the wire side has a delicate laid texture. The rattle is loud and snappy; the papers burn to a very light gray, fragile ash, indicating the sheet consists almost completely of pure cellulose. Available as a warm white, in CP or R finishes, in a variety of formats, in weights of 200 or 300 GSM. Price of a single 300 GSM 20" x 251/2" sheet is about US$2.30. The Cold Pressed finish deliciously combines a slight linear pattern from the mould with an even, gentle tooth from the blanket, visible as a regular texture of shallow dimples. Deckles are large, wispy and very irregular. The color is a bright and slightly cool white. The sizing is very nice; the sheet took a very even wash, without exhausting the brush; the cobalt banding was very faint but collected across the shallow dimples, creating a unique and lovely freckled effect. The magenta went on smoothly with no trace of blossoming; the ultramarine gave a soft, subdued flocculation. Resists came off cleanly and easily. Scrubbing caused quite a lot of sluffing and unsightly streak marks, but this was probably because the paper was pushed more than necessary: the green lifted cleanly and completely

ZERKALL AQUARAG (300gsm CP)

with little effort, and left no damage or discoloration apparent under the repainted area. This is an exceptional sheet, one of the best supports tested here, and well worth investigating, despite its unusual size. Available from New York Central Art Supply.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

how watercolor papers are made

The technology for making paper from hemp fibers began to standardize in China around the first century BCE. The first true sheets of paper are said to have been the experimental papers made with a variety of materials bark, hemp, rag and fishnet pulp by the Chinese court eunuch Ts'ai Lun in 105 CE. Chinese papermaking techniques migrated along the Asian silk routes in the 8th century CE, reaching Samarkind in 751 and Arab northern Africa shortly after. The Arabs innovated the wire mold and standard paper sizes before papermaking entered Moorish Spain around 1036. From Spain, paper mills were established in Fabriano, Italy around 1270, in Germany by 1320, and in England in 1495. Prior to this time, most European books and illuminated documents were made on a thin calf's skin called vellum.

papers watercolo rs
the paper furnish how paper is made paper finishes paper formats weights of paper how paper is sold

the paper furnish

The materials and chemical additives in a paper constitute the furnish or ingredients of the paper. All paper manufacture uses the fibrous plant material cellulose, which plants use to build the cell walls in stems and leaves. Cellulose is extracted for European and American papers from cotton, flax (linen) or (from around 1860) from wood pulp, and for traditional Asian papers from jute, kozo, salago or mitsumata. A sheet of paper is basically a thin mat of tangled cellulose fibers.

Types of Cellulose. Chemically, cellulose is a polymeric carbohydrate (C6H10O5), differing from starch or glucose only in the way the atoms of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are linked together. The grade or quality of cellulose is determined by how much of the plant material dissolves in different chemical solutions. For example, the portion of plant material that does not dissolve in a moderate (18%) solution of sodium hydroxide at room temperature is termed alpha cellulose; the dissolved portion that solidifies (precipitates) when an acid is added to the solution is known as beta cellulose. Alpha cellulose is the most stable and permanent part of extracted plant material. Cotton cellulose fibers are the long seed hairs removed from cotton seeds through ginning, a process of mechanical shredding and combing. These fibers are called cotton rag, as are any remaindered (used) threads, fabrics or clothing made from them. Cotton rag fibers are flexible and strong, and because they are naturally long, they produce papers that resist tearing. They are also almost 100% alpha cellulose, naturally white and already separated, which means little or no bleaching or chemical treatments are necessary. The shorter fibers and lint left attached to the seeds after ginning are culled by crushing and boiling the pulp in an alkali solution; the separated fibers are then washed and formed into soft, blotterlike sheets called cotton linters. Linters are commonly used in the production of cellulose derived chemicals, but if washed they are also used in the manufacture of paper. Linters can replace up to one third of the rag content of paper without loss of strength, and they can improve the consistency, bulk, dimensional stability and whiteness of the sheet. Linen cellulose fibers (from flax) are longer and stronger than cotton, which makes linen papers harder and more translucent. As with cotton, either the unspun flax fibers or discarded linen threads or fabrics can be used in paper manufacture. By far the most common source of cellulose in machinemade papers is wood pulp. Wood from domestic hardwoods (including eucalyptus) provides short fibers with good bulk; wood from coniferous softwoods (pine or cedar) provides longer fibers for
the tangle of cellulose fibers in a sheet of paper

paper strength. Cellulose is extracted from wood pulp using either mechanical or chemical methods. The mechanical processes involve successive cutting, grinding, soaking and screening of wood chips or sawdust, which is then bleached in a sulfite or peroxide solution. This results in a coarse, brownish paper commonly used in wrapping papers, packaging, newsprint and paperboard. Mechanical methods can leave a considerable residue of lignin, a kind of glue that binds together the cellulose fibers of a living plant and represents up to 30% of the bulk of wood pulp. Lignin repels water, causes clumping in the paper pulp during manufacture, and becomes acidic and turns a yellow or brown color with age, so it is necessary to remove it completely in quality paper production. There are various chemical methods of cellulose extraction, but most involve cooking the wood chips in an acid (sulfite) or alkaline (sulfate) bath, which dissolves the lignin so that it can be washed away. Quality Designations of Paper. Several different designations are used to describe the quality of cellulose in paper, and these can be somewhat misleading. At the very top of the quality scale, the term 100% cotton affirms that the paper is made entirely of cotton (usually from both linters and rag) and includes no linen or wood cellulose. The term rag paper only means that some rag content is included in the paper, often mixed with linters or wood cellulose. (The label can also refer to papers made with a cotton and linen mix.) In fact, the amount of cotton cellulose in rag paper may be anywhere from 100% to as little as 20%! Gresham's law ensures that "rag paper" is therefore almost always of lower cotton content than 100% cotton, though this quality difference may not be noticeable or important for artistic uses. Finally, wood pulp treated chemically is called woodfree paper or wood sulfite paper. The highest grade of wood pulp paper (which may contain as much as 93% cellulose) is labeled high alpha cellulose. Confusingly, this is often abbreviated to alpha cellulose in trade publications, where it still denotes cellulose derived from wood even though (as described above) alpha cellulose actually refers to "pure" cellulose of any origin.

Cotton cellulose is up to 10 times stronger than wood cellulose and naturally lignin free and acid free. Some residual lignin and chemicals remain in chemically extracted wood cellulose, which cause embrittlement and acidification over time. For this reason, wood pulp ("alpha cellulose") papers should generally be avoided for archival or museum quality artwork. Papers made from 100% cotton, 100% linen, or pure cotton/linen rag are all suitable for artistic use. Many seasoned artists and art dealers swear the quality of most watercolor papers has declined noticeably since the 1960's, and some attribute it to a reduction in the linen content. However, the shift to cotton has also followed painters' preferences: linen creates a harder and less absorbent paper than cotton, which makes smooth washes trickier to execute; and because of the much longer fiber length, 100% linen papers tend to cockle or warp excessively when wet. Acidity of Paper. The ideal paper should last for centuries under normal storage conditions, and papers that can meet this standard are referred to as archival quality. Acids are the most pervasive and destructive hazard to paper permenancy. Acidic papers such as newsprint can embrittle and discolor in a very short time, can degrade acid sensitive pigments such as ultramarine blue, and can release acidic vapors that will degrade papers or mats placed next to them. The pH scale, used in chemistry to measure acidity or alkalinity, is neutral at around 7.5; pure water has a pH value of 7, and a substance is considered acidic at a pH value of 5 or lower and alkalinic at values of 8 or more. All newsprint and most magazine papers are made from wood that has been mechanically pulverized to the desired consistency, a process called mechanical pulping. However fine book and art papers are made from shredded wood that has been digested or broken down through wet mixture under heat and pressure with enzymes or pulping chemicals, which is called chemical pulping. The main choice is between the alkalescent kraft or sulphate process, or the sulphite process (which can vary from acid to alkaline). When carefully controlled, these processes break down the lignin

content of the wood without significantly affecting the cellulose fibers. Enzymes are also used to increase the effectiveness of the bleaching agents (preferably chlorine dioxide or hydrogen peroxide) used to whiten the lignen residues, and to dissolve the ink residues that contaminate recycled paper stocks. Thoroughly rinsing away all the chemicals used to pulp and bleach wood cellulose requires a significant amount of water, so pulp mills reduce water demand by chemically neutralizing the pulp during the final steps of manufacture. This is done by adding a sufficient amount of a base (such as calcium carbonate) to the paper furnish, creating papers that are usually designated pH neutral. In contrast, the designation acid free usually means the paper furnish was made using only cotton linter, cotton rag or linen rag; the pulp was not chemically bleached during manufacture; and the paper contains no rosin or aluminum sulfate (alum) as sizing. Neutralizing an acidic pulp is separate from the practice at paper mills of adding the neutralizing chemical to create an alkali reserve that counteracts any acidic pollutants the papers may be exposed to in the future from the painting process, cheap mat boards, or the atmosphere. In fact, an alkali reserve added to acid free paper is a good thing and is mandated by many archival standards. Paradoxically, if they are not adjusted at all, additive free papers can have a slightly lower (more acidic) pH than chemically pulped "pH neutral" papers, so "pure cellulose" by itself is no guarantee of archival quality. In addition, it's now believed that the more buffering there is in the paper the better, and an adequate calcium carbonate content can even protect against lignin degredation. So pH neutral papers are less desirable than pH alkalinic papers (up to pH 10). As far as I can discover, chemically neutralized papers are believed to be less stable than papers that were never exposed to harsh chemicals in the first place. The most prudent course for watercolor painters is to prefer the explicit designation of acid free, buffered, 100% cotton papers to any other kind, and to prefer pH neutral cotton or linen papers to any "pH neutral, high alpha cellulose" or wood pulp papers. The label "100% cotton" by itself is no assurance either way, as recycled

fabrics may be harshly bleached before use in paper pulp. Chemical tests for pH are somewhat inconvenient but not difficult to do by the artist at home, and it is not unheard of for libraries to discover through their own pH testing that papers have a higher acidity than was guaranteed by the manufacturer. In addition, burning a small piece of your watercolor paper can be revealing. Ash from pure cellulose paper is white, fragile and wispy. Ash that is stiff, black or brittle indicates the presence of residual lignin, noncellulose (synthetic) fibers picked up from recycled consumer clothing, and/or large amounts of chemicals added as sizing or buffering. The global population of large apes manufactures and consumes roughly 300 million tons of paper annually, under rising economic and resource constraints and demand that increases at about 3% per year. This dictates continuous innovation in manufacturing processes, recycling and productivity, which will only increase the diversity and complexity of modern paper stocks. It's worth noting that handmade papers were traditionally bleached without chemicals by exposing the sheets to sunlight, just as linens are bleached by hanging them to dry on a clothesline; buffering was introduced by pulping and rinsing with "hard" spring water from limestone aquafers and by coating the papers with milk. Optical Brightening Agents or OBAs. It is not usually possible to assess the furnish of a paper from its color alone. The color of a sheet is influenced by the quality and amount of internal sizing, the purity of water used in manufacture, and the temperature and amount of time that the pulp was cooked. The wood cellulose fibers used in paper have a natural yellow tint that is partially bleached out during manufacturing, giving the paper a warm but slightly dull finished color. To counteract this, many paper brands add a "bluing" agent to the paper, which nowadays are ultraviolet dyes that absorb UV light and fluoresce in the visible (violet and blue) wavelengths. The presence of OBAs can usually be confirmed by examining the sheet under an ultraviolet ("black") light: it will appear much

brighter than an ordinary sheet of typing paper. The consensus is that that OBAs impair paper permanency: they break down over time and can cause patchy yellowing or increased acidity in the paper. In the USA, pressure from librarians resulted in standards for paper permanency, described in the ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 Permanent Paper Standard. Under this rule, fine art or archival quality papers should have a neutral to alkaline pH (7.5 or greater), be made entirely of high alpha cellulose (containing less than 1% lignin) or preferably 100% "rag" fibers, contain a reserve of calcium carbonate or equivalent buffer of 2.0% or more of total pulp mass, and contain no optical brighteners. (Other specifications include the paper's resistance to tearing.) Based on tests conducted by the ASTM, these papers have an estimated life expectancy of 500 years or more.

how paper is made

Whatever source of plant cellulose is used, the raw pulp is rinsed, screened, sometimes bleached, and mixed with water and pH adjusting chemicals to form a mulchy goop. Each batch of pulp and other ingredients, and all the papers that are made from it, represent a single making. Manufacturing Methods. The pulp is thoroughly pounded to macerate and separate the individual cellulose fibers. Traditionally this was done by pounding the pulp in a stone trough with a large wooden pile or hammer; modern shops use a Hollander beater. This pounding bruises, cuts, folds and tangles the fibers in ways that alter the finished paper's character. As the pulp is beaten longer the finished pulp becomes denser and less porous: as a result the paper's "rattle" becomes brighter and more metallic, the paper translucency increases, the paper absorbs more water and cockles more extensively; the stretch resistance or tensile strength of the paper increases but paradoxically it also becomes easier to tear. Different types of fibers or raw pulp may be mixed in a making to

adjust the qualities of the paper being made. After the pulp has been thoroughly macerated, it is diluted with roughly nine times its bulk in water. Various chemicals, fillers and binders are added at this stage and the soup is energetically stirred in a vat, which may be as small as a bathtub or as large as a swimming pool. This milky liquid is the pulp actually drawn off in papermaking. Most commercial art papers are manufactured by machine, though the term machinemade applies specifically to papers made with a Fourdrinier machine, which injects the pulp onto a running wire mesh, or between two meshes (depending on the machine type). The water is drained from the mesh, then the wet sheet is wicked between two felts and finally dried against heated cylinders. The finished sheet is extruded in a continuous roll or web. The web is torn or cut into sheets which are mechanically dried. A Fourdrinier machine can produce upwards of 23,000 sheets of paper in an hour. Moldmade papers are manufactured with a cylinder mold machine. The pulp is poured over wire mesh cylinders operating at very low speed. The pulp adheres to the rotating cylinders in a continuous thin sheet. This web is pressed into a belt of wet felt, which lifts the web of paper away from the screen. A second felt is placed on top of the sheet and this sandwich is passed through a series of rollers that extrude the water and dry the sheet with forced air. Finally the bare sheet is run through a stack of heavy iron rollers (called a calender) that refines the surface texture. A cylinder mold machine can make about 200 sheets in an hour. The variety and novelty of handmade papers has increased, part of a resurgence of interest in the papermaking craft. In America, this was due largely to the influence of artist, papermaker and historian Dard Hunter (1883-1966), and to the preservationist efforts of small, exclusively handmaking mills such as Dieu Donn (New York), Larroque-Duchne (France), Twinrocker (Illinois), and St. Armand (Montral). Handmade papers are also made with a mold, though not the cylindrical kind. Usually the processes of pounding and mixing the pulp are also done by hand.

The mold is an open rectangular frame slightly larger than the dimensions of the finished sheet, with a woven or laid wire screen stretched across the top. A second frame, the deckle, is placed over the screen to define the sheet's horizontal dimensions and (by the depth of the deckle) the paper's thickness. The vatman dips the entire frame into the pulp vat and by "throwing the weave" sloshes any excess pulp off the mold, then spreads the pulp into an even sheet by gentle horizontal shaking. This hand spreading of the pulp imparts many tiny variations to the paper surface and a slightly irregular thickness to the sheet, especially along the edges where excess pulp is cast away. The sheet drains in place, and when it is firm enough the deckle is removed and the couchman inverts the frame on a thin sheet of moist felt, dislodging or couching (pronounced "cooching") the paper onto the felt. About 80 sheets of handmade paper can be shaken and couched in an hour; drying can take days or weeks. Drying the Sheets. Methods of drying vary, and the different methods affect both the paper finish or surface texture, and its dimensional stability (resistance to cockling) when wet. As explained by Sylvie Turner, a freshly couched sheet of paper contains water trapped between and absorbed inside the cellulose fibers. The water between the fibers can be mechanically pressed or blotted out, or evaporates early in the paper drying. As the remaining water inside the cellulose fibers evaporates, the fibers shrink along their length and form hydrogen bonds where they contact other fibers. This causes the sheet to cockle or distort as it dries, which can be minimized by slowing the drying process or restraining the sheet as it dries. Traditionally, the highest quality handmade or moldmade sheets were hung individually over poles or horsehair ropes in specially built lofts that encouraged a gentle flow of clean air (loft drying); this is still done today for the highest quality handmade or moldmade papers. Because they dry unrestrained, these sheets can have a beautifully textured and unique surface. More often, a half dozen or so sheets of paper are gathered in spurs that are hung vertically or laid horizontally on racks or stretched canvas tarps (called "sails"), which

tends to produce a slightly smoother finish. After two or more weeks of drying, the papers are stacked under weighted boards and allowed to stretch out flat. Because these sheets have been allowed to dry slowly, the gradual shrinkage of the cellulose fibers can balance out across the entire sheet, which produces a puckering around naturally occurring irregularities in the pulp that results in a unique, minutely pebbled finish. These sheets tend to regain their original cockles when rewetted. The more common and economical industrial method is restraint drying the sheet: removing water from the cellulose fibers while the sheet is held flat. The ancient methods were to let the sheet dry in the mold, or to spread the sheet against a wall or on a board that was left to dry in the sun (the traditional method in Japan). Various other methods exist in modern industrial production of book papers and less expensive grades of art papers. These include using a mechanical press to express water from a post or very large stack of paper sheets alternating with thin felts, or calendering the paper web between heated metal rollers. The Deckle. Handmade papers will usually have a deckle edge on all four sides, a feathery thinning of the sheet caused when small amounts of pulp flow between the mold and deckle. These (and the mealy or pulpy variations in the sheet thickness and texture) create a unique material artifact, a presence that is very attractive in paintings that emphasize the object's surface rather than a representational illusion. However, this is a matter of taste: throughout the 19th and much of the 20th century, painters considered the deckle a manufacturing defect and always trimmed it away, usually when cutting the sheet from the board on which the paper had been stretched for painting. As machine manufacture became dominant in the 19th century, the deckle acquired a crafts cachet. Today many watercolor painters retain it as the sign of a handmade product. Well, not quite. Deckle edges are sometimes simulated in moldmade papers by cutting or trimming a larger sheet with a dull blade or jet of pressurized water, which produces a frayed, irregular edge. Moldmade papers often have two genuine deckles on the long sides of the web, and smaller imitation deckle edges on the short

sides where the sheet has been cut lengthwise from the web. A large amount of water is required to manufacture paper. The quality of the paper is heavily dependent on the purity and alkalinity of the water. The best mills are always located near copious fresh water supplies, and frequently refresh the water in use.
The best way to learn about paper is to make some yourself! You can buy a papermaking kit with all the supplies and equipment included, or by reading books such as Arnold Grummer's Complete Guide to Easy Papermaking. You can also explore online at the Robert C. Williams American Museum of Papermaking, located in Atlanta, Georgia (USA); or through many online resources such as the site by Hand Papermaking, Inc. in Washington, D.C. (USA).

paper finishes
There are two types of paper texture, created by the weave of the wire screen in the mold. The more primitive laid texture results when the screen is formed of closely spaced parallel wires that are held in place by more widely spaced transverse wires (or crosswires) woven between them (image right); this gives the sheet a characteristic ribbed or corduroy appearance. The wove texture, invented in England around 1755, results from wires woven evenly in both directions (like a window screen, image below). This gives the sheet a uniform texture in all dimensions, whether it is rough or smooth. The felt side of the sheet faced away from the mold and only received texture from the felts used in rollers or drying. The wire side of the sheet settled onto the wire screen of the mold, and received texture both from the mold and any felts used in rollers or drying. Textures often differ between the two sides; the quality and amount of difference depends on the type of papermaking machine, the quality of the pulp, and the drying process. The wire side usually has a more assertive and complex texture (both the screen and felt textures are visible), is more consistently flat (because the pulp settles against the taut screen), and also reveals any inclusions (impurities or bits of decorative

a laid screen (with part of the watermark visible near the edge)

a wove screen

fiber) that are heavier than the pulp and sink toward the wire during draining. The Watermark. The watermark is a visible mark in the sheet, usually the name or an identifying symbol of the paper manufacturer, most easily seen by holding the sheet up to the light. Watermarks were introduced by the Fabriano Mill (Italy) in around 1282, and rapidly became a way for papermakers to assert the authenticity and quality of manufacture of their product, and to signal specific paper sizes, furnishes (100% cotton), customs declarations, and so on. In handmade papers the watermark is usually created by a small copper wire image fixed to the wire screen of the mold (image at right); this creates a slight thinness in the pulp directly over the pattern, which appears as a more transparent area in the finished sheet. In machine moldmade papers the watermark is typically embossed on the still wet sheet with a rubber roller. Some manufacturers emboss the sheet with a logo or trademark, instead of or in addition to using a watermark. This chopmark is usually small and placed unobtrusively along the margin of the sheet, as watercolor paints will not cover it. Painters are usually taught that the watermark (and chopmark, if present) in handmade sheets is historically oriented to "read right" (is legible rather than mirror reversed) from the felt side of the sheet, considered the better side to paint on because the finish is often more consistent and inclusions (pulp impurities) show less readily (they usually sink to the wire side). But some manufacturers especially in England place the watermark or chop to read correctly from the wire side, which makes the manufacturer lettering less obtrusive to the eye. They did this because 19th century papermakers would sometimes shave away lint or clumps of pulp that protruded on the felt side of the sheet, and these cuts damaged the finish and surface sizing and would show up under washes. As a result the wire side became the "right" side to use. This concern is no longer relevant, as paper sheets are no longer trimmed in that way. In nearly all modern papers, the quality, sizing and handling of the felt and wire sides are essentially the same; in fact, the

texture of the felt side may be more desirable in some sheets. The watermark orientation varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, sometimes even within the same manufacturer. For example, I have before me two sheets of Arches CP 640GSM watercolor paper: in the full sheet (22" x30") the watermark "reads right" from the felt side (opposite the watermark embossing), while in the double elephant sheet (30" x 40") the watermark "reads right" from the wire side! To make matters worse, the rubber roller used to emboss the watermark on moldmade sheets may be placed on the felt side (above the web), not on the wire side, so you cannot use the watermark indentation as a reliable guide. However, on one side of the sheet the watermark will appear as a shallow embossing or indentation in the paper surface: that is usually the wire side. As a rule, you should put the watermark indentation on the back of the sheet, because watercolor paint will often make it more visible. The most reliable method is to examine the watermark from both sides of the sheet, then evaluate the finish on both sides for surface texture and visible impurities. Then use the side you prefer. There is incidentally no reason at all to discard a sheet if you've botched a painting on the wire side, because both sides are usable: just flip the paper over, whistle a happy tune, and get cracking. The Finish. Watercolor papers are supplied in three types of finish or surface texture: rough, cold pressed, and hot pressed. The finish is affected both by the mold screen and the texture of the felts or rollers used (or not used) in drying the paper. Rough watercolor papers are dried as they are couched from the mold. Handmade papers are dried without pressing; the pebbly rough texture results from the shrinking of the paper around the natural irregularities in the pulp. (For this reason, the texture becomes rougher in thicker, heavier weight sheets.) Moldmade papers are pressed between rough felts on the paper machine as the first step in drying, which embosses the roughness of the felt fabric into the wet sheet. Because they have not been compressed, rough sheets often expand and

cockle more than other types of finishes when wet. Rough sheets are usually the most absorbent, and therefore produce the smoothest washes even with granulating pigments. However, if a juicy wash solution is applied thickly and the sheet is "rocked" or swirled slightly, the pigment will settle into the hollows of the paper, creating one of the most characteristic, expressive watercolor pigment textures. And texturing can also be produced with a brush charged with dry or thick paint lightly or quickly stroked over the surface: paint will only color the "peaks" of the paper, leaving sparkling white pinholes in the "valleys." Cold pressed paper (in the UK called "NOT" paper, meaning "not hot pressed") is made by hanging the sheets to loft dry in spurs (clusters) or by pressing the posts under a mechanical press (for handmade papers), or by calendering the sheet with light pressure through felt covered metal rollers (moldmade papers). This cold pressing gives the sheet a subdued texture that is relatively easy to use, can tolerate a certain amount of corrections or lifting, and is congenial to almost any style of painting. The sheets are more dimensionally stable when wet, and (depending on manufacturer) are usually less absorbent than rough sheets. Hot pressed sheets (both moldmade and handmade) are calendered at high pressure between heated glazing rollers or highly polished cold metal rollers, which creates a smooth, almost polished finish. These sheets show a high degree of brush detail and tend to show pigment color more brightly: the surface sizing and fiber density resist paint absorption so more of the paint stays on the surface; the drawback is that the lack of absorption tends to produce uneven and blotchy washes (especially in unstretched sheets that can cockle or buckle), and to amplify even minor variations in pigment granularity or flocculation. Hot pressed papers are often the most congenial to lifting dried paint by moistening and blotting, though the smooth surface reveals any abrasions more clearly. These papers are especially suited to painting styles that want to accent the watery irregularities of the paint, or styles (such as botanical illustration) where precise pen and ink outlines or drawings, or fine brush textures, are essential to the desired effect.

Sizing. In addition to these mechanical variations in surface texture, watercolor paper is also chemically treated to alter its absorbency. Internal sizing is added to the paper pulp before the sheet is formed and chemically bonds to the paper fibers. External sizing is applied to the surface of the finished sheet of paper after it has dried, sometimes by dipping the entire sheet into a tub of sizing solution (known as tub sizing). (Waterleaf papers are unsized.) In the 19th century, a pine rosin sizing was added to the paper pulp to reduce the capillary action of the fibers and prevent inks or paints from blotting when applied; this also kept watercolors on the surface of the paper, making them appear as bright as possible. However, acidic chemicals had to be added to the pulp to bind the rosin to the cellulose, and all rosins yellow with age. Animal gelatin sizing was (and still is) the preferred external sizing: it is naturally transparent, slightly water soluble, gives a hard surface that can be scraped or sponged away without damaging the paper itself, and imparts a warm tint to the sheet. However, gelatin is not the most common internal sizing for watercolor papers for this there are modern substitutes often used instead of animal gelatin sizing, such as carboxymethylcellulose (a common food thickener derived from cellulose, trade name Aquaplast) or alkylketene dimers (AKDs or "dimers", trade name Aquapel). These add qualities of external sizing to a sheet but gelatin sized sheets are preferred by many artists and gelatin usually mentioned by name whenever it is used. The paper finish varies widely from one manufacturer to the next; papers labeled "rough" in one brand line may be equivalent to a "cold pressed" in another line. In general heavier weight papers have a more assertive finish than lighter papers, and handmade papers have a more assertive, irregular finish than moldmade papers. (Fabriano Uno papers also come in a soft pressed surface, with a finish midway between hot and cold pressed.) Some manufacturing methods will align the paper fibers in the same direction, and these biases form the grain of the paper. In machinemade and to a lesser degree in some moldmade papers, the grain runs the length of the web (parallel to the deckle and perpendicular to the path

of molds or rollers). There is no grain in handmade or roughshake papers (the alignment of the fibers is random). Papers are easier to tear or fold in the direction parallel to rather than across the grain. Cellulose fibers expand in width when wet, which causes machinemade papers to return to the curl of the mold cylinder that made them, or to produce cockles that lie in parallel ribs; in most moldmade and all handmade papers, the pattern of cockling is random.

paper formats
Because variations in paper manufacture can produce variations in the dimensions of finished sheets, the British Imperial system of paper dimensions and weights standardized existing paper formats in 1836. Since then artists have referred to paper sheets by the Imperial standard names:

watercolor paper formats

name inches centimeters ratio

(W/H) (H/W) Quarter Sheet Crown Half Sheet Demy Medium Royal Elephant (UK) Super Royal Full Sheet (Imperial) Single Elephant (USA) 11 x 15 15 x 20 15 x 22 28 x 38 38 x 51 38 x 56 1.36 1.33 1.47 1.29 1.28 1.25 1.35 1.40 1.36 1.60 1.52 0.74 0.75 0.68 0.78 0.78 0.80 0.74 0.71 0.74 0.63 0.66

171/2 x 221/2 44 x 57 18 x 23 20 x 25 20 x 27 20 x 28 22 x 30 253/4 x 40 46 x 58 51 x 64 51 x 69 51 x 71 55 x 76 64 x 102 69 x 102

Double Elephant 27 x 40

(UK) Double Elephant 29 x 41 (USA) Antiquarian Emperor (USA) 31 x 53 40 x 60 74 x 104 79 x 135 102 x 152 1.41 1.71 1.50 0.71 0.58 0.67

Source: Sylvie Turner, The Book of Fine Paper (1998). Note: Paper measurements are always taken on the mold dimensions (excluding the deckles, if any). Handmade and/or loft dried papers often shrink as they are dried, causing them to be slightly smaller than the nominal (mold measured) dimensions.

To assist your visualization of the various sizes and proportions, the dimensions of these sheets are shown below.

common watercolor paper formats in the imperial system Larger sheets, up to 30' wide and 4' high, can be cut from watercolor paper rolls, and smaller sheets can be torn from any convenient sized larger sheet. Some artists prefer to paint on these smaller torn formats, as the tear makes an interesting contrast to the deckle. The ratio of long to short dimensions in watercolor sheets varies widely. The super royal and USA "double elephant" sheets are close to 1 to 1.41; when a sheet in this ratio is torn in half across its width, the proportion of the half sheets is again 1 to 1.41. (Only the USA "single elephant" sheet is close to the "golden section" dimensions of 1 to 1.618.)

In general, the sheets with a higher ratio of length to width (the antiquarian at 1.71, the double elephant at 1.52 and the half sheet at 1.47) are especially pleasing in landscape format for landscape paintings and reclining nudes or figure portraits, or in portrait format for standing nudes or figure portraits. The sheets with lower ratios (the royal at 1.25 and the demi at 1.29) are more effective in portrait orientation for bust or head portraits and in landscape orientation for still lifes. The beautifully proportioned imperial sheet or full sheet (22" x 30", a ratio of 1.36) strikes a balance between those two extremes, and it has been the standard large format watercolor for almost two centuries. Smaller sheets are often created by tearing the full sheet across its width to produce the half sheet (15" x 22"), and if needed torn again to produce the quarter sheet (11" x 15"). Note that the imperial sheet is itself roughly a quarter sheet of the huge emperor sheet (called "double elephant" in some watercolor books I have seen). In the manufacture of machinemade papers and mass printing trades, a new metric system is now standard, based on the A0 sheet (84 x 119cm, or 33" x 47", a ratio of 1 to 1.41) and successive half sheets from it (designated A1, A2, A3, etc.), or the B0 sheet (100 x 141cm, or 40" x 56", also a ratio of 1 to 1.41) and successive half sheets (designated B1, B2, etc.). In the manufacture of artist papers, particularly handmade papers, the traditional Imperial system remains common, especially for the half sheet, full sheet and USA double elephant. Sylvie Turner comments that one reason for the enduring popularity of the Imperial sizes is that they seem ideally suited for handmade production methods in papermaking, painting and printing rather than machine production. Unfortunately, even reliable authors give different dimensions for the different Imperial sizes (the "elephant" series is especially muddled), perhaps because variations in manufacturing methods or an increasing variety of paper sizes have outstripped the standards. The artists' confusion is likely to get worse before it gets better. All the art suppliers I know of list watercolor sheets by actual dimensions rather than by the Imperial standard

names. And many artists I have spoken with respond to terms like "double elephant" with an amused or uncomprehending look. The prevailing workshop and retail practice is simply to give the sheet dimensions, in inches or centimeters.

weights of paper
More confusion arises in measures of the basis weight or thickness of the paper. The lightest art papers are translucent, while the heaviest papers are as stiff as finely milled sheets of wood the rattle sounds as bright as sheet metal! The problem is finding a way to describe these differences. The traditional specification (from the British Imperial system) has been the weight in pounds of a ream (500 sheets) of the paper. The imperial or full sheet (22" x 30") was taken as the standard size to define the weight of smaller sheets, as smaller sheets were typically torn from it. (The imperial equivalent weight is still used to describe the paper used in watercolor blocks, for example.) Unfortunately larger sheets can make this measure confusing if not useless, because these are also measured by the ream in their actual dimensions rather than scaled to approximate the imperial size. So a sheet of 1114 lb. 40" x 60" paper is exactly the same basis weight as a sheet of 300 lb. 22" x 30" paper! The new and improved metric method is to measure the weight (in grams) of a single sheet of paper calculated to be exactly one meter square (grams per square meter or GSM). The following weights are most common:

paper basis weights

relative weight pounds/ream (22"x30" only)* grams/meter 2 (any dimensions)

rice paper text paper

. .

~30 ~120

. light . . medium . heavy . board .

80 "90" (87) "90" (94) 130 140 190 260 280 300 400

170 185 200 280 300 400 550 600 640 850

*The ream weight is different for larger or smaller dimension papers, because the volume of paper in a ream changes.

I've added descriptive labels at left, and data on two lighter paper stocks, to give a sense for the relative significance of the different weights. Note that the 90 pound designation is used for both 185 GSM and 200 GSM papers. Watercolor papers are becoming more diverse in size and weight, not less so. This means the traditional "by the ream" measures will become even more confusing to use they will be useful to distinguish between sheets from a single manufacturer, not to compare sheets between different manufactuerers. For that purpose, learn to think in terms of the metric weights, and insist on conversion to that standard when the antiquated Imperial system is offered in its place.

how paper is sold

Handmade watercolor papers are sold by the individual sheet. Catalog art dealers normally require a minimum number of sheets per shipment, and typically give discounts on quantities of 25 sheets or more. The going price for a handmade 300 GSM full sheet is anywhere from US$5 to US$20 or more. (When pricing papers, keep in mind that handmade sheets often come in

unusual sizes and weights.) Machinemade or moldmade papers can be purchased as individual sheets or in packs, rolls, or watercolor blocks. Watercolor rolls are typically about 10 yards long and, depending on manufacturer, come in widths from about 40" up to about 60". The wire side usually faces toward the spool, which means the edges should curl downwards if you want to paint on the felt side. The artist can get about twelve 29" x 40" sheets, or six 40" x 60" sheets from one 43" wide roll. Dollars per inch, rolls are usually the most economical form of paper packaging, which makes them good for classroom use (a single roll can be cut or torn into smaller sheets). They are also the obvious choice for paintings in unusual sizes, or for creating very large works several feet long. A 43" wide 10 yard roll of 300 GSM paper costs anywhere from US$30 to US$100, depending on the manufacturer. Individual Sheets are commonly available from all retailers in the widest range of sizes and weights and in any quantity. These are usually wrapped for shipping in brown paper inside a carton. Slit one side of the wrapping to pull out individual sheets, but leave the rest in the wrapping to protect the papers against moisture and dirt. Most retailers provide quantity discounts, and shipping charges are tacked onto every delivery, so it's most economical to order the largest numbers of sheets you can afford. Plastic Packs are normally provided for the larger sizes of watercolor papers full sheet and above in counts of 5, 10 or 25 sheets (depending on manufacturer). This is usually less economical than ordering a larger number of individual sheets. The price of a 10 pack of moldmade, 300 GSM full sheet watercolor papers is usually around US$30. Watercolor blocks are for paper in sizes smaller than the full sheet from 18" x 24" down to postcard size. These are made of a stack 20 sheets (usually only in 185 GSM or 300 GSM weights) that are bound together to a very heavy paper board backing by a thick adhesive applied around all four sides. A heavy sheet of cover paper, printed with the manufacturer's usual marketing gaudiness, is folded over the front to protect the exposed top sheet.

Paintings are done with the paper fastened to the block, which eliminates stretching and fastening a single sheet on a board support. (Block papers are not stretched, but fairly well resist cockling or warping when wet, at least in the 300 GSM weight.) When the painting is finished, the artist inserts a blade or palette knife under the top sheet at an edge area where the sheets are left ungummed, then runs the blade around all four sides to cut the sheet away, exposing a fresh sheet underneath. Blocks transport well and are really ideal for field painting. The main drawback is that the cold pressed or rough sheets lack the character of individual sheets: the textures are smoother, less irregular, more flattened, in order to make the blocking uniform. Blocked sheets also do not have deckle edges, though these can be simulated by tearing after the painting is finished. You pay approximately a 30% premium for this convenient and durable packaging. A typical 20 sheet block of 10" x 14" 300 GSM paper costs about US$20. A pack of 5 full sheets of the same paper from the same manufacturer (which will tear into 20 11" x 15" quarter sheets) would cost around US$15. In general the largest blocks are the most economically priced, pound for pound. Sketchbooks come in a variety of sizes and formats. A perennial favorite is the "Basic" brand with the word "sketchbook" printed in rows of blue letters across the softcover binding; it contains 144 sheets of white heavy wove paper. Another artstore familiar is the black hardcover sketchbook with unruled white pages in a range of formats. Punjab makes a romantic if somewhat impractical watercolor sketchbook of handmade watercolor papers and a sewn binding under brown handmade hardcovers. Strathmore makes a range of spiral bound watercolor sketch pads. And so on. I enthusiastically pass on David Dewey's recommendation of the NY Central Art Supply custom sketchbooks. These are a little pricey ($45 for a 48 page 8"x12") but well worth it: bound in durable, natural (beige) linen covers with dark green endpapers, the Arches CP 300 GSM text laid paper is a receptive, resilient ivory surface for pencil, pen or watercolor sketching. They are listed in index to the fine papers catalog under "Arches text laid sketchbooks," or ask the

staff for the product by name. Holbein makes an elegant if somewhat fussy small (16cm x 23cm) "Clester" sketchbook of CP 300 GSM watercolor paper, perfect bound (that is, with glue) under stiff green covers with a ribbon clasp. I bought one as a novelty item and never used it. Sketchbooks or sketch pads are one of the most valuable tools you will buy. They can assume the importance and personal value of a diary or an experimental journal. It's worth your time to find a really good art store with a large selection: go there and browse until you find something that genuinely appeals to you. The last trick is to use the sketchbook, and several ideas are provided in the section on sketchbooks. Make it your own, fit it into the habits of each day, and you'll find it will yield you unexpected insights and accelerate the progress of your art.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

how to test watercolor papers

There is a special pleasure in every encounter with a sheet of new, high quality watercolor paper. Each sheet has a complexity and sensuality that give it a unique character, and will be your long suffering partner in the making of a new painting. Watercolor papers are the only really substantial part of a painting the dried surface residue of gum and pigment powders in most paintings would barely fill a teaspoon. Paper embodies the painting, and this body defines how long the painting will live and how favorably it will impress the viewer. Many watercolor painters are not aware that quality papers are more durable than fabric or wood supports. Historical oil paintings often suffered from decaying canvas or wood supports and were salvaged by cementing the painting to a fresh support under heavy platen pressure, a conservation practice known as lining. In contrast, the paper behind many etchings or drawings from the same period, properly stored, looks as fresh as the day it was made. Recent improvements in the lightfastness of watercolor pigments mean that today's watercolor paints can last unchanged for centuries. So paper quality and durability should extend at least that long. The standard here is archival quality paper with (1) an acid free or pH neutral furnish consisting of (2) pure cellulose fibers free of extraneous vegetable matter. Poor quality papers, newsprint or "student" papers are as important to avoid as poor quality paints. As I learned to paint, I discovered that there are no standard procedures that watercolorists can use to evaluate the quality of art papers. In fact, most artists simply rely on manufacturer marketing and brand reputation, retail availability, surface attributes such as texture and color, and the overall experience of painting with the papers. These artists may be unclear about what makes two papers different, simply because they didn't make the same painting on both and were focused on making

papers watercolo rs
paper test instructions test comparisons

paintings, not evaluating paper attributes. They have no reliable way to compare quality, and therefore value for money. And two artists with different painting styles lack a common frame of reference they can use to discuss paper attributes, because they make different demands of the same paper. The benefit of testing papers especially if you are just starting out painting is that paper attributes become familiar to you, and your knowledge of paper quality becomes more accurate and trustworthy. The tests sharpen your awareness of paper attributes that can assist or thwart your painting intentions: that annoying blotching and dull color is not your fault, it's the paper! No matter how you learn about and evaluate papers, I urge you to put your observations in a notebook. First impressions and accidental observations are easy to forget or to attribute mistakenly to another paper brand or to a different weight or finish. It's much easier to review your notes than to evaluate a paper all over again.

paper test instructions

Watercolor papers have nine principal attributes, and these define what you need to understand about any brand of paper you use: they add an essential background brightness that displays paint colors accurately whether white or tinted, the color is subdued and pleasing and does not yellow or fade when exposed to sunlight. they provide a flat, flexible surface and handsome physical presence to brush and eye, which includes the surface texture, the weight, and the deckling around the edges of the sheet they have external and/or internal sizing to control the absorption and retention of water; paints do not blotch or soak outward due to excessive

absorbency, and paint edges remain crisp after they have dried they retain wet strength and dimensional stability (they do not disintegrate or excessively cockle when completely saturated with water) they are responsive to all paint application techniques, including all types and sizes of brushes, dilutions of paint, types of pigment, wet in wet methods and multiple glazes they resist damage from editing techniques (scrubbing, blotting, scraping, erasing) and the removal of resists (latex compounds, rubber glue or masking tape) they bond securely with the paint vehicle and pigment, and display dried paint colors accurately and in the full chroma and tonal range (color gamut) they can be effectively used with a variety of related media, including graphite or charcoal, watercolor pencils, pastels and/or acrylic paints; and they are archival (they will not change color, flexibility or strength over time due to chemicals in the paper, mounting or air), which means they will last unaltered for centuries under proper care and storage. After considerable research and some trial and error I devised the following tests to bring out these paper attributes as vividly as possible. If you look for any additional or specific paper traits, be sure to include them in your tests. 1. Prepare test materials. First read through the test procedures below to get a sense of where you're headed. Then assemble all the materials or tools you will need to do the tests. Everything you need for my tests is listed in the following table.

paper testing materials

1 full sheet (22" x 30") watercolor paper 1 white bed sheet 1" sable flat or #12 squirrel wash brush 3/4" acrylic flat brush metal straight edge (18" or longer) magnifying glass white standard (see test 7) indelible black pen (Sharpie) preferred drawing pencil (graphite or charcoal) pencil eraser (used to correct pencil drawings) Maskoid or latex resist masking tape scraping tool (razor blade or X-acto knife) soft sponge cotton swabs paper towels pH test strips or test pencil (see test 9) lightfastness frame (see test 10) oven (see test 10) two dinner plates plastic wrap paints (see test 14, test 15 and test 17) (I

suggest you use four different types of paint: a powdery or sedimentary pigment such as ultramarine blue or cadmium red; a granulating pigment such as cerulean blue or cobalt violet; a blossoming or finely divided pigment such as quinacridone magenta, carbon black or iron blue; and a dark, heavily staining paint such as phthalo green or permanent sap green.)

notebook Note: It's a good idea to wash your hands in warm soapy water before you start, to remove oils and dirt from your fingers and to soften your skin to the tactile qualities of the paper.

2. Select a test sheet. Paper testing should be done with similar paper samples. I prefer to use a full sheet (22" x 30") of 300 GSM paper, as that is a standard format and weight available from almost all paper manufacturers. Use a lighter or heavier basis weight if that is what you paint on. Use a fresh sheet straight out of the packaging. Don't use a sheet that has been lying around the studio and

may be soiled or damaged from previous handling or discolored by light exposure. (You'll discolor the sheet as part of the test!) Handle the paper by gently holding it edgewise between your palms (like a sheet of glass), or better pick it up along one edge, using a folded sheet of stationery or notebook paper placed over the edge of the watercolor sheet and under your fingers. Don't test watercolor blocks unless you prefer to use them: they typically have a less pronounced surface texture and a more heavily sized finish, and many brands of watercolor papers are not available as blocks. If you test a block sheet, cut it from the block before you start the testing, so that you can examine rattle, flexibility, and dimensional stability (how much the paper cockles or curls when wet). A standard 10"x14" or 12"x16" block approximates the quarter sheet size used in the tests described here. 3. Flexibility. Slowly fold back one corner of the paper against a metal straightedge or table edge; place the fold diagonally about 2" from the corner. Note the paper's resistance to pressure and its brittleness or tendency to crack along the fold. If the paper surface breaks during folding, note the approximate angle at which this occurs. Now carefully bend the entire sheet across its narrow width, as if you were going to roll it up, and note how far you are able to do this without risk of damaging the sheet. Immediately let the sheet unroll on a flat surface, and note how much it retains the "memory" of rolling up. Lower quality sheets are usually brittle to folding and retain the "memory" of rolling up. Better quality sheets will not break under extreme folding and return to flat after they are unrolled. 4. Pulp composition. Holding the sheet by a short edge, rapidly shake the sheet to evaluate its "rattle" or audible stiffness and elasticity. In a dark room, hold the sheet up to a bright light or window, and examine the density variations in the paper caused by irregularities in the furnish or (for handmade papers) in the shaking of the mould during draining. Look for visible areas of lightness (thinness), a lumpy or "cottage cheese" texture, "papermaker's tear drops" (small

round areas where light shows through), folds or tears, and (on the wire side) impurities or inclusions (bits of darker fiber or plant matter, hairs, dirt, etc.) that sank against the wire when the pulp was cast. The best quality paper pulps have been heavily macerated prior to casting and will have a bright, warbling, almost metallic rattle; less intensively processed papers will have a dull, muffled or wooden sound. Minor variations in pulp thickness are usually acceptable in handmade papers, provided they are not apparent when the sheet is examined under reflected light; but large inconsistencies or pulp thinning toward the edges are undesirable, and any density variations in mouldmade or machinemade papers are a sign of manufacturing problems. Inclusions were unavoidable in olden times (19th century landscape painters learned to put a flying bird over a fleck of obtrusive gunk under their sky wash) but are always undesirable in modern papers unless specifically added for decorative effect. 5. Watermark and chop. Again hold the sheet up to a bright light, and look for the watermark. Orient the sheet so that the watermark "reads right" (is legible and right side up), and note its location on the sheet. Note the design of the watermark, and any special trademarks or symbols. If there is a chop (embossed words or trademark), note its location as well. If the watermark allows you to distinguish the wire from the felt side, note an "F" or "W" with an indelible pen on the appropriate side of the sheet. Unfortunately, watermark conventions vary by manufacturer and manufacturing process. In most European papers the watermark is placed to read right when the felt side of the sheet is facing toward you. In English papers the watermark may read right from the wire side and is reversed when viewed from the felt side. As a check, the watermark in handmade and some mouldmade sheets will leave a visible indentation in the paper surface (use slanting light to see this), and this is on the wire side because the watermark is actually attached to the mould. In machinemade sheets the watermark may be embossed by a rubber stamp on the

side opposite to the cylinder mould. To check this, wet the sheet: most mouldmade and all machinemade sheets, when soaked, will curl toward the cylinder ("wire") side of the sheet. However, some papermaking machines cast the pulp between two wire cylinders and then feed the web between two drying felts, so the two sides are identical. There are really two issues that matter. The watermark "read" helps you quickly identify a preferred side of the sheet, and the indentation or embossing will usually be visible in a finished painting. Some artists always paint with the watermark reversed to reduce its visibility, while others like to "fly the brand flag" and paint on the side that better reveals the brand embossing or watermark indentation. Some just put the watermark in a standard location, for example at the bottom right like etchers, and just use the side that makes this possible. 6. Finish. Hold the sheet so that the surface is illuminated at a slanting angle by a strong light, and visually inspect the surface texture of the paper; use a magnifying glass if you have one. Look at the texture elements (weave, wire patterns, bumps, depressions, crannies, lumps and fuzzy tufts). Compare the textures on the felt and wire sides of the sheet (determined from the watermark inspection above) and note any differences in finish or texture between the two sides. Stroke the sheet with your fingertips to evaluate the microscopic texture of the finish. It is useful to use a standard or favorite watercolor sheet of similar finish (R, CP or HP) as a basis for tactile comparisons and texture description. A "cold pressed" or "rough" finish will change significantly from one brand of paper to the next, and also across a 185 to a 300 to a 640 GSM weight within the same brand of paper. Note also the obvious difference between wove or laid sheets. Machinemade papers present an incredibly consistent finish and no visible contrast between the two sides of the sheet. In handmade and many mouldmade papers, the wire side of the sheet has a less assertive, more homogenous and flatter texture, because the pulp settled evenly against the wire mould; however, this is the side where any inclusions will be most visible. The

felt side is usually rougher because texture is impressed only by the felt blotter, whereas the wire side often shows an irregular or mixed texture, because the surface was first impressed with the wire mould, then flattened by the felt blanket or metal roller. Some hot pressed papers show an irregular, very fine "tufting" or extrusion of paper fibers through the exterior sizing. (I think this is caused by individual fibers sticking to the hot calendar rollers as the sheets were pressed.) These will appear in the wash test (described below) as a slight flecking or spotting of the finished wash, an effect that is usually undesirable. 7. Grain. Using a deckle ruler or metal straightedge, fold and then tear the full sheet into quarter sheets. Note the strength of the paper torn in each direction: the direction that tears easier is "with the grain," that is, in the same direction as the lengthwise orientation of the cellulose fibers. Examine one of the "across the grain" tear edges under a magnifying glass to assess fiber size and length: papers made with short fibers will look "fuzzy" and very even at the tear, longer fiber papers will look "hairy" and more ragged. Handmade papers do not have a noticeable grain. All machinemade and most mouldmade sheets have a noticeable grain because the fibers are aligned downward by gravity as the pulp is pulled upwards by the rotating mould cylinder; this causes the cellulose fibers to lie parallel to the two edges perpendicular to the cylinder axis. These usually have the "natural" deckle edge along the long (30") sides of a full sheet. The "deckles" along the short sides are produced by tearing the sheet with a dull blade or cutting with a high pressure jet of water. The heaviest (400 to 640 GSM) sheets cannot be conveniently torn without first scoring the sheet with a dull blade, then wetting just the fold with a stiff sponge before tearing.

Use one of the quarter sheets for the remaining surface tests; I prefer to choose the quarter sheet

with the watermark, so I have it for reference. Write the paper brand, marketing name (e.g., "Uno" or "Artistico"), weight and finish along one edge with an indelible pen, so that you can refer to the sheet later for comparison to other papers. (I keep all my test sheets in a small portfolio folder, so I can refer to them later or do additional tests.) Use a second quarter sheet for the pulp, pH, permanency and absorption tests (see test 9 to test 11). Use the remaining two quarter sheets to make paintings. Do a painting on both sides of the sheets, if feasible. The best test of a paper is how it responds to your own painting materials and techniques. Be sure to add these painting impressions or observations to your notebook description of the paper.

8. Color. Under moderately strong white light (mid morning or mid afternoon outdoor sunlight is best), lay a white standard next to the watercolor sheet, and look at the difference in lightness and tint. If you are testing more than one type of paper, lay the sheets side by side on the ground in open sunlight, then indoors on the floor under strong artificial light, and judge the color and brightness of the papers in each situation. I prefer to lay the sheets on the ground, as paper color can change depending on the angle of illumination and view, which is best observed by walking around the paper samples. I lay the papers on a plain white bed sheet spread outdoors on the ground; this adapts my eyes to small brightness differences between the papers. Tinted sunglasses can also reveal color differences. Your white standard can be a sheet of pure white construction paper, your favorite sheet of watercolor paper, or a small canvas or board painted with several coats of matte finish titanium white paint. The standard should be as close to the same size as the quarter sheet as possible, to provide the best visual contrast; photographer's gray scales are too small. It is not

desirable that the standard be a brilliant white, because this will make an acceptably white paper appear gray, but it should be a balanced white without perceptible brownish or bluish tint. 9. Pulp Composition and pH. With scissors, trim off a corner of the paper about 1" wide. Ignite one end of the paper with a match or stove, and set it down to burn in a cigaret ash tray or saucer. Use a pH test strip or test pencil to assess the acidity of the paper. Pure cotton or linen cellulose, properly sized and with no fillers, will burn completely to a fragile, whispy white ash. Any ash that is dark, brittle, heavy or only partially consumed indicates the presence of wood (lignin), noncellulose or synthetic fibers, heavy sizing, fillers such as clay, or additives such as calcium carbonate. pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance (specifically, the proportion of hydronium H3O+ or OH- ions released in solution with water). A pH of 7.0 is neutral; acids have a very low pH of 0 to 4, and bases a high pH of 10 to 14. Art papers should either be neutral (pH = 7) or if buffered slightly alkaline (pH of 7.0 to 8.0). In cellulose papers, values below 6.5 or above 8.0 are undesirable. It is relatively simple and inexpensive to conduct your own pH tests on watercolor papers, and this should always be done if you suspect the manufacturer has misrepresented their product or if the papers are old. Papers that start out as pH neutral can become acid because of chemical residues in the paper or absorption from the atmosphere. pH test strips with test instructions are available from a few sources, including Micro Essential Laboratory and Talas (search for "pH test" at each site to get a listing of products). You can measure paper acidity with paper pH test strips, with a digital pH meter, or with a nifty little tool called a pH pencil. Talas has the meter (which requires a special testing solution); both MicroEssential and Talas have the test papers and pencils. If you choose limited pH range papers make sure these adequately bracket the neutral values (are sensitive to pH between 4.5 through 8.5 or 5.0 through 9.0).

Specific test methods depend on the test materials you use. In general you want to wet a small area of the paper with one or two drops of distilled water, allow the water enough time to soak into the paper and dissolve the internal sizing (about 2 minutes), then apply the test material while the paper is still moist. The pH is determined by comparing the color of the test material to a pH key. Repeat the test to confirm the accuracy of your results, and use the average if the results differ. 10. General permanence. There are two separate tests for the long term durability of the paper: embrittlement and yellowing. Place a 6" square sample of the paper on the middle rack of an oven, and on the bottom rack set a cake pan filled with 1" of water. Set the oven to 90C (190F) and let the paper "cook" for 72 hours. The paper will have approximately the same attributes as paper stored for 1000 years under archival conditions. Place a sample of the paper in a lightfastness frame and set in a sunny, south facing window for about two weeks. The paper will yellow rather quickly if it contains any wood lignin. 11. Absorbency. Lick the paper to gauge the absorbency and fine texture of the surface. Lay the sheet on a flat surface, apply pure water with a single stroke of a saturated 1" flat acrylic brush, and observe the amount of time until the water is completely absorbed. To evaluate cockling, completely cover one of the extra quarter sheets in warm water for five minutes, remove and hold by one corner until drained, then lay on a flat surface (kitchen counter or painting board). Note the extent of cockling, and any pattern in the cockling (parallel cockles, curling of the entire sheet) as the paper dries. Strongly absorbent papers papers with little or no surface sizing and/or a heavily macerated furnish will seem to stick to your tongue. They will also cockle more visibly under the water brush stroke and after soaking. Machinemade papers will characteristically curl up when wet. Papers that cockle excessively when soaked

typically have longer paper fibers, were more extensively beaten in the pulp stage (which causes the cellulose fibers to absorb more water and to bond firmly with each other), and were air (loft) dried (which allows the wetter cellulose fibers to bond to each other more extensively during the slow drying time). The following tests require you to do a variety of painting, lifting, scraping, masking, sponging and drawing tests on the quarter sheet. The diagram shows a suggested layout for these tests, numbered as in the text.

suggested layout for watercolor paper tests

shown on a quarter sheet format (11" x 15"); numbers refer to testing steps

There should be sufficient room on the sheet to rearrange the tests if you like, or add other tests that interest you; the various watercolor paper tests described by Ian Sidaway may give you some ideas. These tests are described in the order in which you perform them, followed by comments on interpreting the tests after all the steps have been completed and the sheet has completely dried. Always test the sheet in landscape orientation, on the side you prefer for painting (usually the felt side, or the side that makes the watermark less visible). 12. Resists and Masking Tape. Apply resists to the paper near the upper right corner. I use a 3" long strip

of 1/2" masking tape, burnished firmly to give a crisp edge, and two or three painted stripes of masking fluid (liquid latex, rubber cement or Maskoid). These should be placed so that they will be completely covered by the ultramarine wash (test 14). 13. Graphite Pencil and Erasure Damage. Next to the resists, near the top edge of the sheet, make several parallel lines on the paper, using the brand and hardness of pencils and/or charcoal you normally use for layout, design or drawing with watercolors. Make the lines only as dark (with as much pressure) as you normally use. Then gently erase the center 1/3d of the lines with your usual eraser. (Most painters use a gray kneadable eraser.) Stop erasing when the graphite has been completely lifted, or when the erasure begins to visibly damage the paper. 14. Wash Application. Make a mixture of equal parts ultramarine blue (PB29) and either cerulean blue (PB35) or cobalt violet (PV14), diluted to roughly 1 part paint to 8 parts water. Lay the paper on a painting surface tilted to a 15 angle, with the resists and masking tape at the top. With a 1" squirrel or kolinsky flat wash brush, paint an even wash over the righthand side of the sheet, starting from the top edge and working steadily down to the bottom edge. Paint in slow, long, even, parallel strokes with light pressure; do not scrub or retouch. After each of the first three strokes, stir the wash mixture thoroughly (to bring up the granulating pigment) and replenish the brush in the wash mixture. From the fourth stroke to the bottom of the page, add no more paint to the brush, but continue painting down the sheet with the existing wash bead until the area is completely covered or the brush goes dry completely dry. At this point, let the sheet dry thoroughly. Note the amount of curling or cockling in the sheet while it is wet, and how far the sheet returns to complete flatness after it has dried. Carefully remove the resists and masking tape, and overpaint part of the reserved areas with the quinacridone magenta solution (used in the next step) to test the paper absorbency after the lift has been

removed. The granulating cerulean blue or cobalt violet paints tend to collect along the bead after each wash stroke, making it harder to get an even wash texture. That is the point: they reveal the properties of surface texture and paper absorbency. Examine the wash area carefully for any blotching or spotting in the color. The manufacturing standards of commercial art papers have declined in recent years and blotching is a sign of pulp impurities or surface sizing that was improperly applied. Resists should lift cleanly and without tearing or fuzzing the paper surface. Absorbent papers will exhaust the available paint before you can complete the wash to the bottom. Hard or heavily surface sized papers will usually allow a complete coating of a quarter sheet. 15. Backruns (Surface Sizing). Lay the paper flat, and with a 3/4" acrylic flat brush, paint three juicy strokes of a strongly blossoming pigment, such as dilute quinacridone magenta (PR122), iron blue (PB27) or dioxazine violet (PV23), at the top edge of the lefthand side of the sheet. Leave the paper flat, and let the paint completely dry. Backruns indicate the paper is relatively nonabsorbent, as the paint dries on the surface rather than into the paper; however light basis but absorbent papers can also produce backruns if they become saturated. Hot pressed or bristol finishes tend to produce the most backruns, rough finish or toothy etching papers the least. 16. Scraping (Dry Lifting). Scrape clean a small area (about 1/4" by 1") of the ultramarine wash with a razor blade or X-acto knife, to assess endurance of the paper to dry lifting. Scraping will inevitably produce some surface damage, but this should clean up to be almost indistinguishable from an unscraped surface. Papers made with very short cellulose fibers tend to yield a fuzzy surface that is difficult to clean up.

17. Blotting (Wet Lifting). With the paper completely flat, use the 3/4" acrylic flat brush to paint one horizontal stripe of a moderately staining paint, such as dilute permanent sap green, below the magenta area. When this area has completely dried, use the rinsed acrylic brush wetted with clean water to completely lift a 1" section of the sap green by gentle downward scrubbing, blotting up dissolved paint with a paper towel. This should be done without letting the paper dry, and continued until either the paint is lifted completely or visible damage occurs to the paper surface. When this area has completely dried, paint a second stripe of sap green below and partly on top of the area of lifted pigment, to test the paper receptivity to paint where the paper was scrubbed. 18. Sponging. Using a natural sponge soaked and then wrung damp, scrub the lower left area of the sheet with five firm, downward strokes of the sponge. Let dry completely. Then use the remaining ultramarine wash solution to paint an ultramarine wash over the area scrubbed by the sponge. 19. Paint Saturation. Lay the test sheet outdoors under full sunlight or indoors under strong artificial light, using the large sheet of medium gray construction paper as a background, and evaluate the color and brightness of the painted test areas. Look for any irregularities in the wash areas, for any traces of machine markings (such as roller tracks) across the paper, and for visible traces of the sponge scrubbing under the wash areas. Colors should appear fresh, bright and clean. Excessively absorbent papers will yield a dull, blotchy color; yellow or brown papers will have an especially dulling effect on green, blue or violet paints.

test comparisons

Now let's review how to interpret these tests. As demonstrations, here are photographs of two completed test sheets.

twinrocker 640 GSM CP white watercolor paper Let's first look at one of the best performing sheets, from Twinrocker. 1. The ultramarine washes are very even: there's little noticeable banding from the cobalt violet, and the righthand wash mixture carried all the way to the bottom of the sheet. This indicates the paper is not strongly absorbent, and has a good surface coat of sizing it did not exhaust the alotted amount of wash mixture before the wash was completed. 2. The resists lifted cleanly and the magenta stripes show that the paper underneath was not scarred. The scraped area is clean, without tearing or shredding at the edges. The paper is very suitable for these techniques. 3. The magenta area (upper left) is beautifully even, without a trace of blossoming. This again indicates that the paper is moderately absorbent; the sizing is perfectly balanced, and the surface texture did not pull an excess amount of paint out of the brush. The paint was able to even out and dry before capillary action caused backruns to form. 4. The sap green stripe lifted cleanly, and the stripe

painted underneath shows almost no visible damage to the paper. The paper is very suitable for limited wet lifting, and this again suggests a good coat of external sizing. 5. The lefthand ultramarine wash is completely smooth and shows no traces of the sponging that preceded it. 6. Viewed in strong light, the paint colors are bright and true, with no apparent bias or dulling caused by the support. There are no apparent roller marks or variations in the sizing or paper pulp. In your notebook, these observations would be added to those obtained in steps 1-11 above.

fabriano artistico 640 GSM CP watercolor paper Let's next look at a sheet that fared less well, from Fabriano. 1. The ultramarine washes are fairly even, although there is noticeable banding from the cobalt violet, and the wash beads had a tendency to "drool" or continue draining down the sheet. This suggests a relatively heavy amount of external sizing that dissolves slowly when wet. The wash mixture also did not carry all the way to the bottom of the sheet, but not because the paper was highly absorbent but because of the stronger surface texture. The pencil mark washed partly away under the brush, another sign of surface sizing. 2. The resists lifted cleanly but the magenta stripes

reveal minor scarring of the paper surface. (Note the backruns in these painted areas.) The scraped area was clean, without tearing or shredding at the edges. 3. The magenta area (upper left) shows substantial backruns and irregularities caused by the individual brush strokes. This again indicates that the paper is not very absorbent and has a somewhat insoluble external sizing. 4. The sap green stripe lifted cleanly, although a lot of paper lifted along with it, making it hard to decide whether the lifting happened because of paper friability or hard external sizing. But after the excess paper was brushed away and the paper was allowed to dry, the stripe painted underneath showed almost no visible damage to the paper. The paper is suitable for limited wet lifting. 5. The lefthand ultramarine wash is heavily marked by the sponging that preceded it; the small black clots of color are balls of paper fiber rolled up but not detached from the surface by the wet sponge. 6. Viewed in strong light, and set next to other sheets, the paint colors are somewhat grayed. Minor variations in the surface sizing were noted in some sheets. Although not described here, it is important to also test the paper's acidity and general permanance, as described in tests 9-11 above. For the tests reported in the guide to watercolor papers, I photographed the felt side of the paper with a Kodak digital camera, using the macro lens at 8" from the paper surface, under a righthand downward slanting halogen lamp. These photos are reproduced in the guide to show the many subtle variations in finish across different brands and weights of paper. Some brands of watercolor paper, and handmade papers in general, may show occasional variation in paper quality or paper attributes from one lot to the next. I have not assessed the consistency in paper manufacture, but in general it is quite good. The main problem you will encounter is occasional blotching of the surface sizing with impurities (excess sizing or some oily contaminant) that will repel a wash application.

The results of these tests should help you identify the types of paper you may want to try for yourself. But you must make the final determination based on your experience painting on the papers yourself!
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

storing, mounting & framing

Paper is an organic product, and requires special handling to prevent damage both before and after a painting is made. In addition, watercolors are not slathered on the paper in a coating of binder, but lie naked on the surface of the paper over a very thin binder of gum arabic. This makes watercolors vulnerable to damage. This page describes the main environmental hazards to both unused papers and finished paintings, and describes methods of storage, matting and framing that will help preserve your art.

papers
paper hazards handling papers storing papers mounting and framing

paper hazards
It's most economical to buy paper in bulk lots, which means you'll need to store paper until you can paint through the last shipment. Whether you're considering the long term storage of unused paper, or proper display of finished paintings, light and moisture are the worst environmental hazards you should try to control. If you can store papers or paintings so that they are flat, dry, cool, and out of direct sunlight, you should be fine. Paper exposed to direct sunlight is at high risk to yellowing and embrittlement. The fact that sunlight can reach it at all means that humidity and temperature changes will affect it as well. Humidity at either extreme is a hazard. If the air is too dry, the paper and its surface sizing will become brittle; if the air is too moist, mold or fungi are more likely to grow. High humidity also promotes chemical decomposition of the paper by acids transported from the air. The optimal relative humidity for papers or paintings is around 45%, which is slightly dry; humidity extremes should never exceed 30% to 70%. Moisture in the paper can attract atmospheric dirt, soot and acids, and will cause the colors of a finished painting to bleed.

The optimal temperatures for paper storage are around 60 to 65F (15 to 18C). High temperatures, especially as caused by direct sunlight, can significantly degrade paper. Warmer air can contain more water vapor at the same relative humidity, and heat increases chemical activity or the growth of mold in the paper. But strong temperature fluctuations, even in moderate temperature ranges, can have just as bad an effect. Again, keeping the paper wrapped and stored in the dark, or in flat files (see below), will alleviate extreme variations in temperature and humidity. Dust is a common hazard, especially if it is darkened with soot or fine dirt, since the paper surface will trap particles deeply so that they cannot be easily brushed or washed away. Air pollution is a significant and difficult problem in any urban area, but it even afflicts rural areas of the American northeast or southwest. Aerosols of dust or soot are a hazard. But worst of all is sulfuric acid or nitric acid, which can form in the paper when sulfur dioxide or nitrous oxide, created by emissions from power plants, factories, or cars, dissolves in the moisture already in the paper. By a process called acid hydrolysis, this acid discolors the paper and breaks the long cellulose fibers into shorter fragments, making the paper brittle. Watercolor paper will absorb acid from the air even when the acid is present in very small amounts, and nothing you can do will get it out again -- paper only gets more acid with time. (Buffered papers are slightly alkaline and can neutralize small amounts of airborne acids, but prolonged exposure to air pollution will overwhelm even this defense.) Watercolor paper is mostly cellulose, and contains substances such as gelatin or glue that insects enjoy eating; watercolor paints can add the spices of gum arabic and honey to the meal. The major predators are silverfish and sometimes cockroaches. You may notice these pests first in other parts of your house -- the kitchen or your bookshelves. If so, take extra precautions with your papers. All these hazards can also afflict finished paintings. The best protection is to:

 frame finished works immediately, sealing the back of the frame completely and using ultraviolet shielding Plexiglas as a cover keep paintings hung away from direct sunlight or indirect sunlight from large windows; fluorescent lights are less of a hazard, but beware of prolonged exposure to bright lights or lamps of any kind hang the painting in areas with relatively small fluctuations in a moderate average temperature and humidity never store a painting in areas such as attics or basements where it may be exposed for prolonged periods to cold, damp, or insects. Damage to paper or paintings from any of these environmental hazards is irreversible and often irreparable. Take care.

handling papers
Although environmental hazards create a background of foreseeable and controllable dangers to paper, the single greatest hazard to a work on paper or unused art paper is ... human activity. Sylvie Turner mentions vandalism, theft, accidental burning, accidental staining (coffee, tea or milk, sir?), denting, folding, crushing, tearing, and so on. The existential predicament is: you're a klutz, and damage to paper is almost always irreparable. Most damage occurs when paper is handled or moved, so the first rule is to handle paper as little as possible. When you move sheets, always wash your hands first. (Besides being good to the paper, it's good for your hands). Turner describes the use of "paper fingers," a strip of cardboard or paper folded in two and held between the thumb and fingers, to be used as pincers to grip the paper without touching it. Leave stacks of paper in the original wrapping, and slide

sheets out one at a time, from the top. Lift and hold a sheet at the opposite corners, with both hands, and carry it vertically so the paper does not shear in the air and bend or tear. Always wash or wipe the surface where you will lay paper, including a workbench or stretching board. Many artists will use the wire side of a sheet if a painting started on the felt side goes south. It's annoying to turn a sheet over, expecting to salvage it by painting on the other side, only to find a large stain or blotch of dirt from the surface where it was laid. Move slowly. You're painting, not bartending, so there's no rush. Think before you pick stuff up. Move containers and trays with both hands. Do not carry charged brushes a long distance over your work. Go ahead and drink your coffee or Coke, just place it to one side of your work area, rather than next to the paper (where it can spill).

storing papers
I store watercolor blocks on a large bookshelf with the labeled edge out, just like my sketchbooks, and they seem as content with the treatment as any book would be. For want of anything better, I keep single sheets of paper stacked flat, with stretching boards on top for added weight and insulation, on the bare hardwood floor under our queensize bed. It's cool, dry and dark there, and our enthusiastic housekeeper keeps the bugs and dust at bay, but it's far from optimal. (I just don't have the space for a studio.) I pull out a sheet when I need it, and order more when the stack gets small, always putting the old paper on top of any new paper ordered. I've found it's sufficient to keep the paper in the original brown paper or plastic shipping wrapper, if the paper is used within a few months of purchase. But flat files or portfolios are safer for long term storage of papers or paintings, and also more convenient to use. The really top end storage arrangements are wood or

metal flat files. These generally run from about 36 inches wide and 24 inches deep (sufficient to hold imperial size paper or smaller), up to about 54 by 42 inches, which will take antiquarian size sheets, or two double elephant sheets laid side by side. The drawers are usually 2 to 3 inches deep, which will hold as many as 30 to 80 sheets, depending on weight. Some retailers also offer stackable trays in the same size ranges as flat files. These have open fronts, so that you just slide paper in and out. Stored this way paper is easily accessible and largely safe from light, though humidity and homesteading spiders will have free access. Portfolios. Once you've finished a painting, you can store it in a flat file or in a portfolio. Either method will protect the painting from light yet make it easy to get to for display or reference -- and you will learn a lot by periodically reviewing your old paintings! But the portfolio is really the thing to protect the work during personal transport. (Shipping the painting is another matter.) Portfolios come in three basic styles. The simple polysleeve portfolio is made of two sheets of heavy plastic stitched on three sides, with a cutout handle on the fourth (open) side. These are sufficient for transporting a handful of smaller paintings (the stitched edge construction means the portfolio cannot expand to hold many sheets), but are not good for larger artworks. The board portfolio is made of two flat boards wrapped in brown (or black) craft paper, joined with black cloth along a long edge with black cloth tie strips attached at the center of the other three edges to tie the boards together for transport. These are easy to use and provide good protection for large sheets carried on painting trips; they can also expand to hold as many as 20 or so full size sheets. More elaborate is the presentation portfolio, basically a large black multiring binder, with plastic sleeves inserted and a zipper running around the three open edges; a handle and shoulder strap are attached to the outside of the binder. The plastic sleeves usually contain a sheet of black craft paper that act as a background

and separator for art displayed on either side of the sleeve. Stored flat, the presentation portfolio provides a completely lightproof and acid free storage for your best artworks. Flat files are the best for long term storage in general, and for organizing your art into different categories. The other portfolios provide excellent storage, provided they are stacked flat, out of light, just like exposed sheets of paper. Large artwork stored in flat files or portfolios should be separated by tissue or glassine sheets to prevent the surface of a painting from being abraded by the back of the painting stacked on top of it. (This happens as you rifle through the stack looking for a particular painting.) Glassine comes in large rolls of varying widths, so you can tear off the size of sheet you need. Make sure the drawers in files are made of plastic or painted metal. Bare metal may moisten and rust, staining the paper. Metal drawers tend to collect condensation. If this is a problem, include a small packet of calcium carbonate or other material to absorb excess moisture from the air. Shipping. Occasionally you may need to ship artwork to galleries or clients, or transport papers during a move. Art stored in flat files can usually be moved in them, provided the weight isn't unwieldy, the file drawers are secured so they won't slide open, and the sheets are separated with glassine so that they do not abrade during transport. If you do not have flat files, wrap single sheets (in groups of no more than 20 or 30 sheets) in heavy plastic sheeting or brown craft paper. Do not wrap sheets into extremely heavy blocks, as the weight will damage the deckles during handling. (If you cannot lift the wrapped paper with one hand, it's too heavy.) To ship one or more unframed paintings, first completely wrap each painting separately in plain brown paper, prominently labeled with your name and return address, then insert it between two sheets of masonite (1/8th inch thick is sufficient for imperial size sheets or

smaller), about 1 inch larger on all sides than the paintings. Bind the masonite on all four edges with strapping tape or plastic wrapping tape. Label and ship. Large framed paintings (larger than 3 feet on any side) should be crated. This normally entails sandwiching the painting between two heavy sheets of plywood, screwed to wood separators that seal the painting on all four sides. Styrofoam blocks, foam sheet or heavy paper packing is necessary to prevent damage to the frame and painting cover. Unless you have carpentry skills or access to a compliant lumberyard, you will have to defer this task to a professional framing shop, gallery or art transport company. Your local art retailer can provide referrals.

mounting and framing

You will hear often from artists that framing a painting greatly improves its presentation. And this is usually true: a good frame can really make a painting sing. But framing also significantly helps preserve the painting and protect it from the ravages of moisture, air pollution, harsh light, dirt, and mishandling that can cause warping, scraping or tearing. Gottsegen gives the most detailed overview of matting and framing works on paper. His treatment focuses mostly on defining terms and providing step by step instructions for specific techniques, such as mounting a painting in mats. As with watercolor paper itself, it's important to use mat and backing boards that are acid free and dimensionally stable to changes in heat or moisture in the room where the art is displayed. Quality commercial art materials always meet these standards, so your primary task is consistently to buy reputable brands from good suppliers. You'll need a mat cutter to cut crisp, straight outer edges and inner window bevels on the mat. These come in two versions: a handheld cutter that requires a metal straightedge to guide the blade, or a tabletop cutter

that mounts the blade on a metal rail that infallibly guides the cut. There are mounting boards in a variety of weights, specified as the ply of the board (a ply is roughly equivalent to 1/16th of an inch, or 1.5 millimeters). The mat boards are available in many textures and colors, thinner than mounting boards. A rectangular window (the edge beveled to show a border of the darker mat core) is usually cut into the mat to mask the edges of the finished painting. The painting is centered under this window, and sandwiched between the mat and mounting board. The mail catalogs available from Cheap Joe's or Pearl Paint give a good overview of the tools and materials required to mount and frame your own work. Any good art retailer will happily advise you on the best selection of materials and methods, and some will host or refer you to workshops where you can learn the skills from a pro. The matted painting is next set into a frame and usually covered with a sheet of glass or Plexiglas (clear plastic). Again, this is something covered more fully in art handbooks, but a few points are worth mentioning. Plexiglas generates a charge of static electricity when it is handled or cleaned (wiped with a cloth) after the painting is mounted. This charge is strong enough to pull loose particles of pastel chalk or charcoal off the paper. The remedy is to use glass for smaller works, or (especially in larger works) to set the artwork inside a shadowbox frame that places it an inch or so behind the clear cover. Cracks in glass covers should be repaired immediately. The crack permits air to reach the painting, and if the air contains acid or dirt, a hairline discoloration will appear on the painting. The style of framing should complement the style of the artwork itself. Highly ornate frames seem thoroughly out of fashion, but simple gilded or metal frames are sometimes used. Natural wood frames, stained or varnished to alter the color, are most common. These can be expensive, depending on the type of wood and

its thickness. Usually wood provides a slightly flexible and forgiving framework for the glass or Plexiglas cover. Woods that are high in tannins or acids, such as redwood or cedar, should not be used for frames. They also tend to be brittle woods, and prone to cracking. Trimming Deckles. In the 19th century and much of the 20th century, the deckles on watercolor papers were just imperfections remaining from the manufacture. Artists or dealers almost always cut them away from the finished painting. That is convenient for artists who stretch papers, as almost every stretching method damages the deckles enough to make removing them preferable. Then the painting is mounted under a mat, as described above. In contrast, the current style is to present the work on paper as a complete artifact, making all the material attributes of the work visible within the frame. This is done by floating the work on the mounting board and leaving the edges unmatted. The work, centered in the frame, is fixed to a heavy archival quality mounting board or heavy mat by starch paste or two sided archival tape applied at all four corners and a minimal number of spots along the edges of the work. The backing is larger than the painting by three or four inches on all sides, so the piece seems to "float" on top of the backing. The deckle and any warping in the paper are left to view as part of the finished work. When the artist has taken care of the deckles, and has not blatantly damaged the painting with tacks or staples, the effect can be stunning. This large format Joseph Raffael watercolor, framed by the Nancy Hoffman Gallery, is typical of the style. Preserving the deckles means that the watercolor paper cannot be stretched with paper tape, as the painting is usually cut along the tape edges (inside the deckles) to free it from the board. Securing the unstretched sheet with large paper clamps, or stretching it using staples and tongue depressors, are the better choices.

Flattening a Painting. Floating the work also makes flattening the painting less desirable, unless successive washes or soakings have really warped the sheet to where the surface and not the image is the first thing a viewer will notice. Charles LeClair gives the most detailed instructions for flattening a finished work. The procedure is not complicated but it must be done carefully to keep water from wetting the painting itself. (You may want to practice first on a discarded painting, to make sure you know how much wetting is enough.) The necessary materials are: two terrycloth towels, larger in length and width than the painting; two sheets of heavy plywood, Plexiglas, masonite or particle board, larger than the painting; heavy objects (bricks, books, free weights) sufficient to create about 20 pounds of pressure per square foot of painting area; a misting or spray bottle of clear water. Lay the painting face down on a large kitchen counter, formica table or other flat, clean surface. Do not place any wicking material, such as a towel or newspaper, under the painting. Carefully moisten the back of the painting with a spray bottle until the paper is evenly wet. To spray along the edges, turn the spray outward (holding the bottle over the center of the painting) so that water is aimed away from the paper as it strikes the edge. Do not allow water to run back or puddle along the edges where it can wick under the paper and wet the painting itself. Lightly add water to areas that appear to have dried; do not create any pools or puddles. Wet the paper only until it loses its stiffness and holds an even, satin wetness for several seconds. Place one sheet of the plywood, Plexiglas or masonite board on the floor, in an area where it can sit undisturbed. Cover the board with a single terrycloth towel or printer's press felt. (Do not use towels with heavy seams or embossed designs such as monograms on them, as these can create indentations in the paper.) Carefully lift the painting: wipe away excess water that has pooled next to a corner edge, then slip your fingernail, palette knife or putty knife under the edge, grip the paper from the back with your thumb, and lift. Excess water may drip from the opposite corner; wick

this from the back. Place the painting face down (damp side up) on the towel, then lay the second towel or press felt on top of the painting, and smooth out any wrinkles. Lay the second sheet of Plexiglas or masonite on top of the stack. Weight the upper sheet of Plexiglas with books, bricks, or any other massy, flat objects. Spread the weights evenly over the entire surface of the sheet to apply about 20 pounds of weight per square foot. Let the painting sit undisturbed two to five days (depending on the humidity and average temperature of your work area). Remove the weights and inspect the painting. If necessary, reassemble the stack to let the paper dry completely, or repeat the process to flatten it further. The preferred alternative is to paint on paper stock heavy enough to resist serious warping under the methods you use. Some artists work in small areas with controlled, small applications of paint, and on standard (300 GSM) paper stock this produces minimal, consistent warping that is not at all distracting. Others apply juicy washes or glazes to large areas, and this usually requires a heavier watercolor paper stock, 400 GSM or more, to come out of the process relatively flat.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Brushes are ancient and elegant tools. They have changed little in form, materials or use since their development in China and Egypt centuries ago. Here are the basics to help you make the right choice of brushes for your art. guide to watercolor brushes The major brands of brushes available today, with some information on their manufacturing quality and handling. how watercolor brushes are made The major types of brushes and their uses, an overview of the types of brush bristles, and how brushes are made. how to test watercolor brushes Brushes are the medium that communicates your intentions through the paint onto the paper. Different brushes are appropriate for different painting objectives. brush care & storage Caring for brushes is one of the basic painting skills. Brushes need to be stored carefully to keep them safe from insects and mildew.
DISCLAIMER: The information on watercolor products contained in this site is provided without warranty or guarantee of any kind. If you discover errors or omissions, please offer your guidance with an email. Thanks.

brushes

guide to watercolor brushes

This section highlights the brushes available from the more widely marketed brands in retail outlets, and smaller brands that I feel are worth mention. My brush evaluations are based on personal experience, and my brush testing methods. A comment from Jacques Turner, in his "Brushes: A Handbook for Artists and Artisans" (1992), bears repeating: Most artists are not fully aware of the influence the quality of their brushes has on the work they do.... It is very difficult to obtain good results using badly made brushes. I have met beginners who were convinced that they lacked ability because they were unable to produce certain painting effects, when in reality their failure was the direct result of the inferior brushes they were attempting to use. This is valid as far as it goes, and certainly every artist should own a set of high quality brushes, but it is also true that price is a fuzzy guarantee of quality, and an inexpensive brush is sometimes the best brush you can buy for certain painting needs, especially if your methods are aggressive. Your choice of brush depends on your working practices and painting technique ... use these descriptions to guide your own exploration. The brand of brush you use is not as important as using a brush you enjoy and trust. In particular, remember that the label "kolinsky" tells you absolutely nothing about the quality of a brush, as explained in the section on brush hair & bristle.

Cheap Joe's Daniel Smith daVinci Dick Blick Escoda Grumbacher Isabey

Kalish Loew-Cornell Raphal Rekab Robert Simmons Rosemary & Co Utrecht Winsor & Newton Yarka There are several other brands of watercolor brushes on the market, among them Leonardo, Holbein, Manet (still no Picasso, but it's sure to come), Langnickel, Luco, Princeton, Richeson (including the "Quiller Richeson" line for all watermedia) and Creative Mark, to name only the more widely advertised. Many art retailers offer brushes under their own brand Cheap Joe's, Daniel Smith and Utrecht as described on their separate pages, but also Rochester Art Supplies, Pearl Paint or Amsterdam Art. These have been commissioned from the same quality brushmakers that serve some of the larger and most of the smaller brush brands. Yes, that's right, behind Winsor & Newton kolinsky brushes is a brush manufacturer somewhere in India, who either makes the brushes whole or ships the heads and handles for assembly in England. If you can find an informed retail salesperson in the store (a big "if"), educate yourself by asking them questions about brushes. They will know what sells and what doesn't, and may know of customer experiences and complaints. Be wary of what appear to be the salesperson's personal preferences, however, unless you understand how their standards resemble (or don't resemble) your own. Perfectly appropriate qualifying questions include: how long have you worked here? how long have you been painting? where did you learn to paint? do you prefer water media? how do you choose brushes? And buy sparingly. Brushes are relatively expensive, no matter which brand you buy, and most artists discover that just a handful of brushes is sufficient for all their

painting needs. Using a limited number of brushes also helps you learn their characteristics well. The real value of a brush its durability and responsiveness over time only becomes apparent after long use. Prices (current as of January, 2004) are provided for a medium and large brush size in each brush category.
Last revised 12.24.2003 2003 Bruce MacEvoy

how watercolor brushes are made

Some folks write with a stubby, chewed up wood pencil, and others write with a gold plated Swiss fountain pen. These don't have much effect on the writer's handwriting, but they do lend familiarity to the writing experience and a distinctive visual style to the script. In many respects, an artist's preferences in brushes are of the same kind. As a practical matter, many artists find that inexpensive brushes do the job just as well as expensive ones: the style and appearance of their paintings are much the same. An awareness of the brushes that are available, and the major differences among them, will help you find the tools that make you feel comfortably at your best, and lend those subtle touches of brushstroke and texture that make your work unique. I have not been able to find a reliable account of the invention and history of the brush as we use it today. The essential tool concept was probably adapted from twigs that were frayed by chewing at one end, so that they could hold ink or paint, as used in early painting or calligraphy. It seems that the modern brush animal hair or bristle, or vegetable fiber, bound to the end of a wood handle was independently devised in Egypt, perhaps as early as 4000 BCE, and in China, perhaps as early as 200 CE. The Chinese brush probably incorporated a quill ferrule around animal hair, making it the earliest tool similar to brushes used today. The first description of European artist's brushes and brush manufacture is probably that in Cennino Cennini's Il Libro dell' Arte (c.1390).
A brief but excellent contemporary reference is Jacques Turner's Brushes: A Handbook for Artists and Artisans (Design Books, 1992), which includes many photographs of brush types and brushmaking techniques.

brushes
types of brushes brush manufacture brush hair & bristle

types of brushes
Watercolor brushes come in a confusingly wide range of sizes, types and materials. But nearly all the painting you'll ever have to do requires only a few different sizes

from the two essential, general purpose types of watercolor brushes. These are the round and the flat. There are many other brushes designed for specific applications, and these are more useful to some painting tasks or painting styles than others. Round. The classic watercolor brush, with hairs that shape to a rounded point when wet (see Figures 1 and 2, right). A high quality round renders a wide range of shapes and effects, holds a good charge of water, wicks up excess paint, and rinses out quickly. The extraordinary flexibility of this brush means it is the instrument of choice for "gestural" painters who want a lot of expressiveness in the brush marks. Rounds come in three subtle variations: the standard round, where the length out is slightly more than 4 times the belly diameter when wet, with a slight flaring in width at the belly; a full bellied round in which the length out is about 4 times the belly diameter when wet, with an exaggerated belly widening in the tuft; and the pointed round in which the length out is usually 5 or more times the belly diameter when wet, without any belly widening in the tuft. The cupping of the brush determines these brush proportions, and some brands tend to one or the other extreme in their "standard" rounds (compare the tuft shapes in Figure 2). These variations affect the carrying capacity and flexibility but not the pointing of the tuft. The middle or optimal size in most brush ranges is usually around a #10 or #12. The smallest sizes run to #00 or #000 (for extremely fine detail, and depending on the sizing system used), but these brushes hold very little paint; the largest usually run as high as #20 or #24 (some manufacturers go even higher), but these largest rounds are very expensive and cumbersome to use. Flat. These are chisel shaped brushes with a straight edge that first became popular among Impressionist painters of the late 19th century (see Figure 3). These are specialized as two types. The bright has an approximately square tuft profile (the length out is the same as the tuft width), usually with stiffer hairs; they hold less paint than regular flats, produce sharply angular stroke edges, and can be used more assertively in lifting, splattering, scumbling, and similar texturing techniques. The one stroke has a distinctly rectangular tuft shape with flexible, soft hairs; the tuft can smoothly release a longer stroke of paint and produces a more

1. Round brushes (left to right): Winsor & Newton #10 Series 7, Da Vinci #12 Maestro kolinsky, Daniel Smith #12 red sable, Daniel Smith #12 oxhair, Yarka #8 Kolinsky sable

2. Round brushes same brushes as above, but wet

calligraphic range of brushmarks. Flats are ideal for laying down large areas of even color or pure water, for shaping precise color edges, building graded washes, and creating a variety of shapes less convenient to render with a round. Nearly all the strokes made with a flat leave an angular or straight edge in the brushstroke, so they are often used wet in wet (which disguises or softens these characteristic brush marks) or boldly in "angular" painting styles. Sizes are usually measured in inches along the flat edge, and typically include 1/8", 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", 3/4" and 1", or equivalent widths numbered as sizes from about 6 to 24. Specialty Brushes. Most paintings will require two or more of these basic round and flat brushes. In addition, there are a number of specialty brushes that are less frequently needed because they are designed to serve limited purposes, usually some kind of specific texturing effect which the basic brushes handle less effectively. Mop. Rounds made with very fine, soft hairs (usually squirrel hair) that can hold a large quantity of water when wet or can wick up a large quantity of water when thirsty. Because they take long to dry and take more effort to rinse completely, mops are not the best brush for paint application, but they are exceptionally good for wetting large areas of paper or for blotting or blending paint that is already applied. Good mops come to a precise point and can be used for very controlled applications of water from thin lines to sky wide washes (see Figure 4). The soft hairs severely limit the range of brush marks in comparison to a round, but this coarser, "out of focus" effect makes them ideal for softening edges, for lifting vague lights in backgrounds, and applying large color masses. Sizes run from #0 to #14. Wash. Looking like miniature housepainting brushes, wash brushes extend the range of flats to much larger widths, hold much more water or paint, and release it over a wider area (see Figure 5). Like mops, wash brushes are best for wetting large areas of paper or charging already wet wash areas with water or paint; their large size and blunt edge makes them unweildy for paint applications, especially when the painted area is bounded by complex edges. Sizes typically include 1",

3. Flat brushes (left to right): Daniel Smith acrylic synthetic 1", Daniel Smith Kolinsky sable 1", Isabey red sable 1", Isabey mongoose 1"

4. Mop brushes (left to right): Isabey squirrel mop (dry) #8, Isabey squirrel mop (wet) #6, Isabey filbert

1-1/2", 2", 3" and sometimes 4", depending on manufacturer and type of hair used. Acrylic. Flats with synthetic fiber bristles and a clear plastic handle that ends in a beveled edge (see Figure 3). The tuft produces very even chiseled edges but runs out of paint across longer strokes; I find them very useful for the limited wetting and scrubbing of areas of paint I want to lift (blot away) with a paper towel. The handle tip is useful for burnishing, rubbing or scraping the watercolor paper. Sized as flats. Filbert or Cat's Tongue. Oval flats that come to a point when wet, usually made with soft bristles such as sable, mongoose or squirrel hair (see Figure 4). Used for blending or shaping washes, for washes where the width of the wash strokes must be varied, for example where a large wash area must be laced through smaller passages that require detailed maneuvering with more of a tuft point. Sized as rounds. Rigger. Brushes with very long, thin hairs that come to a precise point, originally used to paint the rigging lines in nautical paintings, but great for any rendering of very fine, long lines (see Figure 6). The long tip of a good rigger will hold a fair amount of paint and will disguise minor wobbling in the hand through the flexibility of the tuft. Sized as rounds. Liner (also script). Basically a rigger wrapped in a round. The hairs often do not come to a needle point (as in a rigger), so that the line rendered has a consistent thickness, which is scaled to the size of the tuft. The length of the liner tuft allows the line to keep a more consistent width than the line possible with a round, while the belly holds a larger charge of paint than a rigger, which allows you paint a rather long line for its width. (see Figure 6). Sized as rounds. Detail. A stubby round that tapers quickly to a precise point, used for painting the artist's signature, short lines (especially lines that vary in width), small areas of texturing (stippling, hatching), rendering single leaves in trees or plants, portrait eyes, and similar detail areas (see Figure 6). Sized as rounds. Fan. As the name indicates, a brush with a fan shape used for drawing grasslike or twiglike clusters of parallel

5. Wash brushes (left to right): Isabey 2" squirrel wash, Daniel Smith 2" cactus wash, Winsor & Newton 2" Taklon wash

6. Specialty brushes (top to bottom): Winsor & Newton #6 fan brush, Daniel Smith #9 liner brush, Isabey #8 and #4 detail brush, Daniel Smith #6 and #0 rigger brush, Isabey #2 travel squirrel mop, Daniel Smith #2 travel sable round

7. Japanese brushes (left to right): yoju hake, bamboo hake, gyokuran sumi brush, sansui koraku sumi brush

lines, for irregular line hatching or texturing, and for softly blending the edges of or gradations within wash areas (see figure 6). Different parts of the arcing fan edge should be used from one stroke to the next, to produce the greatest variation in the irregular line spacings. Sized as rounds. Travel brush. Collapsible round or mop brushes that enclose the tuft in the handle for protection during travel (see figure 6). Only useful for quick sketching with a pocket pan set and a small block of watercolor paper. The largest sizes can be used for washes, and travel mops are also available from Isabey (see Figure 6). Sized as rounds. Japanese sumi brushes (see Figure 7). These come in many styles and sizes. The gyokuran or koraku are basically calligraphic tools: they deliver elegant flowing strokes that characteristically change texture as the fluid in the brush is exhausted, from the wet beginning of the stroke to the dry finish. This tends to happen quickly, because the brushes have a poor carrying capacity and release liquid fairly quickly, and because the goat hair tufts are coarse and soft. For the traditional Japanese calligraphy, which develops a skill in handling the old kanji ideograms as artistic icons, this variation in texture has a lovely expressive effect. In most other painting situations, it can be a nuisance. I don't use these brushes unless I want a calligraphic "Japanese brush mark" in the painting. Sized in inches. The flat hake brushes are used dry (without any water or paint in them) to gently stroke and coax the distribution of paint or water in wash areas after the wash solution has been applied with another (wash) brush. Some are designed as individual tufts set in a row of bamboo stalks (pictured at right); others are made as a single row of hairs set in a thin, flat wooden handle. They are quite limp when wet, and shed hairs as relentlessly as a sick dog, which makes them nearly worthless as direct painting tools. When the hairs are wet they also straggle across a wash, leaving unsightly marks. I dislike these brushes and only use them to sweep lint and erasure crumbs from a paper surface. Sized in inches. All these brushes tend to be used much less frequently than the four basic types, unless you specialize in a

genre of painting (botanicals, ship paintings, calligraphy) where their texturing effects have a specific application.

brush manufacture
Brushmaking is a very old art that in central European traditions was combined with the making of brooms. England, France and Germany have the longest traditions in brushmaking and continue to provide some of the finest brushes, though the guide to watercolor brushes points to some fine makers in Spain and the Middle East. Several brands sold in the USA obtain their brushes from manufacturers in India or Japan, and China is making rapid inroads into the world market. The manufacturer assembles the brush raw materials tuft hair or fiber, metal ferrules and wood handles from other suppliers. How much of this basic manufacturing the brush company jobs out or does itself affects the amount of quality control they can assert over their product. The modern brush consists of only three parts. The tuft (T at left) is the bundle of hair, bristle or fiber that holds and releases the painting liquid. The visible portion of the tuft, about half its total length, is the length out, which consists of the belly or widest middle part and the tapering point or tip (in a round) or edge (in a flat). The ferrule (F) is the metal collar that connects the tuft to the handle, supports the tuft during painting, protects the end of the wood handle from moisture, and determines the size and shape of the brush. Finally, the handle (H) is made of a dense hardwood selected for straightness. Plastic handles have been tried but have usually been found wanting because they don't save the brush manufacturer money, yet customers associate plastic with low quality and lack of durability. The Tuft. The pelts or ears of the harvested animals are first shampooed and then hung to dry. Sable and squirrel pelts are sometimes oven cured at low temperatures to increase the hair elasticity or "spring." Brush hairdressers scissor the prepared hairs or bristles

from the pelt, hold large tufts between thumb and fingers and use a fine comb to separate the hairs and remove hair fragments, fine hairs and stubborn debris. Hairs are meticulously sorted, separated by length and cleaned of any broken pieces. Hairs of the same length are bundled for sale to brushmakers, and because there are fewer of the longest hairs on an animal, these are more expensive. According to Jacques Turner, hairs from the tail of kolinsky sables range in length from about 28mm (sold for about $1,000 a kilogram in 1992) to 70mm (which went for $10,000 a kilogram). Prices have increased since then. Brushmakers who do not do the hairdressing themselves carefully unbundle and inspect a shipment when it is received. To make a tuft by hand, the brushmaker pinches out or counts the exact number of hairs required for the brush size, then places these hairs (pointed end down) inside the brushmaker's mold a hollow brass cylinder with thick sides and base, somewhat resembling an oversized thimble, whose inner contour defines the shape of the finished brush (rounded at the bottom for rounds, and flat for flats). The cup is tapped repeatedly on a stone slab, which drives the tip of every hair to the bottom of the cup. (A different procedure, called stacking, is used for liners or other tapering brushes that do not have a pronounced belly. As many as five lengths of hair are used, carefully arranged with the longest hairs at the center of the tuft and inserted into the cup butt end down, with the points exposed.) Once the hairs have been cupped to the appropriate shape, the exposed ends are wrapped tightly at the base with string and the tuft is removed from the cup. If the brush is a round, the string is tied off with a knot and trimmed. The brushmaker then manipulates the tuft with her fingers to perfect the shape of the belly and point. The inner end of the tuft is then sheared off flat to the desired length, and the tuft is inserted into the metal ferrule from the wide (handle) end, pulled through to expose the desired length out, then secured with a penetrating, waterproof adhesive and hung, tuft down, to dry. Synthetic tufts are made of extruded fine filaments of plastic cut into desired lengths and sorted by machine.

Tufts are sometimes purchased cupped and tied for assembly by brushmakers, but they more often use a set that consists of the tuft already glued into the metal ferrule. The Ferrule. Metal ferrules were first commercially used in brushmaking around 1890, and the highest quality ferrules are seamless not made of a flat piece of metal rolled into a cylinder. Fine quality watercolor brushes are mounted into ferrules made of a hard but malleable, corrosion resistant metal such as brass or copper; these are typically plated with nickel, silver or (rarely) gold. (Ferrules on cheaper brushes are made of softer aluminum or tin, which bends too easily.) They represent almost a third of the total cost to manufacture a brush. In nearly all fine commercial brushes the ferrule is double or triple crimped at the handle end (as in the drawing at left) to fasten the handle securely and keep water from seeping inside. Ferrules for flat brushes may be cylindrical in their original shape and flattened to achieve a particular brush style. Natural quills from the feathers of ducks, geese, and other fowl are still used for brush ferrules by watercolorists, though most often on squirrel mop brushes. Japanese brushes do not have ferrules: the tuft is secured directly to the handle. The Handle. The wood is chemically sealed, then finished by dipping in lacquer or polyurethane. The end inside the ferrule is flat and the butt end of the tuft is glued directly to it. This is the weakest part of the brush, because the end is not lacquered or varnished so that the adhesive can bond tightly with the wood. Prolonged soaking will expand the wood and loosen the adhesive holding the tuft in place. Acrylic handles are also used, particularly for synthetic brushes. Handles vary widely in diameter and length, but generally are shorter for watercolor brushes than for oil/acrylic brushes. Brush Sizes. Round brushes are sized using a standard numbering system that ranges from #00000 or #000 for the smallest brushes, then typically runs #00, #0, #1 to #12 in single number intervals, then #14 to #20 in even number intervals, and sometimes #24 or higher for the largest brushes.

I have not found an explanation for how these numbers are defined or assigned to a brush size. The best analogy is that they are like shoe sizes, fairly standard but somewhat different across manufacturers and styles. The numbers usually identify the relative sizes of brushes within the same type of brush by the same manufacturer. But across manufacturers, brushes of the same numerical size and type will typically not be exactly the same actual size or shape. (Compare the Winsor & Newton #10, the Daniel Smith #12 red sable, and the Yarka #8 in Figure 1: these are all round brushes of approximately the same size.) Because English brushes are typically made with wider bellies, there are effectively two numbering systems, English and continental (or European). The English numbers refer to a larger brush: an English size 8 brush is equivalent to a German size 9, an English 12 to a German 14, and so on. Flats, thankfully, are usually sized by the measured width of the edge of the ferrule, although some companies size their flats with a numbering system similar to rounds. Brushes are handmade from raw materials that vary widely in quality and availability. For that reason, brushes are always subtly different from each other, even when they come from the same manufacturer, in the same size and in the same series number. Even synthetic brushes show this variation a pleasant reminder that these are among the oldest tools made for the human hand.
There's an endearing set of pictures of the Escoda brush manufactory and staff at the Escoda brush web site.

brush hair & bristle

Nearly all the magic in a brush is in the selection of the tuft materials and how they are shaped and secured to the handle. This determines the resiliency or "spring" in the brush, how much water it can hold, the variety of effects it can render, and how long it stands up to use. Brush Labeling. In the brushmaker's world, the label "kolinsky" refers to the guard hairs from the tail of the winter pelt of a male animal; these hairs are a distinctive orangish brown with a dark tip. The animals

must live in very cold climates for the hair to achieve the desired thickness and length. As kolinskies do not breed in captivity (or so the story goes), the reclusive animals must be caught in the wild by vodka fortified trappers. In fact, the animals are in the genus Mustela, which includes minks, ermines, ferrets, polecats and weasels, many of which are bred commercially. Many feral animals in Russia and China (including Mustela sibirica or the Siberian weasel) are classified as endangered by international treaty, which prohibits or heavily restricts trapping wild populations. Some "kolinsky" brushes are made from the pelts of very different Mustela species, often cultivated in warmer (commercially more convenient) climates, which affects the hair quality. Less desirable grades of hair also called "kolinsky" come from other parts of the pelt, from the pelts of female animals, or from summer coats; this hair is sometimes very different from the winter male tail. Some manufacturers use "kolinsky" hair harvested from species of marten or red sable, which are in the Martes group of animals. (Often as not, the "scientific" species names used in art materials marketing literature to refer to harvested animals are either fictitious or garbled.) Conclusion: as applied to currently available watercolor brushes, the label "kolinsky" does not consistently refer to any species of harvested animal, type of hair or hair attribute. The right attitude is always to replace the word "kolinsky" with the word "varmint," and proceed to evaluate the brush from there. Most sable brushes are more expensive than synthetic bristle brushes, sometimes exorbitantly so (see the price information under brush brands). There is heavy marketing emphasis on "kolinsky" hair brushes, which is ironic since many experienced artists feel that the quality of "kolinsky" or sable hair has declined significantly over the past few decades. As often happens, volume manufacture eventually degrades the quality of the final product. There are many business variables between harvesting the hair and tying off the tuft of a brush: wholesalers sell hair in a range of qualities, hairs purchased by the

brush manufacturer must be further inspected and sorted, and some manufacturers are more rigorous than others about discarding broken, short or substandard hairs from their stock. The supplies available to wholesalers vary because of many business and environmental factors; some wholesalers are better than others about informing their clients of these variations. In short, without manufacturer or import regulations, and given the fundamental variation in the seasonal pelts of these sexually dimorphic mammals, the label "kolinsky" tells you nothing about the quality of the brush you are buying, and as often or not is misleading as to one or more qualities of the hair actually used. If you can visit a well stocked art retail store, compare the brushes from different manufacturers and see for yourself! Natural Hair & Bristle. Natural hair is in many respects the superior material to use in a brush. Kolinsky Sable. The most exalted hair for use in watercolor brushes is kolinsky sable, which is said to come from the winter pelts of the Siberian kolinsky, Mustela sibirica, a variety of weasel or mink (shown at right, wondering why you are so interested in his tail). These are considered the ideal hair for watercolor brushes because the hair gently tapers at both ends, with a very sharp point at the tip and a widening of the shaft (the belly) about two thirds of the hair's length from the tip to the root. The taper of the hair from the belly to the tip is what gives natural hair brushes their capacity and their ability to point so well. At its best, kolinsky sable is durable and has a spring and resilience unmatched in any other brush material. Red sable. This is usually from the pelt of various subspecies of marten (Martes martes) or sable (Martes zibellina). The hair is slightly thinner and stiffer than kolinsky but comparably resilient and thirsty. Red sable is usually a somewhat darker and duller brown than kolinsky, and the tips are a little blunter because the hair has a more abrupt taper. Because red sable hair is not as long as kolinsky, there usually is less hair visible outside the ferrule in a red sable brush (the ferrule must pinch the hair just below the belly to get the tapering effect). Sable can make excellent brushes

when the hairs are high quality and are arranged properly by the brushmaker. In most brush brands, "red sable" hair is indistinguishable from or substituted for "kolinsky" hair. Squirrel hair. A dark, soft, dense hair that is normally used in brushes that must hold a lot of water or that do not need spring in the tip (for example mops, flats, filberts, wash brushes). Squirrel is an exceptionally soft, absorbent hair. All varieties produce a brush that is very absorbent, not springy, but that comes to an excellent point. Kazan squirrel hair is brown, thin and quite soft, sometimes with a salt-and-pepper speckling of white. Canadian squirrel is a slightly thicker, less resilient, considerably shorter hair with more belly; it is usually a variegated yellow and black. Ox hair. Usually a brown or reddish hair, long yet stiff, taken from the ears of cattle. It will not come to a point because the hair is roughly cylindrical throughout its length. It is inexpensive, strong and springy, which makes it great for rougher brush techniques. It is also often mixed with other less resilient materials (such as inexpensive sable or synthetic fibers) to give the ox hair tuft a better pointing capability. Sabeline is very fine ox hair, dyed red to match the color of red sable, and either used by itself or with sable (or nylon fibers) in blends. Boar bristle. A pale or white bristle, very stiff, taken from the ears of hogs. "Bristle" means that the shaft does not come to a single point but frays or splits near the tip into "flags" or small protrusions. These tend to reduce the capillary action, making bristles more suitable for oil or acrylic brushes. Watercolorists sometimes choose them in brights or fans for textural effects, or in brushes used for scumbling or scrubbing away (lifting) paint layers or painting mistakes. Mongoose hair. Another hair more commonly used in acrylic or oil brushes. Has a very distinctive and delightful coloring: brown tipped, white banded, then dappled white and black along the shaft. Holds a lot of liquid, and is stiff but with velvety tips. Some watercolorists use these brushes for textured washes and a variety of scumbling effects. Goat hair. A long, coarse, wavy and limp hair that is

most often found in Japanese wash and calligraphic brushes. Because the shaft is very soft, wavy and cylindrical (does not taper to a point), it is not suitable in traditional rounds that require a needle point. Camel. The most appropriate translation for this label is "an inexpensive brush not made from a camel." The hair is not from a camel, is too inexpensive to label accurately, and may be many other types of hair besides sable (typically the hair is black squirrel, or a blend of two natural hairs such as squirrel and ox). Synthetics. The variety of synthetic fibers on the market is large and growing. The best synthetics are as resilient as sable and as thirsty as squirrel, though they soften and wear quickly in use. Tapered synthetic fibers retain their shape better than "level filament" (untapered) fibers. They are used in the same shapes as other brushes: flats, brights, filberts, and rounds. Synthetic fibers are made of nylon, polyester, or other filaments. Color is not a factor in judging their quality. The best synthetic fibers are extruded and treated in different configurations to resemble natural hair. Increasingly sophisticated extrusions are making it possible to produce much less expensive brushes with many of the same qualities as natural hair. Synthetic brushes also combine filaments of different diameters to achieve various qualities. Brush fibers are mostly of Japanese manufacture, though they are also made in the USA and Europe. Synthetics generally don't point very well when used alone in rounds, so they are often mixed with natural hair. Many lines of brushes available today mix bristle types, for example natural sable with synthetic fibers, or ox hair with red sable (these are called blends). These mixed bristle brushes are often bargains and produce perfectly satisfactory results. Many artists purchase synthetics by the dozens because they are so inexpensive, and throw them away as soon as the brush begin to wear or fatigue. Do not be misled by kolinsky snobbery into thinking that kolinsky is the only kind of brush you should buy. You are only falling prey to a marketing gimmick.
Last revised 08.17.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

how to test watercolor brushes

The brush is a very simple tool, and its use varies greatly across different styles or methods of painting. Your criteria for what makes a good brush, and the kinds of brushes you will need, may be quite different from another artist. This page offers some general guidelines, both about the manufacturing quality of a brush and its performance capabilities with paint and water.

brushes
the good brush a basic brush set buying brushes

the good brush

What makes a good brush? This is like asking "what makes a good tool?" The obvious response is, a tool for what purpose? Painters use brushes in a variety of ways to achieve a variety of effects: the "best" brush will be different, depending on its use. Overall, artists will find very good quality in the moderately to expensively priced brushes available in the art materials market today. The "house" brands available from large art retailers such as Cheap Joe's, Daniel Smith, Dick Blick, Utrecht or Winsor & Newton (among others) are often equal in quality to the best available brushes: but this is because large commercial brush manufacturers such as daVinci or Escoda or actually make the brushes under private label. Ideal Brush Qualities. Most watercolorists doing most kinds of watermedia paintings have found these brush attributes are highly desirable: Clean shaping. Once the tuft is thoroughly wetted and filled with water, the bristles should snap immediately to a clean profile. Flats should come to a perfectly even, bevel edge, rounds to a needle point, and there should be no stray or splaying hairs along the side of the tuft. (To do this, hold the brush in your normal grip, then shake out the water by snapping the brush in a single

sharp, down and up movement of your forearm.) Large capacity. The brush should hold a generous amount of paint or water. Capacity varies with the size of the brush, the type of brush (shape of the tuft), the type of hairs or fibers used and the way they have been cupped, but comparisons with other brushes of similar size and construction will reveal significant differences in carrying capacity. In larger brushes you should be able to complete a fairly long brushstroke as a single gesture, without going to the palette for more paint. Consistent release. When the brush is charged with fluid (either pure water or moderately diluted paint), and applied to paper at a 45 angle with gentle pressure, the brush should release paint in a steady, continuous flow. The brush should show much the same release characteristics regardless of the amount of paint it contains (except when the brush is fully charged with paint or almost thirsty). The brushstroke should not start or end with a "kiss" or puddle of excess paint that creates a small backrun when it dries. (Most brushes will do this, especially when fully charged with diluted paint, but some brushes do it more than others.) The density of the stroke should be even across its entire length and width, and visible streaks should appear only when the paint in the tuft is almost depleted or when the paint is only slightly diluted. Release variations across brush angles. The amount of paint released from the brush should increase or decrease as the brush handle is held at a more vertical or sideways angle to the paper or as greater or less pressure is applied during the stroke. Holding the brush handle vertically to the paper should produce a juicy release of moderately diluted paint; holding the brush handle almost parallel to the paper surface should produce a dry, scratchy release of thicker paint. All types of release should be easy to control and you should be able to get a specific texture repeatedly, at will. Wicking. When shaken out or blotted to a thirsty wetness, the brush should wick up diluted paint or water from the paper. (It should wick up at least half its total wet capacity of liquid.) The tuft should lift nearly all its capacity from the paint well without excessive or

prolonged dripping. Crisp lining (edging). When moderately charged with paint and using only the point of the tuft, a round should be able to render a crisp thin line and a variety of very small stippling or hatching marks. A flat should be able to "chisel" repeated, even line segments (made by holding the brush handle vertically and tapping the paper lightly with its edge), as well as clean edges and sharp corners. When several marks are done in a series, they should be nearly identical to each other and should be easy to align or position accurately, yet they should visibly change with the charge of the brush (the amount of paint in the tuft), the pressure applied, and the speed of the stroke. Tuft spring. The tuft hairs, bristles or fibers should flex to track changes in the direction and pressure of the brushstroke. As the brush is pressed into the paper, they should bend together; as the direction of the stroke changes, the hairs or bristles should shift together; as the brush is lifted from the paper, the tuft should come away with a clean profile, ready for the next stroke. Variation in brush marks. The brush should allow you to create a great range of nuanced gestural marks depending on the charge of paint, paint dilution, brushstroke speed, brushstroke pressure, angle of handle and paper finish. Each type of brush will produce its characteristic marks, but all brushes should show an interesting range in the marks it can make. Balance. The brush should rest comfortably in the hand. The handle should not be too thick or massive to produce delicate strokes, but thick enough to ensure control and stability during the brushstroke. The center of balance of a moistened brush should be between the bottom edge of the ferrule and the widest swelling of the handle. The length or shape of the handle should not force you to hold the brush in an awkward position. (Note: in general, the optimal grip for a watercolor brush is closer to the ferrule than it is for an oil brush.) Hair quality and cupping. In kolinsky or sable brushes, the outer hairs should be somewhat softer, shorter and more flexible than the hairs at the center of the tuft. The tips of the hairs or the overall shape of the

tuft should not appear to have been cut or trimmed in any way. The hairs should not be too coarse and the thickness of the hairs should be proportional to the size of the tuft (thinner hairs in smaller tufts). Color is less diagnostic (hairs can be dyed), but the hairs should have a clean, glossy, healthy appearance, a gradual darkening from tip to belly, and should resist stains. There should be no broken or bent hairs whatsoever. In all natural hair brushes, the tuft should show high quality cupping when clean and completely dried. The individual tuft hairs should come to a needle point when examined under strong magnification. The ends of the hairs should form a perfect convex surface. Ease of cleaning. Pigment should rinse easily from the tuft during use, and clean out completely with a thorough rinsing and blotting dry with a clean paper towel. (Always blot a tuft by folding it inside a clean paper towel and gently pinching the tuft around the sides with your thumb and fingers, shaping the tuft as you go; do not squeeze and pull on the tuft as this can loosen individual hairs.) The hairs or bristles should resist staining from phthalocyanine or other strong staining pigments; the stains should disappear completely when washed with brush soap. The pinch of the ferrule should be firm enough to prevent pigment particles from accumulating at the base of the tuft where they are difficult to remove. Resistance to moisture. The wood handle should not warp, swell or crack after long exposure to water; the ferrule should remain tightly secured to the handle. The paint finish on wood handles should not crack or chip. Shedding. If properly used and cared for, the tuft should not shed or lose hairs during painting after it has been used a few times or during the first week of use. (The loss of a few hairs at first is normal in most natural hair brushes but is unusual in natural bristle or artificial fiber brushes.) Any shedding after that point indicates the hairs were carelessly tied and trimmed before assembly with the ferrule and handle, and/or that the ferrule is inadequately crimped around the tuft. Some shedding may be tolerated in squirrel mops and goat hair Japanese brushes, but even here it is a matter of degree: less is better. Durability. The brush should withstand long and

frequent use. Brushes used several times a week should retain their physical integrity for at least six months in synthetic brushes and for at least two years in natural hair brushes. The bristles should retain their characteristic spring, shaping and release, and should not splay, break or fall out. (This assumes you do not have a punitive brush technique that includes using the brush to soften pan paints or dried out palette paints, aggressive splaying or pounding of the brush on the paper to produce paint textures, letting the brush dry out with paint in the tuft, etc.) Value. Across the time you use it and the uses you put it to, the brush should be the cheapest investment you make in art materials. A $150 kolinsky round should last for several years of daily use. A $2 synthetic should save all your other brushes from destructive wear in texturing, applying resists, softening pan paints, etc., and should be easy to replace when it wears out. Elegance. After much use and in recognition of their distinctive contribution to their work, artists develop a preference and even a great fondness for certain brushes. This is the final test of its quality. The brush's natural elegance, functionality and simplicity plays a significant part in this passion, but the key is that the brush just "works" for what the painter wants to do. Realistic Brush Comparisons. No brush will meet all these criteria exactly and different types of brushes meet some criteria better than others. The most useful way to evaluate a new brush is by comparing it to another brush with the shape shape and size of tuft. Ideally, the type of hair or fiber should matter less, but kolinsky and sable brushes generally set a higher standard on all points than squirrel, bristle or synthetic fiber brushes. To evaluate a new brush, simply compare it stroke by stroke with the best brush of the same type and size you currently own. It really is helpful to use the two brushes at the same time and on the same sheet of paper in the same tests of pointing, capacity, release, expressive marks, comfort and ease of control. Differences between the brushes will be immediately obvious.

As you select brushes for your use, you will discover that your brush preferences change depending on the kinds of painting, and painting effects, you want to do. Don't be surprised to discover that your brush preferences change as you evolve as a painter.

a basic brush set

The standard recommendations for a basic and versatile brush selection most often come down to these five brushes:

a small sable round (#2 to #4 is a good minimum size) for detailed textures, lines, hatching, and small forms or figures a medium sable round (#6 to #8) for small paintings, small paint areas, medium textures and rendering medium sized forms a large sable or synthetic round (#12 to #14) for rendering large irregular forms, charging washes, wicking up excess liquid a small acrylic flat (1/4" to 1/2") for sharp edged details, corners, and crisp edged texturing or stippling; also good for scrubbing or moving small areas of paint already on the paper (for example, to remove mistakes), and for lifting large amounts of paint from dry pan paint cakes (for example, to mix a wash) a large natural hair flat (3/4" to 1") sable, squirrel or a blend of bristles, for medium sized washes and glazes a medium squirrel mop (#8 to #12) for laying washes, prewetting the paper, wicking up excess paint or water, and subtly adjusting the density or texture of wet paint.

Though it's not a brush, a natural sponge (a sea sponge or a block cellulose sponge, not the plastic kind) is very handy. All the brush sizes quoted above are relative. The size of brush that is most convenient for a painting depends on the format or dimensions of the paper you are working on and your painting style. I think the recommended range of brushes is most suitable for

work on paintings using a half sheet (15" x 22") watercolor paper or medium sized watercolor blocks (10" x 14" or so). (For the smallest paintings the large flat or round doubles as a wash brush.) However, the "dash and splash" style of the California scene painters and their contemporary imitators (such as Mel Stabin) prefer larger brushes across the whole range of brush marks: their sky wash brushes, for example, are typically 1-1/2" to 2" wide and their largest natural hair rounds are a #16 or larger. You may want to start with synthetic bristles in all these brushes, as synthetics are relatively inexpensive yet can be very well made. Once you become accustomed to these brushes after a month or so of painting, then it's time to begin replacing them with natural hair brushes. You will immediately see the contrast between the two types of brush. The argument that you should buy natural hair brushes at the outset is based on the idea that they will contribute significantly to your painting experience and will guide you to a more rapid and reliable improvement in your painting skill. This is believed to more than offset the 100% to 1000% increase in price, depending on brush size and quality, that the choice of natural hair brushes entails. My opinion has two parts: (1) the quality of brushes today is generally good, so if poor brushes deter you from painting, then you should be doing something else with your time; and (2) there is real value in using synthetics first so that the merits of natural hair brushes become obvious in contrast. If you start out using natural hair brushes, you will have no concept of brush value in terms of the price you pay for the brush. That said, a good natural hair brush is almost always more versatile than an equivalent sized synthetic bristle brush it will hold more water than the synthetic of the same size, and at the same time render sharper detail and more expressive brushstrokes. Your brushwork gains focus and expansiveness you can carry more fluid without increasing the size of brush you are using. As you acquire more brushes and replace the ones you wear out, you will gradually augment and adjust this

basic selection to suit your working habits and stylistic preferences. You may also find you need one or more specialty brushes for specific types of work. Be wary of collecting too many brushes. There is intense marketing pressure to convince you that one brush is vastly superior to another. Attempting to conform to these marketing claims will only cost you money. If you begin with the seven basic brushes, and add brushes only as you need them, you will learn just as much about brushes and about painting with far less money. Keep in mind that there's no "best" brush selection. Barbara Nechis uses flats frequently to lay in her background shadows, while Nita Engle avoids them, claiming they make distinctive strokes and catch unwanted colors at the edges. Botanical painters often use very small rounds, while "California school" artists use the largest brush they can. It all depends on the style of painting you want to create, the kinds of effects you have discovered how to make with different brushes, your dexterity and skill, and your comforting habits.

buying brushes
Once you decide on the brush types and sizes you need, you have to buy them. This is not as straightforward as it seems. Obviously, you can't test brushes ordered from direct delivery retailers. It's very valuable to find a local art store with a good range of brushes, and educate yourself with a half hour of browsing with the store owner or senior retail assistant. (If possible, talk to the owner or brush buyer, because he or she is aware of the distributor discounts and quality considerations that motivated the choice of the brush lines.) Best is to visit two or more stores with different brush selections. If there's no reliable art store in your vicinity, schedule an art shopping morning or afternoon into your next vacation or business trip to a large city. (Pearl Paint and New York Central were regular visits on my business trips to New York.)

When you are in a retail art store, the most basic courtesy is: don't touch the brush tuft with your fingers. The tuft will pick up oils and dirt from your hands that you pass on to the eventual owner. If you want to test the snap or consistency of bristles, listen and feel as you stroke them across the back of your hand. Many authors suggest that you examine brushes in a store with the bristles wet. This is impractical advice, as most stores won't allow you to wet and poke their merchandise, and many brushes come "wrapped" in a hard coating of starch or gum arabic. Even so, it won't hurt to ask; the store may be able to provide brush samples with the starch or gum coating already removed. In the end, you have to choose a few representative brushes from a brand you want to try, buy them and put them to use. This is the only way to discover if you like that brand of brush or not. If you like it, try more brushes from the same brand. If you don't like it, relegate it to punishing work scumbling, application of resists, loosening paint in a dry pan and try something else. Natural hair rounds (and some synthetics) usually pass through retail stocks with a coating of starch or gum arabic on the tuft, to protect individual hairs and display the pointing of the tuft. To remove the manufacturer's starch coating, first wash your hands, then wet the brush for a minute or two under a stream of lukewarm water. Then apply gentle pressure to the tuft by pinching with your thumb and index finger, working around all sides of the tuft. Continue this until the tuft separates and flexes at the ferrule. Gently pinch with your fingers the straggling stiff tufts of hair to remove remaining starch. When all the starch is gone, continue rinsing for another minute or so. (Often dissolved starch will remain in large rounds even after they seem thoroughly cleaned, so you have to let them dry and then rinse a second time.) To test the brush's shaping, saturate the cleaned tuft under running water, then gently shake the water out the brush. To do this, hold the brush handle vertically, with the tuft down, then snap your hand down and rapidly upwards from the elbow the same arm

movement you would use to crack an egg, but with much more force. Do this repeatedly, checking the shaping of the tuft each time, until no more water is released. The bristles should come to a needle point (for rounds) or a straight, unbroken edge (for flats) on the first snap if not, consider how many snaps (if any) are required for pointing to happen. There should be no stray hairs around the sides of the tuft. Look at the shape of the brush: is it fat in the middle, or slender? Is the tuft long or short? Is it large or small compared to other brushes of the same numerical size? Consider the heft of the brush. Is the brush balanced in your hand? Does it feel comfortable to hold? Next, test its carrying capacity and release. How much water can you shake out into a dish or palette? Hold a "thirsty" brush horizontal, and measure how many drops of water can you can add to the tuft before water begins dripping out the bottom. Mix up a medium solution of ultramarine blue and a second of burnt sienna, and make a single long stroke, or repeated strokes, with a single charge of either paint. How long a wet stroke can you make before the brush runs out of paint? Examine the strokes to see how evenly the brush releases paint in a stroke. Are there puddles of paint at the beginning or end of the stroke? Next, charge the brush with the other paint and make a second stroke. When does the paint color begin to shift back to the previous paint? If this happens early in the stroke, it means the brush is not releasing the full reservoir of paint. Finally, rinse the brush lightly with water, and paint more strokes: when does color reappear in the stroke, and how concentrated is it? This will tell you how easy the brush is to rinse out as you paint. Next, make many random doodlings and brush stroke variations. Use the brush in as many different ways as you can. Use it drybrush and very wet, wet on dry and wet in wet, thick strokes and thin, impasto and washes, straight and curved lines, dots and hatching, anything you can contrive. You will also probably have favorite painting subjects or forms that appear frequently in your work (flowers,

trees, faces). Use the brush to paint these forms using only the ultramarine blue and burnt sienna in a two colored (warm/cool) painting. You're testing the brush, not making a masterpiece, so work briskly and watch how the brush behaves as you work. Then look at the whole assortment of marks and paintings. Are they pleasing or not? Are they really different, or do they look like variations on the same dumb daub? Can you see specific edge and line attributes (crisp, flowing, nuanced, surprising) that you want? Did you enjoy using the brush? This is the basic brush personality test that determines whether you and the brush are going to get along. But it's not the final test. That comes when you pay attention to how you use brushes as you work. You'll find that your rational selection procedures don't always serve your instinctive reach for one brush rather than another. In some cases these instincts are just habits that new brushes will allow you to break. In other cases they reflect the goals of your painting and are fundamental to your style or working tactics. And you'll discover deeper aspects of the brush: how well it holds its shape over the long run, how it stands up to rough treatment or neglect, and how it rebounds from tough pigments like the phthalos or chinese white. At this point, it's simple (too simple!) to go back and get more brushes different sizes, different brands of the type you prefer. But by this time you'll buy new brushes with the awareness that your choices depend as much on your capabilities and desires as on the objective structure of your tools. Art is as much about self discovery as skill. The brush is an extension of your hand and it's your hand, not someone else's. You can buy the best brushes on the market, but if they don't behave in the way you want and are comfortable with, you'll be unhappy. Use what makes you happy.

Last revised 02.23.2004 2004 Bruce MacEvoy

brush care & storage

Care fundamentally gets down to how you use, clean and store a brush. Advice on the best procedures varies widely across artists. I've summarized here what seem to be the consensus recommendations, modified as appropriate by my own experience.

brushes
using brushes cleaning brushes brush remedies storing brushes

using brushes

The brush is a tool of wood, hair, string, lacquer, metal and resin glue. Despite its simple design and lack of moving parts, it is a delicate tool that can be easily damaged. There are obviously abusive ways to treat a watercolor brush. The most common, from the most to the least severe, are:

using it to apply maskoid or resists using a watercolor brush with oil or acrylic paints reshaping the brush with scissors or razorblade leaving it sitting point down in water leaving it wet for extended periods letting it dry out with paint in the tuft, or forcing the brush into the paper so that the hairs are bent back against the ferrule.

If you do any of these things to your watercolor brush, you will almost certainly lose it. The most common recommendations for using a watercolor brush include the following: 1. Use each brush for one medium only: watercolor, acrylic, resists (maskoid). 2. Never leave brushes standing on their heads in a jar or glass, wet or dry, even for a few minutes. When you are working, lay your brushes down on the table or in a brush holder.

3. Avoid submerging the tuft in paint for long periods. This encourages the capillary action that causes paint to migrate up the hairs into the ferrule, where it is difficult to get out. The brush will take a full charge of paint if it is dipped most of the way into paint. 4. Do not submerge the brush in water beyond the top of the ferrule. Water will seep into the ferrule from either end, soak the glue join between the tuft and the handle, and cause the handle to swell, crack, and loosen in the ferrule. 5. Wet a brush thoroughly before you start painting don't pick up pigment with a dry brush. Flex and stroke the brush gently on the bottom of the water container to work out air bubbles trapped inside, then set the brush in a brush holder until you need it. 6. Once a brush is charged with paint, begin painting with it immediately; this helps to pull the paint away from the ferrule. Do not hold a charged brush with the tip pointing upwards. 7. Rinse brushes thoroughly as you work in a large container of clear water. Hold the brush straight down up to the ferrule (the lacquered handle should not enter the water). Stir the brush in the water, then agitate the tip more briskly. Wick the tuft against the edge of the water container: if you see any color in the runoff, then rinse again (or change your rinse water!). 8. Once you have rinsed a brush, shake out the excess water rather than rubbing or squeezing it out with a cloth or paper towel. Never pinch and pull on the tuft with a towel, as this will break off or pull out the hairs. 9. When you need a brush to scrub or scour the paper surface, use a discarded brush, an inexpensive brush, or a brush (such as boar's bristle) specifically purchased for the task. 10. If you use pan watercolors, do not "drill into" the cake with the tip of the brush, or splay the hairs by pushing directly into the cake. Wet the cake and pick up fresh pigment with the same movement you use to brush the paint onto paper.

11. Wash and shape the brush hairs when you finish your work session, using lukewarm water and vegetable soap (not detergent), baby shampoo, or a commercial artists' brush cleaner (see below). 12. Air dry your brushes by laying them flat. Nonresilient or especially long tufted brushes, such as squirrel mops or Japanese hakes, will dry more quickly if hung from the handle, tuft down, to encourage moisture to flow away from the handle toward the ends of the hairs. 13. Never store a damp brush in an airtight container. The dampness will cause mildew, and this destroys the brush hairs. 14. Treat synthetic brushes with the same care as natural hair brushes. (The rule never to rest a brush on its tip is even more important with synthetic brushes.) Most of these rules come down to limiting the exposure of the brush to water, avoiding excessive wear on the tuft, and cleaning the brush after every use. A common answer to the expensive natural hair brush is the cheap synthetic brush. The seeming beauty is that they are inexpensive, so once they are damaged you simply throw them away. If you do the math, however, you'll discover that a $140 kolinsky brush (which properly cared for can last 20 years or more) is still a better investment than 20 $7 synthetic brushes, each used for a whole year. And you'll still have to treat the synthetic brushes properly to make each one last a year! The actual tradeoff is this: if you rapidly ruin or wear out your brushes, you're spending money to make up for bad habits or very unusual painting techniques. Look at the habits and techniques you have, and decide whether they are worth the money.

cleaning brushes
Always clean a brush immediately after use, and thoroughly rinse a brush that you are going to leave

drying brushes use a brush holder to tilt

unused for any period of time during work. Wash your hands before you paint, and again when you wash your brushes, so that you don't contaminate the brush with dirt, perspiration or paint from your fingers. Start by rinsing brushes thoroughly in tepid (not hot!) running water. Begin with a gentle stream of water against the tuft pointing downward. Once you have cleared most of the pigment residue from the brush, hold the brush horizontal and direct water up by the ferrule. Minimize your use of soaps or cleansers with brushes, especially natural hair brushes. (All soaps are fundamentally damaging to a natural hair brush, as they remove the oils in the hairs.) Use soap only as needed to remove staining pigments such as phthalo blue or pyrrole red, or clinging pigments such as yellow ochre. If necessary, wash with a cake of vegetable brush soap, glycerin soap, or baby shampoo. Never use detergent soap or harsh cleansers. When the brush is thoroughly rinsed, stroke the brush against the cake of soap until lather appears, or place a drop of shampoo on the tuft. Work the lather into the hairs by rubbing them against the wet palm of your hand, or by kneading the tuft with your fingertips. Use your thumbnail to press gently on the bristles all the way around the edge of the ferrule. This will work the lather closer to the ferrule and dislodge paint that has migrated up the tuft. Do this until all discoloration or staining is removed from the visible hairs. Rinse thoroughly, again with the tuft first pointing down, then horizontally. Large brushes or very contaminated brushes may require two or even three washings before the paint is completely removed. Once cleaned, shake excess water from the brush: do not dry a brush by wiping the tuft with a towel. Hold the brush as you would to paint with it, then make a stabbing downward thrust and a quick snap upwards with your forearm. This will snap out most of the water and gather the tuft into a natural drying shape. (Snapping a brush with a hard flick of your wrist will

drying brushes so that water drains away from the ferrules.

skew the tuft sideways.) If necessary, shape the brush gently against the side of your finger so that it comes to a balanced point. Wash brushes need to be shaken out more assertively, as they hold more water. The best method I've found for drying is to set the handle of the brush in a brush holder with the tuft resting on a clean surface (right). Balance the brush so that the hairs rest lightly and hold their shape. I also rest my brushes in this position when painting, as it drains moisture away from the ferrule and keeps the tips moist for as long as possible. Resting flats in this way helps them dry to a clean, straight edge.

brush remedies
A good brush is always worth the investment. Not only is the finest quality, natural hair or bristle brush a joy to use it can always be more easily returned to its original state, exclusive of wear. Paint residue. The head of a brush will start to splay as pigment becomes trapped between the hairs in the ferrule. This will occur if paint is not thoroughly washed from the brush after every use, or the brush is used too aggressively to pick up or apply paint. This problem is serious enough that some painters recommend wrapping the tuft end of the ferrule with one or two layers of masking tape, so that the edge of the tape extends about 1/8" over the tuft. This inhibits the capillary action that carries paint into the ferrule; the tape can be peeled away when the brush is washed. If the ferrule is seriously impacted with residue paint, use a sewing needle to probe and dislodge the paint from the core of the wetted and cleaned tuft. Do this carefully, without pushing up into the ferrule (this will just wedge paint further up the tuft). A small brush called "The Amazing Brush Comb" is available from most art retailers; this has a small plastic comb at one end and a conical nylon fiber brush at the other, designed for cleaning paint residue from the ferrule of a brush.

I prefer to avoid the problem by following the brush handling and cleaning guidelines suggested above. Hair conditioner. As brushes are used and cleaned in normal painting, the natural oils in the hairs are worn or washed away. The usual symptoms are that the hairs will begin to look dried out or frizzled, the brush will not point as promptly when wet, and stray hairs begin to appear. The common advice is to wet and wash the brush in warm water, apply a small amount of hair conditioner to the wet clean hairs, work it in thoroughly with your fingertips, shape the brush to a point or flat edge, and let it sit for an hour or so. Thoroughly rinse out the conditioner and shape the brush to dry, and repeat if necessary. After washing, if the hairs or bristles are unruly, you can use gum arabic to shape a brush (most natural hair brushes come preshaped with gum arabic). A light coating of common laundry starch (without the conditioners and fragrances, if available) is a useful alternative. Dip the brush in the starch or gum arabic solution, shape with fingers, and set it down where it can rest undisturbed. Let the brush sit for as long as you don't need to use it a week is better than a few days, a month better than a week. Rinse off the coating when you're ready to work. Stray hairs. Just leave these alone, as long as the brush shapes to a good point and the strays do not interfere with your brushwork. If you need to remove a nuisance hair, grip the hair carefully with thumb and finger, or a pair of tweezers near, the visible base (not the tip) of the hair shaft, pull it down and to the side against the edge of the ferrule, and snap it off at the edge, using the ferrule edge to cut it. Do not cut stray hairs with scissors or a blade. You will not be able to trim it close to the ferrule without damaging the tuft. Never attempt to "trim" stray hairs by holding the dry brush tuft near or against a flame. This will very likely burn off other hairs in the tuft and can invisibly blunt

the tips of the hairs in the point as well. Misshapen brushes. I devised a way to trim the edge of flats with a razor blade, and have used it successfully to fix Isabey and Yarka flats. I describe it here, but warn you that you can easily ruin the brush if you botch the job. First completely wet the flat for one minute under lukewarm water, then shake out and shape the tuft until the hairs are in their natural "painting" alignment. This step is crucial, because after you make the cut the tuft will only show a flat edge when the hairs are in this original alignment. With your free hand, lay the edge of the tuft on an absolutely flat cutting surface. (A plastic kitchen cutting board will do but it must be absolutely flat: if the surface is uneven the blade won't cut completely through and you will ruin the brush). Hold the handle of the brush horizontal, then raise the angle of the handle until the edge of the tuft just touches the cutting surface. Position the edge of a single edge razor exactly where you want to make the cut. When the blade is in position, press down once, very firmly, to trim the edge. You only get one shot. Rock the blade side to side, if necessary to complete the cut; do not cut with a sliding motion of the blade. Cut the fewest hairs, and the shortest length off the tips, as possible. When I do this I'm left with a barely visible row of brown dust where the tips were trimmed off. That's all you need to remove to square even a raggedy Yarka. Remember, though, that natural hairs come to a needle point, so when you trim them you've damaged them. Damage as few of the hairs in the tuft as possible. Misshapen synthetic brushes can sometimes be restored by holding them in hot (from the faucet, not boiling) water for one or two minutes. Shape with gum arabic or starch, and let sit overnight. Rinse, and repeat if necessary. Jason Skill reports a similar method recommended by a brush manufacturer: place the tuft in a large steel spoon, carefully dribble boiling water over the tuft until small bubbles appear, then rinse the brush in cold tap water and shake out to a point.

I don't know of any way to improve the point or shape of a round brush. If it's unusable, consign it to the maskoid jar, use it for washes, whatever is practical. Once a brush is useless for one purpose, find something else for it to do. Treating your tools with respect is part of the whole gesture of humility you bring to painting. Maskoid. Dried art masking fluid (maskoid) is a brutal abuse. Unless the latex can be picked off by hand, there is unfortunately no solvent for it. Never use maskoid with anything except a cheap synthetic brush. If the brush is coated with dried oil or acrylic paint, the only remedy is to use a commercial paint stripper, followed by warm water and soap. If the brush is not totally lost, then shape the head with glycerin or starch, as described above.

storing brushes

Once you have paid $200 for a Kolinsky round or a large Isabey mop, you start taking brush storage very seriously. Insects work round the clock and out of your awareness, and your rampage of pesticide won't bring back the hairs those critters have gnawed away. Home. Some artists prefer to store the brushes with moth balls, but I don't like the smell. Commercial brush boxes (the kind you usually order embossed with your initials) are a convenient and safe way to store brushes for a long period. As these boxes generally run around $20 to $30 dollars, they are also a great profit center for art retailers. I previously used them only for the most expensive sable brushes. Unfortunately, the boxes had holes drilled in the cover to permit moisture to escape, making a perfect entry for bugs. I tried stacking the boxes so that the holes were covered, or glued a piece of breathing synthetic fabric (rayon or nylon) over the holes from the inside with a synthetic glue. But I decided they weren't worth all that trouble and threw them all away.

Instead I found that commercial plastic spaghetti containers, the kind available in many kitchen supply stores, make superb brush containers (shown at right is my preference, the Click Clack). Three or four cardboard cylinders (from toilet paper or paper towels) cut to the right length will hold the brushes upright, and no bug can ever get in. Pasta containers can hold almost any brush, even the leggy Winsor & Newton Series 7 #10's. In the same way, I use flat Tupperware containers to store wash and Japanese brushes that don't fit in wooden brush boxes. A few simple warnings: don't store brushes near heat (furnace vents, sunlit windows); never put moist brushes in a closed container (mildew will ruin the hairs); always store brushes vertically, if possible. Travel. To carry brushes on painting trips, use a folding brush holder expressly designed for that purpose. The fudemaki brush roll is a bamboo mat with stitching or cloth ribbing to hold brushes in place; the mat is rolled up to carry brushes, and this prevents them from rubbing against each other in transit. I do not recommend this method. The brush hairs can become caught and tear in the cracks between the bamboo stems or the stitching. The wad of brushes is not sufficiently protective of very large brushes, and small brushes have an annoying tendency to fall out. The carrier I use in the field is the Utrecht canvas brush roll (shown at right). Nothing fancy here: it's made of cotton artist's canvas, folded and stitched to form slim brush pockets, with cotton ties at either side to hold the roll snugly together. The canvas is softer than bamboo, so the grip of the tie strings holds even small brushes in place; the canvas is absorbent, to help the brushes dry after use, but it also allows air to circulate; and there are no cracks to pinch and tear the brush hairs. A third alternative is the Westmark brush folder, with supporting boards in the covers (shown at right). When opened, the covers fold horizontally backwards to create a brush stand. This holder will accommodate nearly any
plastic spaghetti container a highly practical, insect proof way to store brushes that lets you find the brush without opening the container

brush except very long handled rounds or very fat squirrel mops (the largest I carry in it is an Isabey #7). It's sturdy enough to protect against the jostling of airline travel and packing equipment up to a painting site. The flat panels let rinsed brushes breathe, and even the smallest brushes don't slip out. A similar, larger but less sturdy carrier is made of white canvas by Winsor & Newton. Once home from a painting field trip, brushes should be immediately unpacked from the holders, cleaned, shaped and dried in the usual way. Treat your brushes with attentive care, and they'll serve you for many, many years.
Last revised 08.17.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

Paints are the third ingredient with paper and brush of the watercolor art. It's easy to be misled by art marketing hype, but this section will help you choose and use watercolor paints with confidence. how to choose watercolor paints My five step process for choosing the right paints for your needs. how watercolor paints are made Paint ingredients (the backbone composition: pigment, brightener, binder, plasticizer, humectant, filler, additives, water), handmade watercolors, pigment types (natural inorganic, synthetic inorganic, natural organic, synthetic organic), pigment manufacture, paint manufacture. the material attributes of paints Pigment & paint attributes (color appearance, pigment concentration, particle size, lightfastness, tinting strength, refractive index, specific gravity), basic paint tests (draw down samples, tinting test, dissolving test, sedimentation test, drying/rewetting test, black field test, microscopic examination), test paintings, making paint swatches. doing your own lightfastness tests Materials lists and procedures you can use to perform "quick and dirty" or more extensive lightfastness tests. labeling, lightfastness & toxicity Pigments, paints & "colors", the marketing romance, paint ingredient information, lightfastness tests, lightfastness with a grain of salt, artistic responsibility, health & environmental issues. watercolor brands Evaluations of the "professional" watercolor paint lines from seventeen of the most recommended, commonly used, or noteworthy brands of watercolor paints. guide to watercolor pigments The most comprehensive guide to artist's pigments on the Internet. Detailed pigment ratings and background information based on tests of more than 750 watercolor paints from the most recommended

paints

manufacturers. what the ratings mean Explanation of the pigment attributes listed in the guide, and how the attributes were measured. the complete palette A complete listing of the over 100 pigments currently used in commercial watercolor paints, organized by color category, with each pigment linked to its review in the guide to watercolor pigments. my 2004 lightfastness tests Walking the talk: summary of methods I used to test paint lightfastness, with an overview of the test results and recommendations to the watercolor painter. tube, pan & liquid watercolors A brief history of watercolors, tube vs. pan, when to use, paint tube tricks, dry pan tricks, liquid watercolors. gouache & bodycolor The opaque watercolor, gouache is often combined with transparent watercolors for subjects requiring special color or texturing effects. interference paints A relatively recent addition to watercolor lines, these artist quality paints contain special ingredients for luster and sparkle.

how to choose watercolor paints

This section of the site provides the background and consumer information necessary to understand and use watercolor paints. As the range of art supplies has become more diverse and complex, artists have relinquished their traditional practice of making their own materials. Now, painters rely on commercial brand reputation, stick to what they know, or rely on recommendations from other artists or art books. This has made contemporary artists susceptible to marketing manipulation and the apathy of "it's what I've always used." Unfortunately, even good advice and good habits don't last. Paint manufacturers, just like car manufacturers or food manufacturers, change their products for many business reasons, not always for good reasons (remember New Coke?) or due to circumstances under their control. The brand may be acquired by a larger company which moves to cut costs and use cheaper materials, pigment suppliers may go out of business, may change pigment quality, or may stop making a pigment. Unregulated manufacturer marketing claims ("finest quality," "professional grade," etc.) often have only a poetic connection to the quality of their products. So whatever you may think a brand like Winsor & Newton or Daniel Smith or Old Holland stands for, the reality will almost certainly change in five or ten years. Most artists feel intimidated by the idea of coming to grips with their materials. Yet testing all the paints you use is the work of a single day and is actually a pleasure, because the physical variety of paints is fascinating when the materials are viewed outside the context of a painting. And there are many beautiful pigments and paint formulations out there that you probably have not yet discovered ... you just need to know where and how to find them! To streamline this process, I recommend the following five step strategy:

paints

1 : Start with the fundamentals, and select only the best watercolor pigments. By consulting the guide to watercolor pigments you can identify these from the over 100 pigments used in artists' paints today. (To narrow the field somewhat, I recommend a selection of "top 40" pigments in the guide to watercolor pigments that you should especially look for in watercolor paints. These are the pigments that are generally the best in their hue category and the most reliable in terms of manufacturing quality, lightfastness, color mixing and handling attributes.) From these choose the pigments with the best physical attributes for your painting style. This is a step closely related to your palette design, so you will want to compare different palette paintings, consider my suggested basic palette, and understand the logic behind artists' color wheels. 2 : Choose the best brands of single pigment paint. In the USA, all the "essential" watercolor pigments and many of the more exotic pigments are available from two or more paint brands as single pigment paints. This gives you some brand choice as you build your palette. Admittedly you can develop a sense for brand and product quality only after long experience, but a good way to start is to compare the same single pigment formulated by different brands of paint. Note that you often must ignore the paint "color" name (marketing name) to do this. 3 : Test the paint pigmentation and handling attributes. This involves doing some basic paint tests and making paint swatches, then looking at the results for yourself. On another page I describe how to make paint wheels, which are fun to do and effectively display the overall color appearance of a paint line. 4 : Test paint permanency. Once you have verified a paint's quality, you can invest the time required to do your own lightfastness tests. If you use unorthodox or complex methods (unusual supports, vehicles or paint mediums or additives), you should test these as well for permenancy and durability. 5 : Watch for changes in replacement products. As I've said, manufacturers unpredictably change their paint formulations, either for business or consumer

reasons. The notes and samples of your tests provide a benchmark that you can use to compare paints over time, to ensure that the quality and handling attributes of the paints remain at the level you expect.
Last revised 08.01.2005 2005 Bruce MacEvoy

how watercolor paints are made

This page discusses standard paint ingredients and manufacturing methods. The material is presented in four sections: (1) the ingredients and recipes used to make watercolor paints, (2) the generic historical and modern pigments that provide the color in paints; (3) the manufacture of modern pigments; and (4) the manufacture of watercolor paints. Information on these topics is scattered across a wide range of sources, from chemical engineering texts to art conservation studies. In some cases I was only able to obtain information by querying experts or manufacturers directly. Each source has its own perspective and professional traditions, and they sometimes disagree on specifics. I've made editorial judgments based on all the facts I could gather, and regret any inaccuracies that remain.

paints
paint ingredients the backbone composition: pigment brightener binder plasticizer humectant filler other additives water handmade watercolors pigment types natural inorganic synthetic inorganic natural organic synthetic organic pigment manufacture paint manufacture

paint ingredients
Every paint is a mixture of microscopic pigment particles, which provide the paint color, mixed in a liquid paint vehicle that holds the pigment in suspension, allows it to be applied with a brush, then dries to bind it to the support (paper, board or canvas). The vehicle also contains other substances that reduce manufacturing costs, adjust the visual appearance and handling attributes of the paint, and increase its shelf life in the art store. The Backbone Composition. Each paint manufacturer develops a proprietary backbone composition a basic recipe of pigment and vehicle ingredients that is fundamentally designed to keep manufacturing costs under control and to get the best possible handling attributes for every pigment in the watercolor line. The manufacturer then tweaks the exact proportions of this recipe from one pigment or paint color to the next, so that the texture and color of each pigment is put on best display and the differences in pigment dispersability, tinting strength or staining across the

different paint colors are minimized. The backbone composition is the foundation of the manufacturer's brand style and quality standards. It usually includes most or all of the following ingredients: one or more pigments, and sometimes a brightener, transparent or "white" crystals that lighten the value and increase the chroma of the dried paint dispersed in a vehicle or medium consisting of: binder, traditionally and still commonly said to be gum arabic but, in some brands, actually a synthetic glycol plasticizer, usually glycerin, to soften the dried gum arabic and help it redissolve humectant, traditionally simple syrup or honey but now often inexpensive corn syrup, to help the paint retain mosture (especially in pan paints) extender or filler, such as dextrin, used to bulk out and thicken the paint without noticeably affecting the color manufacturing additives, in particular dispersants (to prevent clumping of the raw pigment after manufacture and to speed up the milling of the pigment and vehicle ingredients) and a fungicide or preservative to suppress the growth of mold or bacteria, and water, which dissolves or suspends all the ingredients, carries them onto the paper, and evaporates when its work is done. These ingredients are described below. Pigment. Pigments are chemical compounds with appealing or useful color attributes and that do not dissolve in water. Paints are a dispersion of tiny pigment particles suspended in the vehicle, just as the Mississippi is a suspension of sand, clay, agricultural chemicals and effluent. All professional quality tube and

schematic backbone composition of a modern watercolor paint

pan watercolors are made with pigments. In contrast, a dye is completely soluble (dissolves) in water, and binds directly with the materials it contacts (though a mediating chemical called a mordant must often be present to make this bond happen). Some brands of liquid watercolors or "brilliant" watercolors are made with dyes. The manufacturer's cost considerations aside and those are usually a major consideration in commercial paint design the pigment particle size, tinting strength and dispersability primarily determine the adjustments made to the backbone formulation: As the same mass or quantity of pigment is divided into smaller and smaller particles, the total surface area of all the pigment particles increases proportionally, which increases the proportion of vehicle or water necessary to completely wet or disperse the pigment. Strongly tinting pigments especially very dark pigments such as the phthalocyanines or dioxazine violet must be diluted with vehicle or extenders to increase the color chroma and reduce the tinting strength, so that the paint's color and handling attributes are comparable with other paints in the line. Paints made with softer pigments (such as ultramarine blue or the cadmiums) or finely divided pigments (such as alizarin crimson, iron blue and the phthalocyanines) tend to cake or clump during storage or milling, and sometimes manufacturers use more dispersant to accelerate the mixing of pigment and vehicle; this causes the paint to diffuse more aggressively when used wet in wet. Pigments that are all three finely divided, strongly tinting and expensive are usually formulated with the largest proportion of vehicle and filler. The proportion of pigment to vehicle in tube paints generally ranges from less than 10% to around 20% of total volume for a finely divided, strongly tinting pigment such as the phthalocyanines, red quinacridones, dioxazine violet or alizarin crimson; from 20% to 30% for prussian blue, carbon black, the "raw"

(uncalcinated) black and red iron oxides, zinc or titanium white, yellow quinacridones, benzimidazolones and most other synthetic organic pigments; 30% to 40% for the yellow iron oxides, viridian, ultramarine blue, ultramarine violet and the finer grained cobalt pigments (blue, cerulean, turquoise, green); 40% to 50% for the weakly tinting cadmium yellows, cobalt violet and "burnt" (calcinated) red and yellow iron oxides; and 50% or more for cadmium orange, the cadmium reds, manganese violet and manganese blue. These proportions are illustrative; specific recipes vary across paint brands and depend on the quality of pigments they use. Brightener. A few watercolor brands add one or more highly refracting substances as a brightener, to adjust or enhance the lightness or chroma of the finished color. These traditionally include alumina trihydrate (aluminum trihydroxide), titanium dioxide, or micronized barium sulfate (blanc fixe), but newer, more effective compounds are available. The particle size and specific gravity of brighteners is usually similar to the pigment, so they do not separate from the pigment when the paint is mixed with water. Excessive amounts of brightener can impart a whitish or sparkly appearance to the dried paint, or can form a thin, whitish coating on top of dried paint applied as a juicy brush stroke. They often can compromise the lightfastness or permanence of the color. The most reliable method to assess paint formulations is the tinting test, which directly reveals the proportion and the quality of pigment used in the paint by dissolving it water or a large quantity of titanium dioxide. In the past, brighteners were commonly found in oil paints and house paints: their increasing use in watercolors is a reflection both of consumer preferences for bright color and competitive cost pressures. The best brands, if they use such additives, balance operating costs, profits, paint handling characteristics, consumer preferences and finished color in developing their formulations. Binder. Pigment particles are dispersed through milling in a liquid vehicle that consists primarily (about 65% of vehicle volume) of a transparent binder. The binder carries the pigment particles as a viscous liquid

so they can be applied with a brush; it binds the pigment to the watercolor paper; and it produces a brighter color by holding the pigment particles on the surface of the paper, rather than letting them be pulled by capillary action deep between the paper fibers. A diluted solution of gum arabic can be applied as a varnish or top coat to dried paint to reduce surface scattering and give the paint a deeper, richer color. The binder usually determines the name of a medium linseed oil for oil paints, acrylic polymer emulsion for acrylic paints, egg white or yolk for egg tempera. Watercolors are named instead for their solvent (water) and historically have used a variety of gums, starches or animal glues as binder. In European painting since the 18th century, the binder of choice has been gum arabic, made from the solidified sap of thorny, shrubby acacia trees (species Acacia arabica or Acacia senegal, shown at right). Gum arabic was originally exported from Middle Eastern sources via Turkey, but in the recent era most commercial gum harvesting has been done by subsistence farmers in arid regions of North Africa the Sudan and Chad alone provided roughly 85% of the total world supply, hence the alternative modern names gum sudan or gum kordofan for the product. Gum senegal is considered superior but it is currently produced in limited quantities and is hard to identify by appearance alone. Gum is a pH neutral salt of acidic polysaccharides (which are types of sugar or carbohydrate); the gum may include potassium or magnesium, but the primary component is calcium. Gum arabic is sticky when wet and quite hard and transparent when dry in that respect like household sugar although pure gum arabic dissolves in water more slowly than ordinary sugar. In raw form, gums are sometimes sold as yellow or brownish glassy beads or "tears," about the size of lentils. Most art wholesalers and retailers sell dried gum as a powder or coarse grains, which are easier to dissolve in water. The best gums have a pale honey color in solution, with very little or no visible sediment or residue. Impure or low grade gums will contain significant amounts of sediment and may have a darker

farming the gum acacia tree in Senegal

color. All gums are filtered before use in commercial paints, where they are have a darker color because they contain less water than the filtered solution. As is true with industrial pigment manufacture, watercolor and pastel manufacturers use only a tiny fraction of global gum arabic production. Gum has been widely used as an emulsifier or digestible coating in the soft drinks, processed foods, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. But recent civil wars (in Darfur, south Sudan and elsewhere), drought, and firewood harvesting have substantially reduced native acacia forests and have disrupted gum production. This has more than doubled the price of high quality gum arabic on world markets and created unpredictable variations in suppy. In response, some manufacturers have shifted to alternative binders. Very satisfactory watercolors can be formulated entirely of synthetic materials. A recipe patented in 1953 by Binney & Smith consists of approximately 85% water soluble, waxy polyethylene glycol, 4% stearyl alcohol, 6% polyhydric alcohol and 5% water by volume. These synthetic vehicles appear clear and completely colorless if they separate from the pigment in the tube. You can usually examine the manufacturer's pure vehicle in commercial paints such as cobalt violet, viridian or cadmium red that tend to separate from the vehicle in the tube; beads of excess vehicle sometimes extrude from the crimp at the end of the paint tube. Gum arabic is a relatively weak binder, and will not adhere to or can be easily scraped off of most surfaces. However it can be dissolved again in water, even after it has completely dried. This is why watercolors can be rewetted after they have dried on the palette, or blotted or lifted if they are rewetted on the paper, which allows the artist to manipulate the finished color. Oil or acrylic paints must be either scraped off or painted over once they have dried. Plasticizer. Unfortunately, watercolors formulated only with gum arabic and water have significant drawbacks. Excess paint in the mixing well will dry to a hard, glassy block that is very difficult to redissolve. In fact, early 19th century watercolors, formulated with gum arabic only, were sold as small resinous bricks that had to be

rubbed out each morning laboriously dissolved by rubbing them on a shallow saucer or mixing cup containing a little water before the paint could be used. Watercolors made with a high proportion of gum binder also will bronze (appear darkened, shiny or leathery). And dried paint will crack or flake if it was applied as a thick or undiluted layer, or had pooled in the depressions of cockled paper. To counteract these problems, the gum arabic is buffered with a carbohydrate plasticizer, usually 20% or less of vehicle volume. Nowadays this is most often glycerin (glycerol), the trihydroxy form of alcohol. Glycerin reduces the native brittleness of the gum arabic and minimizes the cracking or chipping of dried paint. It also helps the gum arabic to dissolve in water more quickly, and inhibits hardening (drying out) of the paint in the tube. Paint manufacturers can also use methyl cellulose, the binder commonly used in pastels and chalks, as a plasticizer, because it is very flexible when dried. In paints it also acts as a mild binder and solvent or dispersant. Humectant. Unfortunately both glycerin and gum arabic will dry out relatively quickly, even if stored as tube paints. So some other substance is necessary to retain water or act as a humectant. Since the middle 19th century paintmakers have softened watercolor paints with a carbohydrate moistener, either a sugar syrup (nowadays glucose, in the form of corn syrup) or honey. Like gum arabic, these sweet carbohydrates are hygroscopic they tend to absorb and retain water from the atmosphere which makes the paints considerably easier to redissolve once they have dried, and extends the life of the paint in the tube. Humectants also extend the paint drying time so that washes can be manipulated more easily, and they may increase the staining effect of watercolors by prolonging the capillary action that pulls small pigment particles deep between the paper fibers. Honey is more effective than corn syrup at retaining

water (in fact, honey will crystallize but never dries out), but it is also roughly 14 times more expensive. If too much honey is used in a paint, thick or concentrated paint layers will remain sticky after they dry, and may reabsorb moisture on humid days, damaging the painting. Used in excess, the sugars will also attract insects or mold. Filler. As larger amounts of glycerin and gum arabic are added to the paint for example, in strongly tinting or finely divided pigments the paint texture becomes stringy or taffylike, the gloss of the paint increases, and the paint bronzes more readily. These paints tend to lift (redissolve) too easily from the paper, which can lead to undesired blurring, bleeding or lifting of color areas when new paint is applied over or alongside them. To counteract these problems, many watercolor paints are formulated with a colorless, inert filler added to thicken the paint and to make the various pigment and vehicle mixtures within a watercolor line of similar consistency. Filler is also used to subdue intensely tinting pigments such as the phthalocyanines or quinacridones, or simply to reduce the proportion of costly pigment in the paint. The most commonly used filler is dextrin a clear, gelatinous processed wheat or corn starch which thickens the paint, alters the taffylike vehicle to a smooth, buttery consistency, and reduces surface gloss or bronzing in the dried color. Sometimes conservation grade, water soluble adhesives, including carrageenan or funori (a gelatinous polysaccharide extracted from a type of Japanese seaweed [genus gloiopeltis]), are used for the same purpose. Dextrin also acts as a binder in combination with (or, in poster paints, in place of) gum arabic. The presence of dextrin is indicated by a "short" or stiff paint consistency: squeeze out a small amount of paint, then shear it off by scraping a palette knife against the edge of the tube nozzle. If the paint on the knife has a clean, flat edge and retains a cylindrical shape, then it has a short consistency. Poster paints, student paints and gouache usually contain much higher quantities of dextrin than professional grade watercolors. Dextrin can also be used as an extender, to bulk out the

paint and cut down on the amount of costly pigment used, especially in cobalt and cadmium paints. However, if too much dextrin is used, the paint will dry to a dull, matte finish and will be prone to flaking. When this occurs a finely powdered, transparent filler (such as kaolin or china clay, calcium carbonate or gypsum) may be used as well. Are paints that contain fillers inferior to paints that don't? Not necessarily. In some cases pigments that are dark or intensely staining, or pigments that tend to darken and dull in heavy concentrations (such as the cadmiums) the additives can enhance the handling attributes or color appearance of the paint. But it's also true that they are often used to cut product costs, and can degrade color appearance, producing a whitish, thin or bland color. Other Additives. Binder, plasticizer and humectant are standard vehicle ingredients even paints you make yourself will contain them. Most commercial paints also include what I call manufacturing additives, which are put into the pigment batch when the pigment is packaged in bulk, or are put into the paint during milling, and are passed along to the artist with the paint. Most common is a dispersant or wetting agent that accelerates and improves the milling (wetting and mixing) of the pigment in the water based vehicle, much the same way as dishwashing soap divides and dissolves greasy dirt. Dispersants can be used as a labor saving shortcut in any paint, but they are more common in finely divided or water repelling synthetic pigments such as carbon black, phthalocyanines, alizarin crimson, transparent iron oxides and prussian blue; and in soft pigments that can compress or cake during milling, such as the cadmiums or ultramarine blue. Ox gall (the yellowish extract of dried bovine gall bladders) was and still is commonly used for this purpose, but synthetic surfactants are sometimes used instead. The painter notices the presence of wetting agents in the paint because they reduce the time it takes the paint to dissolve, cause the paint to stain papers (especially absorbent papers) more readily, and make the paint diffuse aggressively or shoot outward when

applied wet in wet. Pigment manufacturers those big smokestacks on the horizon where the colored powders are born may include other additives to increase the shelf life of the bulk pigment when the pigment is shipped as a water dispersion. These help to mix the raw pigment particles in water, prevent the pigment solution from "kicking out" or precipitating, retard the hardening, clumping or skinning of the solution, inhibit the growth of mold, and so on. They can improve the consistency or handling of finished watercolor paints, or can accelerate the separation of pigment and vehicle in the tube or the degredation of the pigment color, especially after the paint has spent many months or years hanging undisturbed in a retail rack. In any case, the paint manufacturer can't remove them, so they get passed along to you. Many modern watercolors also contain a small amount of preservative or fungicide to inhibit the growth of mold in the tube and on the palette or the finished painting, especially when significant amounts of sugar or honey are used in the formulation. Although alcohol is not a standard watercolor ingredient, it is sometimes added by artists to improve the wetting action of washes or shorten the drying time in damp or cool conditions. (The English artist Paul Sandby was especially fond of gin for this purpose.) A few artists keep diluted solutions of gum arabic, glycerin, and ox gall on hand to adjust the attributes of commercial paints to suit the painting conditions or their painting preferences. For example, glycerin or ox gall can be added to paints in especially dry or hot weather conditions to delay the drying time and smooth the appearance of washes. I prepared these additives, diluted one part to six parts water, in small plastic squeeze bottles, and I almost never use them. Water. Finally, tube paints contain about 15% by volume of water the miraculous substance that gives life to you and unpredictable energy to your watercolors ... and to the Mississippi. Paints are manufactured with excess water in the vehicle, as this reduces the viscosity of the vehicle and

decreases the amount of time (labor) and electrical energy necessary to mill the paint. This water mostly lost through evaporation during milling, but also after milling when the paint is left to sit and age or stabilize. Some pigments or fillers absorb water very slowly, causing them to expand: these are the paints that "explode" or squirt from the tube when it is first opened, because they were not aged adequately before packaging. Creating an effective watercolor vehicle is a complex balancing act. Each ingredient contributes its own benefits and drawbacks to the formulation of the paint, and the best formulations are based on considerable manufacturing experience and consistently maintained quality controls.

handmade watercolors
A very effective way to learn about paint manufacture is to mix up some paints yourself, by hand. The ingredients are readily available from online art materials suppliers and the experience will improve your critical appreciation of commercial paints. Recipes are available in most painting handbooks or online from some pigment suppliers. The following recipe is adapted from Mayer using information from several additional sources. The raw materials (pigments, gum arabic, dispersant, fungicide) are available from suppliers such Kama Pigments, Kremer Pigmente and Sinopia Pigments; glycerin (glycerol) is available at any pharmacy; humectant and dextrin must be made from food ingredients available at most supermarkets.

handmade watercolor paint

ingredients powdered pigment gum arabic (powder or crystals) glycerin (USP solution)

white wheat starch corn syrup honey oil of clove ox gall (or commercial dispersant) materials 2 saucepans cheesecloth glass sheet or stone kitchen countertop putty knife or palette knife muller measuring spoons water atomizer paper face mask or respirator mask latex gloves ingredient preparations Gum Arabic Solution. Place 1 part gum arabic powder or crystals in a saucepan or Pyrex container. Heat 2 parts distilled water to a boil, remove from heat, and slowly pour over gum arabic, stirring to mix. Do not cook. Cover with cheesecloth and let stand for one day, stirring occasionally. (Some gum crystals may need longer to dissolve.) Strain the solution through several layers of cheesecloth to remove impurities and sediment. Humectant. Mix 2 t honey in 1 T corn syrup. Dextrin. Dissolve 2 T white wheat starch in 1 T boiling water. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Vehicle. Premix 3 T gum arabic solution, 1 T glycerin, 3 t humectant, 6 drops ox gall, 2 drops oil of clove. Place in a plastic (squeezable) honey dispenser or squirt bottle and refrigerate until needed. Keep remaining gum arabic, plasticizer and dextrin in separate containers, to adjust paint mixture as needed. paint mixing

1. On the glass sheet or stone countertop, make a pile of about 1-1/2T of pigment powder. Use the back of the measuring spoon to make a hollow in the center of the pile. 2. Pour 1 t of vehicle solution into the hollow, and knead very slowly with the putty knife. As needed, add more gum arabic solution or distilled water (with the atomizer) until pigment is completely dissolved as a creamy paste. 3. Use a muller to break apart and grind the pigment aggregates. You cannot overwork the paint; usually 1 hour of steady mulling is minimally sufficient. Add more vehicle or water as needed to counteract evaporation or adjust viscosity. Add 1 t or less of dextrin, as desired, to smooth and thicken the paint consistency. 4. Cover the mixture with cheese cloth and allow to stand, folding occasionally with the putty knife, until evaporation reduces it to the desired viscosity. 5. Use the putty knife to shovel the paint into empty paint tubes, small glass jars or plastic whole pans. Refrigerate the jars when not in use. common problems Paint that does not adhere to paper contains too much pigment or was made with too much water and not enough gum arabic. Paint that dries rock hard, cracks or flakes, or has a glossy or bronzed finish on the paper contains too much gum arabic or not enough glycerin. Paint that remains sticky or gummy after it dries on the glass contains too much humectant. Paint that dries on the paper with a dull, matte, whitish or flaky finish contains too much dextrin. Paint that shoots wildly wet in wet contains too much dispersant.

Paint that appears dull and grainy was probably insufficiently mulled. notes If you use a premixed gum arabic solution (from an art materials supplier), it should have the same liquid consistency as the glycerin solution (available in any pharmacy) or a liquid shampoo. If it is too thin, pour into a bowl, cover with cheesecloth, and allow excess water to evaporate. Test the paint by (1) brushing out on blank watercolor paper, using both wet in wet and wet in dry applications, and (2) leaving a large drop to dry on the glass sheet. Always wear latex gloves and a paper face mask or respirator mask when working with pigment powders, especially metallic compounds containing cadmium, chromium, cobalt, manganese, nickel or zinc. Do not inhale any pigment powder. Wash hands and arms thoroughly after work.

It is worthwhile to try this recipe to see how much manual labor and fine tuning of ingredients is necessary to produce a decent watercolor paint. The main problem is that different pigments require different proportions of vehicle ingredients and different proportions of vehicle to pigment. The few painters I know who are committed to handmade materials have all mentioned the difficulty of working up a really desirable handmade paint, and after "roughing it" for a while most of them has gone back to using commercial watercolors. However, I highly recommend you experience the process and decide for yourself.
A very useful online resource for paintmaking supplies and procedures is Tony Johansen's paintmaking.com ... check it out!

pigment types

All pigments can be classified according to two criteria: whether the pigments are (1) natural or synthetic, and (2) inorganic or organic. The term natural means that the pigment molecule is extracted from a mineral, plant or animal source that occurs in nature, and is only modified by grinding, washing, filtering or heating; synthetic means that the molecule was originally assembled or significantly modified by an industrial chemical process. Natural pigments have been largely replaced by synthetic compounds of superior permanence, color and consistency. Inorganic means that the pigment is a mineral compound, typically an oxide or sulfide of one or more metal or rare earth elements; organic means that the pigment is a molecule of carbon in combination primarily with hydrogen, nitrogen or oxygen. (Note that many modern organic pigments are not found in living things, excepting artists who eat their paints.) The two criteria can be combined to define four pigment categories (the links take you to the page describing the major pigment types within each category): 1. natural inorganic, metal or earth pigments extracted from natural mineral deposits. With a few exceptions, natural inorganic pigments are no longer used, primarily because they are uneconomical to extract and do not produce adequate color consistency. 2. synthetic inorganic, metal or earth pigments created by combining raw chemicals and ores through industrial manufacture. These comprise approximately 80% of world pigment manufacture. 3. natural organic, pigments made as extracts from animal or plant matter. With very few exceptions, natural organic pigments are no longer used, primarily because they are not adequately lightfast. 4. synthetic organic, carbon based pigments, often made from petroleum compounds, that mimic the chemistry of plant and animal colorants. Most pigments show some alteration after long exposure to direct sunlight, but the change depends on

the type of pigment. As a rule, the organic pigments dull and fade under prolonged light exposure, and some disappear entirely; the modern synthetic organic pigments are generally much more durable than the natural organic pigments. By contrast, the inorganic pigments either gray or darken under the effects of light, typically because of oxidation or a chemical reaction to impurities (such as sulfur) in the pigment. Nearly all natural organic pigments (with the exception of carbon blacks) are chemically unstable and deteriorate when used as pigments. Synthetic organic paints were a major chemical innovation of the second half of the 19th century, but many of these first colorants are too impermanent for artistic use. Modern synthetic pigments, almost all developed in the 20th century, are far more durable and provide the most intense and varied colors. Today, with very few exceptions, all commercial artists' paints use synthetic pigments. Reserves of most natural inorganic pigments, like reserves of tropical hardwoods or sculptor's marble, have been exhausted over time by unrelenting consumer demand; others cannot be mined or processed because of severe environmental impact. The development of synthetic inorganic pigments was perhaps the major technical advance in painting during the early 19th century, and has evolved since then into an amazing array of durable, brilliant colorants of every hue.
The Society of Dyers and Colourists (UK) serves as the international clearing house for commercial pigment information, as publisher of the standard pigment color index names, and as a registry for commercial pigment manufacturers of every pigment or dye. The authoritative source on synthetic inorganic pigments is Industrial Inorganic Pigments, edited by Gunter Buxbaum (Wiley, 1998). The sister source for synthetic organic pigments is Industrial Organic Pigments by Willy Herbst and Klaus Hunger (Wiley, 1997), billed as "everything there is to know about organic pigments." A summary of the same information (by the same authors) is available as Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (Wiley, 2000). (Ullmann's discusses the very important phthalocyanine pigments as a separate chapter, and has a chapter on "Artists' Colors.") All these references will be available at any good chemistry library. Historical pigment information for natural inorganic or organic pigments is scattered across several sources. An excellent starting

point is the compact but somewhat dated Painting Materials: A Short Encyclopedia by Gettens and Stout. A more selective and exhaustive treatment of specific pigments is the four volume Artists' Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics edited by Robert Feller (Volume 1, dealing with indian yellow, aureolin, barium sulfate, the cadmiums, red lead and minim, green earth, zinc white, chrome yellow and other chromate pigments, lead antimonate yellow, carmine), Roy Ashok (Volume 2 on azurite, ultramarine blue, lead white, lead-tin yellow, smalt, verdigris, vermilion, malachite, calcium carbonate whites), Elisabeth West Fitzhugh (Volume 3 on egyptian blue, orpiment and realgar, indigo and woad, madder and alizarin, gamboge, vandyke brown, prussian blue, emerald green, chromium oxide greens, titanium dioxide) and Barbara Berrie (Volume 4 on carbon blacks, cobalt and cerulean blue, earth pigments, arylide yellows, organic browns), all published by Oxford University Press (1994-2006). There are many other primary sources available: consult a bookstore or library for more information. You may also want to check out this interesting web site on pigments in paintings. If you can read German, then the pages on Alte Pigmente (up to c.1780) and Moderne Pigmente at Volkert Emrath provide an interesting, gallery style overview (with pigment microphotographs).

pigment manufacture
Paint manufacturers such as Winsor & Newton, Maimeri or Daniel Smith are dependent on a range of suppliers for paint raw materials. To a large degree, the quality of the paint depends on the quality of the ingredients that go into it most of all, on the quality of the pigments. Pigments used in modern art materials are manufactured by dozens of chemical companies such as BASF, Ciba-Geigy or Clariant GmbH (Germany and Switzerland), Hays Colours, ICI, or Holliday Pigments Ltd. (UK), Bayer, DuPont, Sun Chemical Corp., Hoechst Celenese or CPMA (USA), Sanyo Color Works Ltd. or Dainichi Seika Color & Chemicals (Japan), Sudarshan Chemical Industries (India), Sinochem Liaoning Corp. (China), and so on. Many companies based in Europe or North America also have manufacturing subsidiaries in Asia. These companies make and sell pigments in bulk: as powders or fine grains, compressed into dry cakes (presscakes), or as water based pastes or liquid dispersions especially used for pigments with low

dispersability or that would irreversibly clump if packaged in dry form. There are also several small pigment manufactories that cater directly to the artists' market for pigments and even supply some well known paint company brands: see for example Kama Pigments, Kremer Pigmente, and Sinopia Pigments. These suppliers typically trade in much smaller quanitites and tend to emphasize historical, inorganic and in particular cadmium, cobalt and iron oxide pigments. All modern colorants, no matter where you buy them or how much you pay for them, are synthetic compounds made from a variety of basic ingredients, including recycled industrial wastes. The single chemical comprising roughly two thirds of total global pigment manufacture is titanium dioxide (PW6), which provides the white base for housepaints, primers and the like; next come the incredibly versatile and lightfast iron oxides, roughly 20% of world production. Nearly all the remaining colorants are synthetic organics, especially the many types of azo pigments, phthalocyanines and quinacridones, which are all manufactured from the complex interactions of petrochemicals and acids, sometimes at high temperature or pressure. From a chemical point of view, exactly the same colorants are used in many manufacturing applications to make housepaints, automobile finishes, plastics, printing inks (for paper and textiles), colored leather (for shoes, handbags or jackets), building materials (the colors in cement, stucco and bricks), carpets and synthetic floor coverings, a variety of synthetic fibers and textiles, rubber, paper, cosmetics, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs and even wood stains, dental ceramics and tattoo inks. The major difference among these products is that they are formulated to the specific lightfastness, hue, chroma, particle size, medium (water or oil based), purity and cost! suitable for different industrial or manufacturing applications. Thus, you can buy a chemically identical phthalocyanine blue (PB15) for $4 or $28 a pound, depending on the manufacturer and intended end use of the pigment. For these reasons, different manufacturers offer the same pigment under separate trademarks,

primarily to distinguish formulations designed for different industrial applications. For example, arylide yellow 10G (PY3) is sold by many different manufacturers under trademarks such as Eljon Yellow 10GE, Acosil Yellow 3, Dalamar MA Yellow YT-828-d, Hansa Yellow 10G, Solintor Yellow 10G, Pintasol Yellow E-L1, Monolite Yellow 10GE HD, Kenalake Yellow 10G, and so on and these are just some of the brands registered as suitable for art materials manufacture! Obviously, the quality, hue and texture of a specific pigment such as "cerulean blue," "cadmium yellow" or "quinacridone rose" can vary significantly, depending on the grade of pigment obtained and the manufacturer that produced it. Yet artists must take this product decision on trust. Despite the braggy marketing put out by some art supply manufacturers about their special formulations and unique colors, the art materials market is much too small to influence the industrial production of pigments. With few exceptions, the range and quality of pigments available to artists depends entirely on the color requirements of large consumer products and manufacturing companies manufacturers of foods, house paints, inks, automobiles and plastics in particular. Artists may enthusiastically buy paints touted as containing that same pigment used by some famous 19th century painter, when actually the pigment was designed, manufactured and priced to tint ceramics or aluminum siding! The best chemical manufacturing companies, such as Sun, Ciba-Geigy or Clariant, do produce a range of pigments that includes artists' grade colorants of very consistent and very high quality, but the pigment attributes and even its availability are specified by an industrial end use, not by the art materials market. Case in point: quinacridone gold (PO49), a lovely, deep yellow pigment offered by several watercolor lines, is no longer manufactured. Why? Because automotive manufacturers stopped buying the color. Watercolor manufacturers will continue to manufacture paints using remaining stockpiles of the pigment. An interesting comparison across generic pigments is the average retail price of dry pigment powders, shown

in the table below. This is only a crude reflection of the actual cost to manufacturers: pigment costs can be driven down by choosing lower quality (less lightfast or less intense) pigments, or by adding more filler to the paint. Many of the expensive synthetic organics are much more cost effective than comparably priced synthetic inorganics (such as cobalt violet) because their tinting strength is so high a little goes a long way.

pigment cost comparisons

pigment C.I. name price (US$ / oz.)

titanium white yellow ochre burnt sienna raw sienna alumina hydrate (filler/brightener) carbon black venetian red zinc white chromium oxide green iron blue ultramarine blue nickel titanate yellow transparent red iron oxide cadmium yellow phthalo blue GS cadmium red hansa yellow light phthalo green hansa yellow medium cobalt green phthalo blue RS manganese violet cobalt turquoise

PW6 PY43 PBr7

$0.31 $0.41 $0.46 $0.54

PBk9 PR101 PW4 PG17 PB27 PB29 PY53 PR101 PY35 PB15:3 PR108 PY3 PG7 PY97 PG29 PB15:6 PV16 PB36

$0.58 $0.60 $0.61 $1.00 $1.14 $1.15 $1.54 $1.79 $2.47 $3.28 $3.43 $3.50 $3.65 $3.91 $3.92 $4.06 $4.21 $4.23

phthalo green YS cobalt cerulean cobalt blue viridian naphthol red perylene maroon quinacridone violet isoindolinone yellow benzimida orange benzimida yellow pyrrole red indanthrone blue cobalt violet dioxazine violet

PG36 PB35 PB28 PG18 PR170 PR179 PV19 PY110 PO62 PY151 PR254 PB60 PV14 PV23

$4.54 $4.82 $4.84 $5.33 $6.07 $6.42 $6.42 $6.98 $9.34 $9.71 $10.14 $10.14 $11.10 $13.35

In addition to pigments, art supply manufacturers must also buy agricultural products such as gum arabic, glycerin, glycol, corn syrup, honey or dextrin, as well as chemicals such as fillers, brighteners, surfactants and fungicides. Variation in the quality or availability of these materials within and across watercolor brands occurs as well. Most pigments are manufactured to a specific particle size which usually cannot be modified by additional milling by the paint manufacturer. The pigment particle size affects the color and handling attributes of the paint, so it is very useful to know whether common watercolor pigments are usually coarsely or finely divided.

pigment particle size

micron range representative pigments

larger than 5m

coarse

historical mineral pigments iridescent or luster pigments cobalt violet cerulean blue viridian 5m-1m medium ultramarine blue cadmium red yellow ochre cobalt teal blue 1m-0.5m fine chromium oxide green cadmium yellow venetian red benzimida orange smaller than 0.5m very fine dioxazine zinc white titanium white iron [prussian] blue perylene maroon phthalocyanine blue phthalocyanine green carbon black

ces: Handbook of Industrial Chemistry (1999); Gettens & Stout, Painting Materials (1956); ts' Pigments (1996-2005); Kremer Pigments; manufacturer data.

Particle size is responsible for several important differences in pigment or paint characteristics. Across different watercolor pigments, smaller particle sizes usually characterize pigments that are: higher in tinting strength, because the smaller particle sizes produce a greater surface area in the same weight (mass) of pigment, producing a more intense color in the same volume of water more transparent, because the higher tinting strength permits a thinner application of pigment on the paper, and

 more staining, because the smaller pigment particles more easily penetrate into the spaces between paper fibers. Within the same watercolor pigment, smaller particle sizes (down to a limiting size of approximately 0.5m or the wavelength of light) tend characterize pigments that are less saturated and lighter valued, because the increase in surface area produced by the smaller particle sizes increases the total surface scattering from the same quantity of pigment. In the synthetic organics smaller pigment particles are also generally less lightfast than larger particles of the same pigment; in mineral pigments this effect is less pronounced. In oils and acrylics, smaller particle sizes make the pigments more transparent and up to a point more saturated, as the particles are entirely embedded in the dried paint vehicle, which reduces light scattering at the particle surface. In watercolors, pigments in smaller particle sizes are more transparent because the same number of particles cover less of the paper surface area, allowing more of the paper (or paint layer underneath) to show through. Even opaque paints can be made more transparent by diluting the color, which creates more visible spaces between the pigment particles applied to paper. (See this discussion of the luminosity myth for the differences between oil and watercolor paint layers.) Typically the hue of the pigment also changes with particle size, sometimes dramatically. To see this, mix a small amount of cobalt teal blue (PG50) in a mixing well, let stand overnight, then drain off most of the liquid. The apparent surface color will be a grayish mid valued blue: this is the color of the smallest particles which settled out of solution last as a layer on top. Dig into the pigment with a brush, and you'll find the heavier pigment particles underneath, which have the original (greener and more intense) turquoise color. Finally, particle size affects the handling attributes of the paint. Usually smaller pigment particles are more susceptible to backruns. They also require the addition of a dispersant such as ox gall to completely wet (disperse) the pigment powder in the paint vehicle during milling, and this additive causes the pigment to

diffuse aggressively when applied wet in wet. Each paint company has its own standards for pigment size, not least because more finely divided pigments can have a more brilliant color, but also are the more expensive grades, require more electrical energy and human labor to mill, and are often less lightfast. This is why (despite what Michael Wilcox assumes) pigments with the same color index name can have different lightfastness. These watercolor brand differences are noticeable in the "coarse" pigments listed above: some manufacturers choose pigments that are very coarse, to emphasize the traditional pigment texture, while others choose pigments that are more finely divided, to get a modern homogeneity across all the paints in their line.

paint manufacture
Once a paint manufacturer has assembled the necessary raw ingredients, the methods of mixing paints have remained relatively constant for over a century. Today larger machines and manufacturing lines can produce greater quantities of paint, but four basic steps remain the same: (1) finishing the pigments by added grinding, (2) premixing the ingredients, (3) milling the premixed paste, and (4) packaging the paint. These can be illustrated with the small batch methods using a three roller machine. The pigment is first premixed with the vehicle ingredients (gum arabic, water, glycerin, corn syrup and any other additives) in the proportions necessary to make a thick paste. These proportions vary with the pigments used: absorptive or finely ground pigment particles require more vehicle (because the total surface area of pigment increases as the average size of the individual particles gets smaller), and strongly tinting (or, in some brands, very expensive) pigments are more diluted with vehicle and filler. Next, the premix is thoroughly milled under large stone or metal rollers, turning in opposite directions at different speeds. (In paint manufacture "milling" means mixing pigment and vehicle, not crushing or grinding

Raw pigment pow

the pigment particles.) There are usually three rollers on these machines, and they mix the pigment with the vehicle through the act of crushing, smearing and folding the paste. (Think of how you crush and smear globules of cocoa powder against the side of a pan to mix them with milk.)

A three cylinder pa milling mach

a three roller paint mixing machine In the traditional three roller machine, the premix is poured into the reservoir or space between the two first rollers (A). Because it is so viscous, most of the premix simply swirls around in this trough. But a small amount is pulled down into the opening between the rollers, where it is sheared and crushed. As it comes out the other side, it is pulled apart as the rollers separate, which pulls open undissolved pigment clumps. Sticking to the rollers, half is carried back around to the reservoir at A, and the other half to a second accumulation trapped between the second and third rollers (B). Here most of the paint again swirls in place, but a small amount is crushed and sheared through the smaller opening between the second and third rollers. Half of this paint travels back to the reservoir at A. When the reservoir at B gathers enough paint, it is scraped off the third roller by a floating metal tray (C). This milling can take anywhere from several hours up to several days, and involve successive adjustments of the roller spacing. Water or other ingredients may be added during the milling to make the paint less viscous as the roller spacing is reduced. After milling, the best manufacturers allow the paint to age in large containers for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to make sure that the pigment has completely stabilized with the vehicle. Aureolin (PY40), for example, will continue to expand if packaged too quickly after milling a problem that has caused tubes of Blockx aureolin to burst open in inventory, or squirt

Applying labels to tub filled with pa

Photos from the Old Holl watercolor paint cata

when the tube is first opened. Other pigments, especially the cobalts, will continue to soak up vehicle after mixing and will harden in the tube if packaged too soon. Finally, the mixed paint is poured into tubes or pans. Paint manufacturers buy metal paint tubes with the bottom end open and the cap already screwed on; they fill the tube through the open bottom with a dispensing machine, then crimp fold the end of the tube to seal the paint inside and apply the appropriate label as an adhesive paper or plastic film. Dry pans are filled by pouring the pigment into the pan or by shaping the paint (usually mixed with less water into a claylike paste) that is extruded as a long stick and broken or sawed into segments. Poured paints often have a characteristic drip around the lip of the pan, and may have a dimple in the center of the pan where the paint has shrunk during drying. Most manufacturers develop a different formulation of paint paste exclusively for dry pan products. Schmincke boasts that they require two or three pourings to fill the pan; this is merely a sign that they are using the tube paint formulation for the purpose.
There is a brief but interesting tour of paintmaking operations at the M. Graham & Co. web site. For an illustrated tutorial showing how to prepare your own paints by hand, see the Kama Pigments web site. An excellent text on the basics of paint milling, manufacture and rheology (flow characteristics) is the classic Paint Flow and Pigment Dispersion by Temple Patton (Wiley Interscience, 1968). Last revised 08.01.2005 2005 Bruce MacEvoy

the material attributes of paints

Paint can be used more effectively once you understand the material attributes of paint and how these attributes affect its behavior. Ignorance in this area makes it harder to learn, understand and control your color materials. Paints as material substances can be described on more than 20 different physical characteristics. Many (such as gloss or chalk resistance) don't usefully describe watercolor paints. I've chosen to emphasize the following six pigment attributes: color appearance (which depends in part on the pigment load of the paint and the pigment concentration of the paint applied to paper) particle size (which is closely related to the paint's transparency and dispersability or activity wet in wet) lightfastness (which depends on the pigment particle size and chemical structure) tinting strength (which usually determines pigment load or mixing strength and should not be confused with the paint's staining or resistance to lifting) refractive index (which affects the paint's hiding power) and transparency) and specific gravity (which is related to the sedimentation and granulation of the paint). Contents of the paint vehicle determine other paint traits, such as how quickly the paint dissolves in water, drying time, viscosity and bronzing. Even painters who have been formally trained in art school often do not understand the physical basics of their materials and or how to evaluate them, even though it is easy to test paints yourself. You don't need experts, or chemists, or technical documents, to find out whether a paint is well made, high quality, or suitable for your use.

paints
pigment & paint attributes color appearance pigment concentration particle size lightfastness tinting strength refractive index specific gravity basic paint tests draw down sample tinting test dissolving test sedimentation test drying and rewetting test black field test microscopic examination test paintings making paint swatches

pigment & paint attributes

This section explores the material attributes of pigments that affect the color and handling attributes of paints. Once you understand these attributes you will be able to use paints with more skill and diagnose the cause and remedy for specific painting problems. First, let's clarify the difference between two types of colorants: dyes and pigments. A dye completely dissolves in water as individual dye molecules, which are typically only 5 to 10 times the size of a water molecule. The water molecules firmly attach themselves to each dye molecule, like a life preserver, which lets the dye molecules swim in the water almost indefinitely. Dyes do not have a particle size, and all dyes are transparent. In contrast, a pigment does not dissolve in water. The smallest pigment particles are 30 to 200 times larger than a water molecule, and they are not broken down by water into individual molecules. The water molecules do not attach to the pigment surface but simply bump against it, so the pigment jostles among the water molecules and gradually, inevitably sinks to the bottom of the container (or the tube of paint, which causes the separation of vehicle and coarse grained pigment found in unused tubes of watercolor paint). All paints consist of these tiny undissolved pigment particles, which are suspended in the paint vehicle and then, when diluted, in water. Because of their small size, dyes can either dissolve in, bond with or be absorbed by many porous or organic materials, foods and beverages in particular. When they can't, as usually happens with the cellulose fibers of paper or cotton, the dye must bond to the material through an intermediary chemical called a mordant. In either case, these bonds cannot easily be undone or edited after they have formed, which makes dyes unsuitable for most artistic work. Instead, artists use pigments, which are either (1) clumps (aggregates or crystals) of insoluble colorant or (2) dye molecules that have been laked bonded

chemically to very small particles of a colorless, transparent, chemically stable, insoluble salt that in some cases acts as its own mordant. (The term vat dye refers to dyes that are applied to fabrics presoaked in a vat of mordant solution.) The paint binder (gum arabic in watercolors, acrylic resin in acrylics) then binds these complex but chemically stable particles to the support (paper or canvas). The substrates used in laked synthetic organic pigments include alumina (aluminum hydrate or transparent white), chalk (calcium carbonate or calcium sulfate), china clay (hydrated aluminum silicate or kaolin) or alum (aluminum potassium sulfate, used to lake pigments since the Roman era). However many other insoluble salts of iron, chromium, tin or other metals are used in laking modern synthetic organic dyes to produce pigments with complex color or increased hiding power (opacity). Confusingly, the same colorant can be referred to as a dye when discussed as an individual molecule or chemical compound, and as a pigment after it has been laked to a transparent substrate or crystallized into larger particles. All tube and pan watercolor paints, and some liquid watercolors, are made with pigments, not dyes. Color Appearance. The most salient pigment attribute for painters is its color appearance in artists' media. Pigment color is fundamentally created by the atomic structure of substances, and in pigments typically arises from the absorption of specific wavelengths of light by electrons oscillating across double chemical bonds (called chromophores) or flowing across the atoms in a dye molecule or metallic crystal. The material light absorbing and reflecting attributes of a pigment are exactly described by a spectral reflectance curve, and for that reason the guide to watercolor pigments provides the reflectance curve of all major pigments, linked from the spectrum icon . Using the methods of colorimetry, the reflectance curve can be translated into three visual colormaking attributes that describe our color perception under normal conditions of lighting and display. These are hue

(the spectrum name of a color, such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet); lightness (the value of the color in comparison to pure white) and chroma (or saturation, the richness or intensity of the color in comparison to a colorless gray of the same lightness). These colormaking attributes fit the way we naturally think about colors, and are much simpler to interpret than reflectance curves. However different reflectance curves can produce exactly the same color appearance, and this metamerism means we cannot determine the material reflectance curve of the pigment from its visual color alone. This is why mixing paints can be so unpredictable. Paint mixtures produce color at the wavelengths where both paints in the mixture reflect some light. But we can't tell, just by looking at the color, which wavelengths a paint absorbs or reflects. So we can't tell, just by looking at the color, that two paints with the same color will mix with other paints in the same way. Usually, they don't. Paints with the same color appearance can produce different color mixtures, if their underlying reflectance curves, their material color, are different. This is a fundamental fact of all subtractive color mixing that I call substance uncertainty. So the material color of paints appears in their mixtures. This is an important difference in outlook between novice and experienced painters. Novices think about the pure color of the paint as it comes out of the tube, and choose paints that "look pretty". Experienced painters think about the mixture colors that a paint produces with all other paints on the palette, and choose paints that are versatile in mixtures. The visual color of a paint is an inadequate description of its mixing behavior. Painters who learn "color theory" in terms of the visual colors of paints only learn how to mix hues. As you become familiar with paint mixing, you must study the chroma and lightness of the mixtures whether they are intense or dull, light or dark. This is the intuitive way that a painter comes to understand a paint's material color, as defined by its invisible reflectance curve. Pigment Concentration. The color appearance of a

paint is affected by how thickly the pigment it contains is concentrated in one area, and there is a specific terminology to describe these differences. Full shade is the pigment appearance in a sample that is infinitely thick, meaning that 100% of the light incident on the pigment actually strikes a pigment particle and is either reflected or absorbed by it. This occurs whenever the color or pattern of any material behind or below the pigment is completely hidden. Full shade samples are often measured on pure pigment powder that has been compressed into a small tablet or disk. Watercolorists routinely see the full shade color in their pan watercolors or in thick piles of dried tube paint, which appear much darker and duller than the color of the paints on paper. Dull yellows looks green or brown, deep yellow is orange, red violet is purple, and phthalo blue or green can appear black.

full shade color of paints around the hue circle Painters usually visualize a paint color in terms of its masstone or top tone, which is its color appearance when applied on a pure white surface as a layer that mostly but not completely hides the surface below. In watercolors this typically means any high concentration of paint in water, including in some cases paint applied to paper "full strength" from the tube, without any added water. However, the undertone or tint is the color appearance of the paint applied on a pure white surface as a highly diluted solution (low concentration of paint

in water), or as mixed with a large quantity of titanium oxide (PW6) paint. The color of a paint changes in three ways between the top tone and undertone: (1) the undertone has a lighter value, (2) the undertone has a lower chroma or less saturated color, and (3) the undertone usually has a slightly different hue (indicated as the hue shift in the paint ratings). However, in many dark valued red, purple, blue or green paints, increasing dilution actually increases the chroma up to a point. Most artists think in terms of the masstone color, as that is normally how paints are applied to paper in paintings. So the masstone standard is used to describe paint color in the guide to watercolor pigments and the artist's color wheel. A second aspect of pigment concentration is the pigment load, or how densely the pigment is concentrated in the paint. This is determined as the volume of pigment in proportion to the total paint volume. In watercolors the proportion of pigment to paint ranges from less than 10% up to around 20% for finely divided, strongly tinting pigments such as the phthalocyanines, red quinacridones or dioxazine violet; from 20% to 30% for prussian blue, carbon blacks, the "raw" (uncalcinated) black and red iron oxides, zinc white, yellow quinacridones, benzimidazolones and most other synthetic organic pigments; 30% to 40% for the yellow iron oxides, viridian, ultramarine blue or ultramarine violet, and the finer grained cobalt pigments (blue, turquoise, green); 40% to 50% for the cadmium yellows, the coarser cobalt pigments (cerulean, violet) and "burnt" (calcinated) red and yellow iron oxides; and 50% or more for cadmium orange, the cadmium reds, manganese violet and manganese blue. These variations are due to differences in the particle size and tinting strength of the pigments, as explained below. Pigment load is sometimes apparent in the full shade color of the raw paint as it is squeezed from the tube between two paints made with the same pigment, the darker paint contains more pigment. Pigment load is decreased by adding fillers or brighteners to the vehicle,

which both dilutes and lightens the pigment. Cobalt or ultramarine blues appear whiter, phthalos or cadmiums appear lighter, and quinacridones or perylenes appear less intense. A tinting test is the easiest way to compare the pigment load of two or more paints made with the same pigment. Particle Size. Color in turn depends on the several material properties of a pigment. First among these is the pigment particle size, measured both as (1) the median or average particle size, and (2) the range or distribution of particle sizes. Most pigments are manufactured in a range of particle sizes intended for different applications (coloring plastics, ceramics, cements, cosmetics, paints, inks, etc.). First, here is the basic information you should know. The table gives the average particle size for common pigments used in watercolor paints in microns (micrometers). A micron (abbreviated "m") is one millionth of a meter, or 0.000036 inches. As reference, a human hair is about 100m in diameter; a red blood cell, 5m; a wavelength of light, about 0.5m; the average virus, about 0.1m.

average pigment particle size

microns meters representative pigments

1000m 500m 100m

10-3

= 1 millimeter .

10-4

coarse historical mineral pigments modern luster & iridescent pigments

50m

smallest particles visible without magnification cobalt violet manganese blue

10m

10-5

cobalt green cobalt turquoise

cerulean blue manganese violet black iron oxides 5m ultramarine blue (RS) viridian cobalt blue violet (brown) iron oxides yellow iron oxides 10-6 ultramarine blue (GS) red iron oxides cadmium red cadmium orange semiopaque synthetic organics diarylides pyrroles naphthols perinone orange 0.5m = 500 nanometers = wavelength of "blue green" light chromium oxide green cadmium yellow bismuth yellow titanium white transparent red iron oxides transparent yellow iron oxides semitransparent synthetic organics arylides benzimidazolones dioxazines perylenes 0.1m 10-7 zinc white iron [prussian] blue transparent synthetic organics quinacridones phthalocyanines 0.05m 0.01m 0.0015m 10-8 10-9 glucose (corn syrup) molecule carbon black

1m

0.0003m

10-10

water molecule

Note: Particle measurements are approximate and represent the average of a distribution of pigment grades; sizes quoted here are representative of modern artist's pigments. All pigment particles tend to clump into aggregates or agglomerates, which may be 5 to 50 times larger than the sizes listed here. Sources: Handbook of Industrial Chemistry (1999); Gettens & Stout, Painting Materials (1956); Artists' Pigments (1996-2005); Kremer Pigments; manufacturer data.

Now there are many pigment properties determined by particle size. Of these the most important for artists are the light scattering properties of the pigment, including the pigment lightfastness, color, opacity and tinting strength. Across different watercolor pigments, smaller particle sizes in general characterize pigments that are: higher in tinting strength, because the smaller particle sizes produce a greater surface area in the same weight (mass) of pigment, producing more intense color in the same volume of water more transparent, because the smaller, more intense pigment particles leave more gaps for the paper to show through, and more staining, because the smaller pigment particles more easily penetrate into the spaces between paper fibers. Within the same watercolor pigment, smaller particle sizes (down to a limiting size of approximately 0.5m or the wavelength of light) tend characterize pigments that are: weakly colored (less saturated and lighter valued), because the increase in surface area produced by the smaller particle sizes increases the total surface scattering from the same quantity of pigment. In most mineral pigments this offsets the increase in tinting

strengh. less lightfast than larger particles of the same pigment, especially in most synthetic organic pigments; in mineral pigments this effect is less pronounced. In many pigments, smaller particle size also reduces the pigment permanence (resistance to damage from heat, water, acids, alkalis and other agents). In oils and acrylics, smaller particle sizes make the pigments more transparent and up to a point more saturated, as the particles are entirely embedded in the dried paint vehicle, which reduces light scattering at the particle surface. In watercolors, pigments in smaller particle sizes are more transparent because the same number of particles cover less of the paper surface area, allowing more of the paper (or paint layer underneath) to show through. Even opaque paints can be made more transparent by diluting the color, which creates more visible spaces between the pigment particles applied to paper. (See this discussion of the luminosity myth for the differences between oil and watercolor paint layers.) All these characteristics are related to the most fundamental pigment attribute affected by particle size: pigment surface area. If we start with a fixed quantity or weight of pigment, then divide this pigment into smaller and smaller particle sizes, the smaller particle sizes create a larger total surface area, as illustrated below with a single cubic crystal of pigment.

effect of particle size on pigment surface area As the example shows, dividing a single cubic pigment

crystal into 27 cubes of only 1/3 width increases the surface area of the pigment by 3 times, and a similar increase occurs if we reduce the particle size by as much again. A crude rule of thumb is that surface area increases X times if the average particle size is reduced by 1/X. This larger surface area means that the ratio of vehicle to pigment must be greater more finely divided pigments. That is, more water or vehicle is required to "wet" or completely cover all sides of every pigment particle, or conversely that the same weight of pigment mixed in the same weight of water produces a thicker paste as the pigment particles get smaller. This accounts in part for the variations in pigment load across paints made with different kinds of pigment. It also accounts for the tendency of some pigments to sink in water (because of large particle size) and of others to diffuse or spread out in water and to backrun as water dries (through small particle size). As for water, so also for light: smaller particles present a larger surface area for light to strike, which means that the light scattering effects of the pigment surface, and the pigment eroding effects of light absorption, are also increased. However, particle size is not a simple attribute. Most pigment particles clump or flocculate into larger chunks called aggregates (clusters of particles) or agglomerates (clumps of aggregates), as shown below. In many cases this clumping can be controlled by manufacturing methods and chemical additives, and the largest clumps can be reduced by the paint manufacturer during the milling (mixing) of pigment and vehicle.

particle size is not a simple attribute

(left) particles of quinacridone pigment clumping into aggregates and agglomerates (manufacturer photo); (right) particle size variation in viridian pigment (from Newman 1997)

Pigment particles also come in a range of sizes, like the rocks, stones, gravel and sand found in mountain stream beds. In the sample of viridian shown above, the largest particles are visible to the naked eye but the smallest particles are too small to see with a microscope. A very large particle size variation is typical of low cost cobalt, manganese and chromium crystal pigments, but all pigments show a range of particle sizes that is described by the particle size distribution.

particle size distribution for typical titanium dioxide The diagram shows a typical titanium dioxide pigment, which is usually manufactured so that the particle size distribution is as small as practical and so that the largest proportion of the total particles falls within the size range that produces an opaque or hiding pigment layer. Each bar represents the percentage of all particles that fall within a narrow size range; this domed or bell shaped curve is typical of all pigments used in printing and painting media.

Finally, many generic pigments can take on two or more crystal or particle forms depending on how they are manufactured, as shown at right for iron blue (PB27). Because these show a similar variation in the particle distribution, the striking difference in the form of the pigment will have the dominant effect on the light absorbing and light scattering properties of the pigment, which can significantly affect its color. Despite these complications, the pigment particle size affects many attributes of the paint, so it is worthwhile to learn whether common pigments are usually coarsely or finely textured. Lightfastness. Beautiful color is worthless without the permenancy to make it endure. So the third important pigment attribute is lightfastness, the ability of the pigment to remain unchanged under prolonged light exposure. Lightfastness is fundamentally determined by the molecular structure of the dye or pigment: some molecules break apart, or change form, under the continuous pressure of light, which destroys their color. The effects are different depending on the type of pigment: all pigments that fade completely are organic, while most inorganic pigments either gray or darken. Most completely permanent pigments are inorganic, especially the synthetics, while the fastest fading pigments are organic. The logic and methods for testing pigment lightfastness are presented on the page your own lightfastness tests. But lightfastness must be mentioned in any discussion of pigment attributes valuable to artists. Tinting Strength. The tinting strength of a pigment is its colorant power in relation to its mass. As tinting strength goes up, the quantity (weight or volume) of pigment needed to produce a required color intensity goes down. Tinting strength also indicates how much a pigment will dominate the color of a mixture with other pigments, and for this reason some watercolorists incorrectly refer to it as mixing strength. Tinting strength is defined by a tinting test, which measures the minimum amount of pigment required to impart a perceptible color to a specific amount of clear

two crystal forms of the same prussian blue pigment from Barbara Berrie (1997)

liquid or white paint, or the relative color intensity of a specific amount of pigment mixed with a specific amount of clear liquid or white paint. In general, pigments of smaller particle size have a higher tinting strength than coarse pigments, and synthetic organic pigments have a higher tinting strength than mineral pigments. Phthalocyanine blue, for example, has a tinting strength about 40 times greater than ultramarine blue, and twice that of prussian blue. Refractive Index. Next is what watercolorists call the transparency of the pigment after it has dried on the paper. This means that the paint allows everything behind it whether the paper, ink or charcoal marks on the paper, or an earlier layer of paint to show through completely. In fact, watercolorists are actually describing the hiding power of a pigment, or the thickness of a paint film required to completely mask a black and white pattern on a painted surface. The transparency of a pigment is degree to which the paint layer disappears when applied over a black surface. As many watercolorists dislike hiding power and do not paint on black surfaces, I define watercolor transparency in the guide to watercolor pigments as a lack of hiding, and opacity as substantial or complete hiding in masstone applications. Paint transparency depends primarily on the average size of the pigment particles and the thickness of the paint layer that is, the number of pigment particles covering the paper. Despite common belief, it does not much depend on whether the pigment particles themselves are transparent or semiopaque. The reason is that by the time they dry, most watercolor pigments are opaque, so only spacing will allow the background to show through. Here's why. Pigment "transparency" or hiding power actually depends on the ratio between the refractive index of the pigment and the medium around it, the RI ratio. Pigments appear transparent when this ratio is close to 1.0, as it is when pigments are enclosed in an acrylic or oil layer. But watercolor paints do not form a

paint layer that completely surrounds the pigment particles as oils or acrylics do, but instead strews the almost naked pigment particles across the cellulose fibers and crannies of the paper. Their RI ratio is determined by the refractive index between pigment and surrounding air. As this table shows, nearly all watercolor pigments are opaque in that situation.

pigment refractive index

RI pigment/vehicle RI ratio representative pigments

1.0 1.1 1.2 1.33 1.4 1.47 1.49 1.5

0.71 0.75 0.82 0.90 0.95 1.00

= air . . water (solvent) phthalocyanines arylide yellows gum arabic (watercolor binder) acrylic resin (acrylic binder) ultramarine blue iron [prussian] blue indanthrone blue alumina hydrate viridian naphthol reds ultramarine violet kaolin or china clay cobalt blue perylene red benzimidazolone yellows cerulean blue lamp black burnt sienna zinc [chinese] white quinacridone red quinacridone violet

1.02

1.6

1.09

1.7

1.16

1.8 1.9 2.0

1.22 1.29 1.36

raw umber 2.1 2.2 2.3 1.43 1.50 1.56 . raw sienna cadmium yellow burnt umber bone [ivory] black cadmium yellow lithopone chromium oxide titanium white [anatase] cadmium red cadmium red lithopone titanium white [rutile] venetian red

2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8

1.63 1.70 1.77 1.84 1.90

Note: Values in some cases represent the average of a range of values for the principal (alpha) refraction index. Sources: Handbook of Industrial Chemistry (1999); Gettens & Stout, Painting Materials (1956); Artists' Pigments (1996-2005); manufacturer data.

The following example shows the appearance of various white pigments with different ratios of refraction when mixed in the same acrylic vehicle, which has a refractive index about the same as the gum arabic in watercolors.

paint hiding power and pigment refractive index

equal quantities by volume of five white pigments in an acrylic vehicle; pigment refractive index in black, ratio of pigment refractive index to vehicle refractive index (1.5) in red; anatase

and rutile are different crystal forms of titanium dioxide (PW6) Source: DuPont Coating Chemicals

This image is useful because it shows the the visual effect of the number in red, the RI ratio between pigment and surround. A pigment appears significantly cloudy when the RI ratio is around 1.33, and almost completely opaque when it is above 1.5. But 1.5 is the RI ratio of watercolor pigments in air, which means those pigments will appear somewhat cloudy or opaque, depending on how much gum arabic remains with the pigments on the surface of the paper. Pigments with refractive index of 2.0 or higher will appear cloudy or opaque whether they are enclosed in vehicle or not. This cloudiness is caused by light scattering at the pigment particle surface: light is reflected back to the viewer without being partially absorbed or "colored" by the pigment itself. This scattered or "white" reflectance dilutes or desaturates the reflected light and causes a drying shift in the pigment color: many watercolors become lighter and less saturated as they dry, especially those with particle sizes below 1.0m. Typically, the most "transparent" watercolors are made with pigments of very small particle sizes and/or very high tinting strength, which means the pigment particles can be thinly spread on the paper and still provide an intense color. The "opaque" pigments have larger particle sizes and/or duller color, which means the tinting strength of the pigment must be compensated by increasing the pigment load of the paint. In short, "transparency" occurs between and not through the pigment particles. (For more discussion of paint transparency, see the section on the luminosity myth.) Specific Gravity. All pigments have a characteristic specific gravity, which is simply the weight of the pigment in water that is, the ratio of the weight of the pigment to the weight of the water it displaces in solution. This ratio is constant regardless of particle size, and is the sixth basic attribute of pigments. The specific gravity of water is 1.0; anything that floats has a specific gravity less than 1. Heavy pigments have a specific gravity much greater than 1, which means

they weigh more than the volume of water they displace, and therefore sink in solution.

pigment specific gravity

specific gravity pigments

1.4 1.5

arylide yellows diarylide yellows quinacridone violet quinacridone rose indanthrone blue quinacridone red naphthol reds phthalocyanine blues dioxazine violet benzimidazolone yellows perylenes perinone orange pyrrole reds carbon [lamp] black iron [prussian] blue . . phthalocyanine greens . ultramarine blue ultramarine violet carbon [bone] black . aluminum hydrate (laking substrate) manganese violet raw sienna raw umber burnt sienna burnt umber cobalt violet

1.6

1.7

1.8

1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3

2.4 2.5 3.0 3.5

viridian 4.0 yellow iron oxide titanium white cobalt blue cobalt teal blue cadmium yellows cerulean blue cobalt turquoise cadmium reds red iron oxide black iron oxide transparent iron oxides chromium oxide green zinc white .

4.5

5.0

5.5 6.0

Note: Specific gravity of synthetic organic pigments can vary depending on the specific gravity of the substrate used in pigment laking; a common substrate, aluminum hydrate, is shown for comparison. Sources: Handbook of Industrial Chemistry (1999); Gettens & Stout, Painting Materials (1956); Artists' Pigments (19962005); manufacturer data.

Watercolorists become aware of specific gravity when they discover that dilute solutions of some pigments in particular the cobalts, chromiums and cadmiums need to be stirred each time the brush is charged with more paint. Many watercolorists categorize these paints as sedimentary, which seems to mean that the pigment is very dense or very heavy, or both. However, the smallest particles of heavy pigments can remain suspended in solution, like motes of dust in the air, because of the continuous jostling of water molecules. So "sedimentary" is not a fundamental pigment attribute but depends on the combined effects of specific gravity and particle size, as shown in the diagram.

the variety in "sedimentary" paints If we locate pigments in terms of their approximate particle size and specific gravity, then the domain of pigments divides into two groups: the mostly synthetic organic pigments (but including iron blue and carbon black) that have both small particle size and low specific gravity. These pigments are close to the weight of water, so they tend to float in suspension longer; they also are very small, which means the movement of water molecules can jostle them afloat longer. the "sedimentary" pigments that are either very heavy (high specific gravity) or very large. Both attributes reduce the time they can remain in suspension through buoyancy or the jostling effect of molecular impacts. In addition, all these pigments have relatively low tinting strength, which means the pigment load (pigment density) must be increased to produce a satisfactory color concentration. Note that some generic "earth" pigments (yellow ochre, venetian red) are "sedimentary" while others (raw sienna) are not. Burnt sienna and raw umber in particular can be either "sedimentary" or "transparent" depending on brand; the "sedimentary" paints contain

pigments with larger particle size or lower tinting strength. These differences in combined specific gravity and particle size can be revealed with a sedimentation test. Staining (Resistance to Lifting). Peculiar to watercolorists is a concern with the staining or resistance to lifting of a paint. However staining is not an inherent property of a pigment but arises through the combined effects of several watercolor pigment, paint and paper attributes: Pigments with a small average particle size can more easily flow or creep into the tiny spaces between paper fibers, where they "stain" because they are embedded too deeply to swab away; extremely small pigment particles can also display an electrostatic cling that makes them stain plastic palettes and brush hairs. These small or finely divided pigments are often milled with a dispersant (such as ox gall) which speeds up the mixing of dry pigment and vehicle during milling; this dispersant in turn increases the capillary movement of pigment particles into the paper fibers. Paints made with a high proportion of humectant also tend to penetrate the paper more deeply. Paints made with a high proportion of gum arabic binder tend to hold the paint on the surface of the paper and to surround both pigment particles and paper fibers in a gummy coating, which makes the pigment easier to remove because it redissolves in water. A paper pulp that has been lightly macerated, or pulp that is made with wood fiber or asian grasses, is far more absorbent than paper pulp made with heavily macerated cotton or linen cellulose. A heavier surface and/or internal sizing seals the cellulose fibers from contact with the pigment and closes off more of the spaces between fibers, keeping the pigment particles on the surface. A smoother paper finish (hot pressed rather than rough) is produced by calendaring the paper, or pressing it between iron rollers; this compresses the

spaces between the paper fibers and reduces the channels along which pigment particles can penetrate deep into the paper. But this also makes hot pressed papers less absorbent, so they often receive a lighter coat of surface sizing which allows more staining; and hot pressed papers still have a surface texture that is many times larger than finely divided pigment particles, so staining can occur. The result is that the staining can be aggressive on hot pressed papers, and scraping to remove staining paints can be more obtrusive on the smooth finish. Whether staining is desired or considered an annoyance, the painter can decrease it in several ways: by using paints with coarser pigment particles or with less dispersant and/or more gum arabic in the vehicle; by adding gum arabic to the dissolved paint; by using papers with a smoother finish; or by using papers with a heavier coating of surface sizing, including papers precoated with a gum arabic wash. Dispersability. A covert but important pigment attribute is its dispersability, which is simply a measure of how easily the pigment powder can be thoroughly and evenly wetted in the paint vehicle or in water. Unfortunately, I can't give you specifics about pigment dispersability because information is difficult to acquire and because it depends on the methods of pigment manufacture and chemical properties. There are however two visible consequences of pigment dispersability: the watercolor paint's activity wet in wet and its expected shelf life. To ship the pigment to the paint manufacturer, the pigment manufacturer may add one or several chemicals that prevent the pigment from clumping, forming a skin or settling in solution; these manufacturer additives remain with the pigment all the way to the finished product. To turn pigment into paint, the paint manufacturers must mill the pigment with the vehicle, and to accelerate or extend this wetting process they may add a surfactant or dispersant to the paint mixture, which acts exactly like dishwashing soap to loosen, break apart and dissolve the greasy particles from your dinner plates. Pigments that are prone to clumping because of their electrostatic cling to one another (phthalos, iron blue), or that are difficult to dissolve because of their tiny

particle size (earth pigments, carbon black), end up with much more surfactant in the finished paint. In watercolors, the main culprits are generally the pigments with tiny particle sizes the phthalos, carbon blacks, iron blue, many earth pigments, alizarin crimson, and many of the semitransparent synthetic organics and larger soft pigments, such as ultramarine blue or the cadmiums, which will cake together under milling pressure. Cheaper paint brands try to save money by rushing the milling process, and may add surfactants to almost every color they make. Just as a drop of soap in a greasy sink causes the grease on the surface to shoot outward, a drop of paint containing surfactant shoots outward from the point of contact with the wet paper. This is not inherently a pigment attribute, but results from manufacturer additives intended to stabilize the pigment as it is transported and ease the milling of the pigment into paint.

basic paint tests

With the pigment attributes in mind, there are a few traditional methods for testing pigment tinting strength, color appearance, particle size and the presence of paint additives. These tests require no special materials or tools, with the exception of a high school microscope. Draw Down Sample. The tinting test does not give a reliable sense of the appearance of the paint on paper. For that, the draw down sample is effective. Used by printers to test inks, the draw down is a very quick, accurate and reliable way to assess paint color appearance you can make color samples of an entire paint line in 20 or 30 minutes. Place a small daub of the paint (about the size of a lentil) on a hot pressed (smooth) watercolor paper or heavy (2 ply) white bristol paper placed on a flat surface, and smear it out with the edge of a large palette knife or putty knife, using a quick, downward swiping movement applied with firm pressure. The stroke must thin out the paint to an even, matte finish; dark or glossy patches indicate you should apply more

pressure with the knife. Pigment texture or granularity (but not flocculation) can be evaluated with this method, but unfortunately the paint sample is so thin that it is not a reliable test of pigment transparency all pigments will appear semitransparent. (Note: this palette knife drawdown is separate from the liquid drawdown method used to prepare standardized lightfastness samples, in which a paint solution is smeared over a tilted piece of white filter paper.)

draw down comparison of eight brands of cobalt blue

left to right: Rowney Artists, M. Graham, DaVinci, MaimeriBlu, Holbein, Schmincke, Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton

The photo shows draw down samples for the same paints shown in the tinting test illustration. Note that it is somewhat easier to see the differences in paint lightness, chroma, and hue across all paints. The Rowney Artists and Winsor & Newton paints appears rather dull, while the DaVinci paint seems artificially brightened. Holbein is again the weakest, and the MaimeriBlu is so dark it is possibly mixed with a darker cobalt pigment, such as cobalt blue deep. The test also reveals the partial separation of pigment and vehicle in the Schmincke paint. These palette knife draw downs are effective for color comparisons at a standard paint thickness, though they cannot show the range of color appearance from masstone to tints. For that, you need to make paint swatches. Tinting Test. This is the single most powerful and revealing test you can make of your watercolor paints. It shows the tinting strength of the paint, which is a

measure both of the pigment concentration and of the pigment quality in a paint. In the traditional tinting test, you mix a small amount of the paints you want to test in equal, large quantities of white paint, usually titanium dioxide PW6. This is the only feasible method for oil or acrylic paints, but for watercolorists, mixing in water is quicker and cheaper. I show both methods. Solution Tinting Test. To prepare a tinting solution, thoroughly dissolve a precisely measured, small quantity of paint in a large volume of water. I use about 1/8th teaspoon of paint, scraped level with a palette knife, in two quarts of water but the right proportions may depend on the intensity of the paints you are testing. If too much paint is dissolved in the water, the water becomes opaque; if too much water is used, differences among the paints will be too small to see. For light valued yellow or earth pigments, the water can be tinted with a very small quantity of phthalocyanine green; tinting strength is shown by the amount of change from this base color and the hue (bluish or yellowish) of the resulting green mixture stronger paints will have a yellower hue. All paints should be measured and diluted in exactly the same way in identical clear glass or plastic containers. (Gallon or half gallon juice containers, with the labels removed, work very well.) Then visually assess the color brightness, clarity and intensity of the solutions side by side. It is best to view the samples against a brightly lit white background (a sheet of white paper receiving direct sunlight, or a white sheet hung over a brightly lit window, are ideal). Make sure that one sample does not cast colored light into another. Paints with higher tinting strength (better quality pigment, higher concentrations of pigment) will produce a darker, more intense color. The best solutions will have a deep, nearly transparent color without any milky cloudiness. (This can be assessed by placing a spoon in the mixture.) The tinting test is inconvenient to do on all the paints offered by several different brands, but by focusing on a handful of the most expensive pigments a selection

from among cadmium red, cadmium orange, cobalt blue, cobalt violet, dioxazine violet, viridian, phthalo green YS, pyrrole orange or red, benzimida orange, quinacridone violet, indanthrone blue, etc. you can get a fair idea of the quality standards of the paint brands.

tinting test solutions of eight brands of cobalt blue

left to right: Rowney Artists, M. Graham, DaVinci, MaimeriBlu, Holbein, Schmincke, Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton

The photo shows a comparison of cobalt blue across eight common brands of watercolors in a half gallon glass vase of water. Note the variations in color lightness, intensity and the opacity or milkiness of the mixture. Paints with too little color are, almost always, paints that reduce the pigment load to lower manufacturing costs. For the expensive cobalt paints, an especially strong color may indicate the addition of cheaper pigments (this is usually phthalocyanine blue). Other tests are required to identify these additives but sometimes the hue of the mixture will be different. Paintout Tinting Test. For the paintout method, mix 10 parts titanium white paint with 1 part of the paint(s) to be tested. The exact proportions do not matter so long as you measure them consistently with clean implements. If you use kitchen measuring spoons, 11/4 teaspoons of white and 1/8 teaspoon of paint works out right. (One teaspoon is just under 5 milliliters, so you can get 9 paintouts from 4 15ml. tubes of titanium white.) You can measure in smaller quantities but this makes it harder to keep everything consistent no sense doing the test if you can't trust the results. Squeeze the paint into the measuring spoon, scrape it off smooth and flat, and make sure there is no excess on the bottom. Then scoop it out of the spoon into a

mixing dish with a moist, synthetic bristle 1/2" flat brush. Do the same for the white, and mix with the brush until the color is homogenous and unchanging. Then paint it out on white paper. You want a thick coat of raw paint, so no paper shows through; do not dilute with water. For reference, also paint out a sample of the raw paint.

tinting test paintouts of 12 brands of cadmium red

(top, left to right): Art Spectrum, M. Graham, Daniel Smith, Maimeri, Rowney Artists, DaVinci; (bottom, left to right): Sennelier, Winsor & Newton, Holbein, Utrecht, Rembrandt, Cotman

These tinting paintouts show 10:1 mixtures of titanium white and cadmium red (red medium or red light, depending on brand), with samples of the pure paint color for comparison. This test divides the paints into three groups by CIELAB lightness (italicized number): the darkest four (Art Spectrum, Rowney Artists, M. Graham, Daniel Smith) the middle four (Winsor & Newton, Holbein, Maimeri, Utrecht) the lightest four (Sennelier, Rembrandt, Cotman, DaVinci)

A tinting test will not be accurate if there is a visible separation of vehicle and pigment, as this will make the pigment sample too concentrated; this happened with my tubes of Art Spectrum and Blockx cadmium red. The digital image does not capture the visible hue differences across paints, which affects the lightness as well. Even so, the test does separate the very strong from the very weak (or "student" grade). Sedimentation Test. A sedimentation test provides some insight into the average particle size of pigments, as well as the presence of unannounced colorants. Pigments each have a slightly different specific gravity, which is the ratio of the weight of the pigment to the weight of the water it displaces in solution. All pigments have a specific gravity greater than 1, so they sink rather than float, but differences in their specific gravity cause the pigment particles to sink at noticeably different rates the heavy particles drop to the bottom of the container, while the light particles remain in solution. For pigments of similar or the same specific gravity, differences in the pigment particle size distribution has a significant effect: the largest particles will settle out within a few minutes, while the smallest particles may remain suspended indefinitely. To make a sedimentation sample, dissolve a leveled 1/4 teaspoon of paint in a drinking glass of water try to use a glass with a flat bottom and straight sides. It is important to stir the solution repeatedly until you are sure all the paint has completely dissolved. Then let the paint samples sit entirely undisturbed for several days. (I set the samples on a north facing windowsill, where they are out of the way but easy to inspect each day.) Let tinting solutions stand until you can see through the upper half of the glass in most of the samples (which happens in from three to seven days, depending on the particle size and specific gravity of the pigment). Then look for (1) how far down in the solution the pigment particles have settled (which indicates the relative average size of the pigment particles); (2) the distinctness of the boundary between heavy and light pigment particles (which shows the variation in size of the pigment particles); and (3) the amount of cloudiness in the clear part of the solution (which can

indicate the presence of other ingredients).

sedimentation comparison of six brands of cadmium red

left to right: control sample (cadmium orange #2), Daniel Smith cadmium red scarlet, DaVinci cadmium red, Holbein cadmium red light, M. Graham cadmium red light, Rowney Artists cadmium red pale, Winsor & Newton cadmium red

The illustration shows sedimentation samples for six cadmium red paints that present a similar scarlet red hue in drawdown samples and tinting solutions. As a control sample (far left), I thoroughly mixed a pure, high quality but relatively coarse cadmium orange #2 pigment (from Kremer Pigments) in an equal quantity of gum arabic solution. After four days, note that this cadmium has settled completely out of solution (white arrow), the boundary between this layer and the clear layer is distinct, and the solution of lighter particles is nearly transparent. That is, this cadmium sample is made of coarse grains of similar size and without additives. The DaVinci paint has also completely settled out, indicating a comparably coarse pigment; the greater coloration of the solution results from a higher proportion of small pigment particles (uneven particle sizes) and more additives in the paint vehicle. The Daniel Smith and Rowney Artists paints have settled to nearly the same halfway level, with a vague boundary and opaque solution. The Winsor & Newton has settled out slightly farther, and the solution is slightly cloudier, indicating it has a larger average particle size and is either mixed from a light and dark shade of cadmium selenosulfide (darker shades contain more selenium and are often more coarsely ground, making the pigment

particles heavier) or contains a lighter filler which clouds the rest of the liquid. M. Graham and Holbein have settled out of solution much less, indicating that these cadmiums are made using a much smaller particle size. They should be left for a longer period to assess the variations in particle size and the presence of vehicle additives. In general, within the same type of pigment, smaller particle size should produce a higher tinting strength, but the sedimentation test is not entirely consistent with the tinting test paintouts (above). The ranking here is (1) M. Graham, (2) Holbein, (3) Daniel Smith, (4) Rowney Artists, (5) Winsor & Newton, (6) DaVinci; in the tinting test it was (1) Rowney Artists, (2) M. Graham, (3) Daniel Smith, (4) Winsor & Newton, (5) Holbein, (6) DaVinci. Combining the two ranks gives: (3) M. Graham, (5) Rowney Artists, (6) Daniel Smith, (7) Holbein, (9) Winsor & Newton, (12) DaVinci. Be sure to do the sedimentation tests in clear glass containers. In some paints the brighteners or fillers may settle out first, forming a whitish layer on the bottom that is only visible from underneath (example at right). Dissolving Test. This very revealing test is simple to do. Set out separate small, white porcelain or plastic containers for each paint to test. Fill each container with 2 to 3 tablespoons of water. Place the containers where they can remain undisturbed for a few days out of sunlight or drafts. Squeeze into the first container a 2 cm (1 inch) length of paint directly from the tube; let the paint drop into the water without disturbing the container. Watch the paint for a few minutes to observe the immediate reaction. Many paints will start to diffuse pigment into the water, as a thin film on the surface or as clouds of paint through the solution sometimes both. Note your observations, then proceed to the next paint. Once all samples are prepared, cover with foil or a book and let sit for two days. Then uncover and examine again.
a sludge of brightener at the bottom of a sedimentation test (Lukas "cobalt violet deep")

dissolving test of single pigment viridian paints

left to right: M. Graham, Winsor & Newton, Rowney Artists, Holbein; (top) after 2 minutes, (bottom) after 2 days

The four samples above were prepared from supposedly single pigment paints, but displayed marked differences across the four brands. I chose viridian (PG18) because the pigment is a chemically simple, completely inert mineral crystal that has a distinctive color and a high specific gravity. Its behavior in solution should be no different from a very fine sand. The M. Graham paint shows how a geniunely pure paint should behave. After two days the water has mostly evaporated but the paint has slumped in place. All the other paints diffused promptly when dropped in water, indicating the presence of dispersants in the paint formulation. The Winsor & Newton and Daler Rowney mixtures had a distinct whitish and cloudy color, suggesting a filler or brightener with a lighter specific gravity predominates in the mixture. The Holbein did not diffuse nearly as rapidly, indicating that it contained very little dispersant. But the paint did gradually discharge a cloud of very bright, pure color, too bright to be pure viridian. It is phthalocyanine green (PG7), added in small quantity to boost the color of the mineral pigment. Drying and Rewetting Test. A second test that can help you examine the various ingredients in a paint is

the drying and rewetting test. This can reveal large differences across paint brands and important differences across the major pigment families (cadmiums, cobalts, ultramarine, chromiums, phthalocyanines, quinacridones, azos and earth pigments) within a single brand. These tests are easiest to perform on dark paints. You will need several identical, flat bottomed porcelain, plastic or china containers or mixing cups. China saucers, condiment or souffl dishes, or your standard mixing cups can all serve the purpose. (A large sheet of glass, laid perfectly flat, also serves well.) You'll also need a large (at least 11"x15"), heavy weight (600GSM or higher) sheet of cold pressed or hot pressed watercolor paper. (Block watercolor paper is not heavy enough and will warp.) For all paints you want to test, measure out an equal quantity of paint (I use a level 1/4 teaspoon) into a large, flat bottom mixing cup or large mixing well, and dissolve completely in about 2 teaspoons of water. Use an acrylic brush to disperse the paint and to clean out the residue paint in the measuring spoon. Set the paint samples aside on a level surface, cover with cheesecloth to protect them against dust, and allow them to dry out completely depending on heat and humidity, this may take 4 to 10 days. Do not move or stir the paints as they dry.

drying comparison of nine brands of cobalt blue

left to right: (top) Rowney Artists, Holbein, Utrecht; (middle), MaimeriBlu, Daniel Smith, M. Graham, (bottom) Winsor & Newton, Old Holland (cobalt blue deep), Schmincke

This first part of the test gives you some insight into the paint vehicle. The photo shows a drying test applied to nine brands of cobalt blue. There are two obvious differences among the various brands: (1) some show slight to considerable cracking and peeling of the dried paint layer, while the rest (Holbein, Utrecht, Daniel Smith, M. Graham, Old Holland) do not; (2) most show obvious discoloration or separation of the pigment, while some (Holbein, M. Graham, Old Holland) do not. The cracking is generally caused by a low proportion of humectant glucose or honey to gum arabic in the vehicle. It is also typical of synthetic (glycol) binders, which is likely the case with the Schmincke paint. A glassy surface (Old Holland, Holbein) indicates a relatively high proportion of gum arabic and glycerin to pigment. (We already confirmed this for Holbein in the tinting test.) The discolorations reflect separation of the vehicle ingredients, in particular separation of the dextrin, glycerin and gum arabic. Next, rewet the dried samples with 1 teaspoon clear water, and thoroughly dissolve the pigment in the saucers by mixing for a minute or two with a wet acrylic brush. As you rewet the samples, you will notice that some paints dissolve evenly and quickly, while other paints tend to break up into coarse particles, which only slowly dissolve. Paints with a relatively high proportion of binder, plasticizer and humectant in the vehicle will redissolve smoothly and easily. However, some pigments, such as viridian (PG18), always redissolve slowly and leave grainy clumps. Next, premoisten an area 2" to 3" square on the heavy (600GSM or higher) watercolor paper, and pour (do not paint) about half the redissolved paint mixture into the square. (If you dried out the paint samples on a sheet of glass, rewet and pour off the paints one at a time, starting at the bottom edge, wiping up excess paint as you go.) The paper should be resting on a perfectly level surface where it will not be disturbed. Let the paint dry completely, which may take 2 or 3 days.

rewetting comparison of nine brands of cobalt blue

left to right: (top) Rowney Artists, Holbein, Utrecht; (middle), MaimeriBlu, Daniel Smith, M. Graham, (bottom) Winsor & Newton, Old Holland (cobalt blue deep), Schmincke. (Image contrast increased and saturation reduced by 10% to enhance surface variations.)

This last test reveals variations in the "dry" contents of the paint, including pigment, brighteners, and filler. The dried paints have settled out in layers, with the lightest particles on the surface, and the paint layer is much thicker than you can usually obtain with a brush. As a result, the paints will display much larger variations in color. In these samples, the Rowney Artists appears much duller and lighter than the other paints, with a surface like housepaint, indicating significant levels of brightener and/or filler. Several of the paints (Holbein, Maimeriblu, Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, Old Holland) show a flocculated or grainy texture that is actually caused by uncoated paper fibers. The Daniel Smith and Maimeriblu paints show extensive bronzing along the lower edges, and the Utrecht paint presents a peculiar splotching. Note the large variations in color and lightness, which are much more noticeable in the original samples. Finally, rub each sample several times with a cotton swab or a finger wrapped in a paper towel. Some of the paints show some pigment rub off this way (M. Graham

especially), while others (Winsor & Newton, Old Holland, Daniel Smith) yield almost none. The optimal paint will show the least ruboff, discoloration, splotching, bronzing, flaking or cracking across all tests, and will rewet quickly and smoothly. Against those criteria the Holbein, Old Holland and M. Graham paints perform relatively well. Black Field Test. As watercolor paints are designed to be applied to white paper, and most pigments are rather dark, the "white" brighteners or extenders in paints are typically invisible. But if a dark pigmented paint is applied to a black or very dark gray background, the pigment becomes largely invisible, and any additives are displayed prominently. In effect, you can "x ray" the paint to see its hidden backbone structure. The substrate you use can be (1) a sheet of smooth, matte, high density black bristol board (to prevent cockling), (2) a sheet of clear acetate which you view over black paper, or (3) a large piece of black acrylic (available from specialty plastics stores or some hardware or hobby stores). The acetate or black acrylic are especially useful as a single piece can be swabbed and repainted many times and it holds absolutely everything on the surface, which produces strong contrasts among the surface deposits and allows you to assess pigment texture by rubbing it with your fingers. For the most dramatic results, paints you test should contain a single pigment that is (1) relatively expensive, (2) dark valued, and (3) finely divided (small particle size). The quinacridone pigments are ideal as a paint quality test, as these pigments are expensive, dark, and have a very small particle size; the best pigments will also not show the separate presence of a whitish or opaque laking substrate. The similarly dark and expensive perylenes, pyrrols, indanthrone blue, cobalt blue and dioxazine violet may all provide useful tests across brands or within a single brand. To look for the presence of cost cutting fillers or extenders within a single brand, you need a comparison sample that shows the backbone composition of binder and humectants in pigments less likely to be adulterated. These should be pigments that

are finely divided, dark but inexpensive. Iron [prussian] blue, ultramarine blue or carbon black, all relatively cheap, are probably useful for this, but best is phthalo blue GS or phthalo green BS, commonly used in printing inks. To prepare the acrylic test, wipe down the black acrylic sheet with water and a paper towel. Squeeze out a small quantity of paint (approximately the size of a lentil or green pea), then pour over it one teaspoon of distilled water. (Impurities in tap or spring water may obscure the paint ingredients.) Mix paint and water on the sheet using a clean acrylic brush, then spread the mixture around to produce a large puddle. Repeat for other paints. Let the sheet sit completely undisturbed for one or two days, until all the water has evaporated from all the samples. Samples must be poured on black bristol instead of mixed on it, as this can scuff the surface. It's important to use diluted paint samples in this test and to let the deposits spread out on the substrate. Do not brush or fuss with the samples once you have mixed or poured them out. Different brands contain different vehicle mixtures, and excessive gum arabic, glycol or honey can obscure the results, especially if concentrated in a small puddle.

black acrylic comparison of nine brands of quinacridone paint

(top, left to right): M. Graham quinacridone rose (PV19), Winsor & Newton quinacridone magenta (PR122), Daniel Smith quinacridone magenta (PR202), Holbein rose violet (PR122), Schmincke purple magenta (PR122); (bottom, left to right): Old

Holland magenta (PR122), Rowney Artists quinacridone magenta (PR122), MaimeriBlu verzino violet (PR122), Sennelier quinacridone purple (PR122)

black paper comparison of eleven brands of quinacridone paint

(top, left to right): M. Graham quinacridone rose (PV19), Winsor & Newton quinacridone magenta (PR122), Daniel Smith quinacridone magenta (PR202), Holbein rose violet (PR122), Schmincke purple magenta (PR122); (center): Da Vinci alizarin crimson hue, Da Vinci quinacridone carmine; (bottom, left to right): Old Holland magenta (PR122), Rowney Artists quinacridone magenta (PR122), MaimeriBlu verzino violet (PR122), Sennelier quinacridone purple (PR122)

The illustration shows black field samples for common quinacridone paints on acrylic (top) and heavy black bristol (matt board, bottom). The "white" additives in the Rowney Artists and Sennelier paints are glaringly obvious brilliant when viewed in sunlight. On acrylic, the Sennelier ingredients were grainy, like superfine sugar crystals, and rubbed off when touched. The M. Graham and Da Vinci paints seem to use identical pigments. Winsor & Newton and Holbein paints had some opaque whitening at one side of the dried sample, but not nearly as obvious as in the Rowney Artist and Sennelier paints. The Daniel Smith, Old Holland, Schmincke and MaimeriBlu paints showed the least opaque discoloration and had the darkest dried color, suggesting that very little additives or fillers, and high quality pigments, have been used in these paints. Microscopic Examination. Even the sedimentation

and drying tests are not conclusive for pigments mixed with extenders or brighteners of similar specific gravity or very fine particle size; the movement of water molecules keeps these very fine particles from sinking. Usually a centrifuge is required to separate out fillers and pigments into distinct layers. The water tinting test will neutralize the effect of brighteners so that the actual pigment coloration can be compared from one brand to another. However, I've found a microscopic analysis is often useful. If you have access to a standard high school microscope or materials inspection microscope (with a magnifying power of about 100x to 500x), use it to inspect the draw down samples of relatively expensive, dark mineral pigments such as cobalt blue or cadmium red, or dark synthetic organic pigments such as perinone orange or pyrrole red. (Microscopic inspection seems to me less reliable with strongly staining pigments such as phthalo green or phthalo blue, as the proportion of gum vehicle to pigment is so large.) Pure pigments in gum vehicle will coat the paper fibers in a smooth, transparent coat, like oil or varnish; the largest pigment particles will appear as dark, intensely colored and barely visible flecks, and the cellulose fibers will appear transparent. Paints made with large quantities of fillers and/or brighteners will show one or both of two obvious features: a frothy, opaque, slightly whitish surface texture, strikingly like sprayed stucco or the sugar coating on "frosted" breakfast cereals. a litter of colorless, semitransparent chunks, which may have the jagged appearance of salt crystals or the worn, rounded appearance of river glass. Either is a clear indication of additives that are not pigment particles and not gum vehicle, and therefore are something else. Although these traditional tests can provide you with interesting comparisons of paint brands or paint colors, in my experience making side by side paint wheels with your favorite brand and a comparison brand is often the single best paint test you can use. You're

actually handling the paints, mixing them with many other colors from the same manufacturer, and doing this in a highly consistent way. You see the paint quality across many pigments, in repeated mixing and brushing out and mixed to make a complete range of colors; and you can compare the results visually across all hues of the color wheel. If either brand of paint has important flaws, you will notice them.

test paintings
Keep in mind that the methods described above are not the only way to "test" watercolor paints. You can study your paints as you use them, provided you take the time to look and treat routine tasks as an opportunity to look and discover. Some of the routine examinations I make as I work: Each morning the dissolved paint in mixing cups or paint wells has had time to settle out of solution. The quantity of sludge and the clarity of the liquid the next morning tell me about the specific gravity and particle size of the pigment; I can evaluate variations in color by tipping the mixing cup to one side to reveal the sludge at the bottom. I take a few seconds to look at the residue of a wash mixture that has completely evaporated in a porcelain dish, as this reveals pigment texture quite clearly. I pay attention to how quickly a pigment seems to settle onto the paper, and how smoothly it can be feathered or graded by gentle brushing. When using tube paints, I always watch for the clear vehicle that may have separated from coarse or very heavy pigments. When this happens I make a note of the color, darkness, cloudiness, odor and taste (no swallowing!) of the vehicle. As I paint I note how quickly a paint rinses from the brush and how easily it is displaced by water in diffusion or backruns. When mixing paints, I pay attention to the relative

proportions of each required for the mixture of a specific hue, and from that make a casual judgment of their relative tinting strengths. One practice that has been useful to me is making test paintings on medium to small sized watercolor blocks, scraps of paper, or failed paintings. The guiding principle is simply to play with the paint rather than direct it, and allow backruns, puddling, diffusion, random color mixtures and other accidents to reveal the effects possible with a paint. Three examples are shown below.

test paintings that explore pigment attributes These paintings let me explore radiating backruns, color mixtures using diffusion, and pigment effects on backrun edges. In each case I did not set out with a specific goal, but had a general pattern in mind backruns in a wash, bicolor stripes, parallel layers of contrasting texture that I developed and elaborated as the water evaporated. Most watercolors by Gerhard Richter are essentially "play paintings" of this type. There are very simple design choices that can improve the esthetic quality of these paintings a geometric pattern, or repeated shapes, or symmetry around an axis, or basic color contrasts. But they should not get complicated, otherwise you are focused on the image rather than the image creating pigments. I also use these paintings as "warm up" or "get in the mood" exercises. I normally clean my tools when I start each morning, so I sometimes make these paintings with excess paint mixtures or the paint left in mixing cups that I want to rinse and reuse. This limits my experiments to paints I am actually using, and adds a recreational benefit to clean up chores.

making paint swatches

After you have tried these basic paint quality tests, it is

useful to make paint swatches to show the paint color appearance on watercolor paper and the paint handling attributes with brush and water. I describe here the paint test swatches I used to make the pigment ratings in the guide to watercolor pigments. My approach puts many paint swatches on a single sheet. In addition to their value as test materials, I keep these finished pages in a portfolio where they provide a reference to the colors and handling attributes of various paint brands. You may decide to use different testing methods. Before you get rolling, I suggest you try your method with a few paints you already know well staining or nonstaining, granulating or smooth, transparent or opaque. Your method should display clearly the differences among these paints, show the paint color in both masstone and tint, and create a large enough color swatch to be evaluated from the same viewing distance as an actual painting. Whatever method you use, practice it before starting. Comparisons across different paint samples will not be reliable if you change your procedures as you go along. Prepare test papers. You will first need to create the sheet of watercolor on which to make the test swatches: Choose the brand, weight and finish of watercolor paper to use in the tests. (If feasible, you should choose the type of paper you use in your actual painting.) Apparently trivial differences among papers can have a significant effect on the appearance of paints. I used 300 GSM Arches cold pressed watercolor paper in a 12" x 16" block (see figure at right). Prepare a separate sheet for each major color category: red, yellow/orange, green, blue, violet and earth. Placing similar colors on the same page assists visual comparisons across colors and brands. (You probably will not fill the sheet, but the empty spaces can be used to test new paints as you buy them.) Rule each sheet with pencil guidelines to space the swatches evenly. On a 12x16" sheet, using the swatch layout shown below, I can get twelve 1" wide swatches

a page of test swatches placing similar colors on the same page assists visual comparisons and use as a paint reference

spaced 3/16" apart, in three rows of swatches 3" high with 5/8" spacing between them, with 1" of margin on all sides. Draw a fat black indelible line across the paper, or two narrow black lines with a thin space between them, about 1/4" below where the swatch brushstroke will start, with a Sharpie felt pen (or other indelible ink pen). (The black lines are used to judge the paint's opacity.) The finished swatch, once painted, will look like the example below.

my layout for a single paint swatch Here are the test methods I used to display these paint differences for evaluation: Buy a small notebook to use to record your observations as you paint the swatches. Some of the things you will notice as you work are: stuck caps, air bubbles or pure vehicle in the paint, differences in paint texture (syrupy, gummy, clayey or hard), paint that dissolves slowly or easily, paint that is smooth or gritty (you will hear this), paint that is difficult to rinse off the brush, paint smells, and paint separation (sedimentation).

 Lay out the paints you will test, left to right, in the order they will appear on the paper. Any rearranging you want to do, do it now. Write above or below each blank swatch area the manufacturer's name, the paint name, and the pigment color index name(s). Do this for all the paints you are going to test at one time. Squeeze a standard quantity of tube paint into the paint well of a flat plastic palette or onto a flat mixing sheet. I extruded about 5mm of paint from a 7mm wide tube nozzle (the size used on 14ml Winsor & Newton paints) or an equivalent amount (narrower nozzles will require you to extrude a longer bead of paint). Cut the paint by swiping the nozzle flat against the edge of the mixing well or mixing area. Repeat for the other paints. Important! Look at the label on the tube, and the information written on the test sheet, and make sure that they match. Squeeze out the paints in exactly the same order that they will appear on the sheet. What to look for: What is the texture of the paint out of the tube? Do you notice any air bubbles or pure vehicle (a pale or dark, thick liquid) squeezes out as well? Does the paint retain its shape or settle into a puddle after it is squeezed out? Important! If you encounter pure vehicle as you squeeze out the paint, squeeze this mess out onto a paper towel until you get pure paint again. Use this paint for the test sample. Do not test paint that is mixed with pure vehicle. Important! Don't try to adjust the size of the sample to compensate for apparent differences in pigment concentration or thickness across manufacturers. Try to make all your samples as similar as possible you want to reveal differences in consistency or concentration across paints, not disguise them. Mix the paint sample thoroughly with fourteen drops (1/4 teaspoon) of pure water roughly the amount that can be carried to the mixing area by a fully charged 1" acrylic flat watercolor brush (Daniel Smith). It's more accurate and faster to squeeze out the drops

of pure water from an eyedropper, available in most pharmacies, or to measure with a small kitchen measuring spoon, but I found the brush was a sufficiently accurate measuring tool. Important! Take care to use a constant amount of water, and to completely dissolve the paint including any raw paint stuck on the brush bristles. What to look for: What is the texture of the paint smooth or gritty, dense or liquid? Does the paint dissolve easily or only with patient effort? Is the paint mixture thick (lots of gum arabic) or thin (like water)? Charge the brush with the paint mixture and apply it to the paper in a single stroke, about 6 cm (2-1/4" inches) long. Paint the stroke in a slow, even movement, about two seconds from start to finish. The swatch will vary from masstone at the start of application to a medium tone at the end. What to look for: What is the texture of the paint thick, watery, granulating, smooth? Did the paint flow smoothly out of the brush? As you reach the end of the swatch, does the paint continue to flow freely, or seem to gum up or dry out at the end? What is the immediate color appearance of the wet paint, and does this change as the swatch dries? Thoroughly rinse and drain the 1" brush (this gives the end of the swatch time to dry, approximately 15 seconds). With a 1/2" acrylic flat watercolor brush (Daniel Smith), apply a stroke of clear water across the bottom end of the swatch. To ensure a constant amount of water, rinse the brush, hold until it stops dripping, then lightly touch it to the edge of the rinse container. What to look for: This stroke partly dissolves the paint swatch, as the water gradually diffuses up the swatch, producing a blossom or backrun. Does the paint dissolve immediately, or only after a time? Is the dissolved area limited to the stroke of water, or does it expand up the swatch? Is the backrun or blossom barely visible, or very obvious? (A greater amount of gum arabic in the vehicle, and smaller particle sizes, increase the tendency of the paint to blossom or backrun.) This is a good point to stop and write down your

observations, if any, in your notebook. Then continue: Rinse the 1/2" brush, and hold until it stops dripping. Apply a second line of clear water horizontally (left to right) at the bottom of the test swatch area, as long as the swatch is wide. Wick off any remaining water with a paper towel, then tap the brush three times vertically in the test mixture to pick up a small quantity of paint. Touch the brush to the left end of water stroke to release paint into the wet area. What to look for: This stroke is used to judge diffusion wet in wet, and also the color of the pigment in dilution. Does the paint diffuse in the wet area rapidly or slowly? What is the texture of the paint as it diffuses? Does a thin film of paint shoot out across the surface of the water (indicating a dispersant, such as ox gall, has been used in manufacture)? Does the pigment separate into two colors as it diffuses (indicating the paint is a mixture of different pigments, or contains impure pigment)? Saturate the 1" brush with clear water, and make a small puddle of water on the palette by pressing the brush firmly against it. Pick up the test mixture by daubing it with a 1/8" acrylic flat brush (Daniel Smith), and mix this with the pure water. Use the same brush to apply the diluted mixture as a line between the two test swatches. What to look for: This stroke is used to judge the hue and chroma of the paint tint. Is the hue or brilliance of the color different from the main swatch? Do you see more or less paint texture? This completes the application of a test swatch. Go on to the next paint once you have finished. When all swatches are finished, let the sheet thoroughly dry (overnight is best), then proceed with the final two tests: Lightly rub the large swatch, just below the black lines, five times with a cotton swab (Q-Tip) soaked in clear water. Use moderate pressure and rub in a single direction. Blot the wet area dry with a clean paper towel. What to look for: This tests the paint's staining and

lifting behavior. Does the swab remove a small or a large amount of paint? How much color is left unremoved on the paper? Did swabbing seem to drive the paint further into the paper? Did more paint come off when you blotted the paint with the towel? Draw another indelible line over the top of the first test swatch, parallel to black test lines already drawn on the paper. What to look for: This line helps to show how much the paint has masked or changed the black color of the lines on the paper. The degree of difference between the two lines shows the relative opacity of the paint. Photos of four paint swatches, with an explanation of how they are interpreted, are presented at the bottom of this page. I found, by making duplicate swatches, that this method displayed the paint attributes quite reliably. The major sources of error (random variation) will come from variations in your behavior while making the test swatches: in the amount of the test sample squeezed from the tube, in the amount of water used to dilute it, and in the speed and timing of the steps in making the swatches. To reduce these variations, make several practice swatches to decide on the exact methods you want to use, and get familiar with them. If you can make three swatches from the same tube of paint that appear identical to you, you can assume your methods are sufficiently consistent to be trustworthy.
Last revised 08.01.2005 2005 Bruce MacEvoy

doing your own lightfastness tests

The technical specifications, testing equipment and coding schemes that make industry lightfastness tests look difficult shouldn't scare you from doing tests of your own. Testing paints requires no more skill than making a small painting and framing it; all the materials you need are available by mail order and at your local hardware and art stores. The sun provides your testing lamp, and your eye decides when there is a significant change in paint appearance. I realize that it's convenient and reassuring to take paint lightfastness on faith, or on someone else's advice, but once you see your own paints change and fade in a way that simply does not jibe with the ratings published by paint manufacturers or consumer guides, you will never again bother to consult any other source (including this site). You will do your own tests.

paints
a quick & dirty lightfastness test a comprehensive lightfastness test measuring light exposure preparing paint samples ASTM recommended tests testing materials recommended procedure

a quick & dirty lightfastness test

The good news is that a lightfastness test is really easy to do. For the simplest, "quick and dirty" paint test (shown at right), here is all you do: (1) buy (a) one premade art store frame, in size about 10"x12" or so, with glass (not acrylic) glazing and a sturdy backing board, and (b) a sheet of good quality, cold pressed (CP) watercolor paper, preferrably 300GSM weight or heavier to reduce cockling or warping over time (2) cut the sheet of the watercolor paper to fit into the frame (3) brush out equal sized samples of watercolor paints, diluted 1 part paint to 8 parts water, in evenly spaced rows on the paper (4) check the fit of the watercolor paper in the frame, then securely mount the sample sheet to the frame backing

(5) remove the glazing sheet and apply strips of aluminum metallic tape to the inside surface of the glass glazing, spaced so that one half of each paint sample is protected from light (6) mount the samples in the frame under the glass glazing, making sure that the watercolor paper presses firmly against the strips of metal tape, with no gaps that can allow light to leak underneath (7) put the framed samples in an unshaded, south facing window of your home or studio, a window that is not made with UV protective glass, and (8) let sit undisturbed for four months between May and October. When four months have passed, remove the samples from the frame and look for shadows of the aluminum tape mask across the paint samples. Any paint showing a tape shadow is unsuitable for artistic use. This quick and dirty test is sufficient to reveal any problems in your customary materials, and is easy and informative enough to do at least once to ensure the quality of your chosen watercolor brands. There is no "exposure meter" in the form of a blue wool scale, but unless you live in northern Canada or Europe, or your weather inflicts continuous overcast on your sky, four months is more than sufficient to provide a diagnostic dose of light. (One month, usually, is enough to identify bad paints.) You can go about the tests with more rigor, and the procedures are explained below for reference and, dare I hope, actual use. However, the quick and dirty test is sufficient for the basic purpose identifying paints that fade. Do not pretend that testing your paints is something too complicated for you to do.

a quick and dirty paint lightfastness test

a comprehensive lightfastness test

This section presents complete instructions for lightfastness testing using the method that I believe

gives the best overall results for watercolor paints. My method is not exactly the standard (industry accepted) tests described by the American Society for Testing and Materials International, so I present my method in contrast to the ASTM recommended tests and my concerns with them. Before we get to that, I need to explain two important issues, measuring light exposure and preparing paint samples. Finally we get to a list of the required materials for the test and my recommended procedures for conducting lightfastness tests. Measuring Light Exposure. Because sunlight intensity changes dramatically across the spring and fall equinoxes, and clear weather, longer days and more vertical sunlight produce quicker test results, the most effective test interval is between April 15 to September 15. But how do you determine the accumulated energy of light exposure? The first method is to use a sample of alizarin crimson, exposed to light in the same way as the other paints you test (as described below). An obsolete 19th century pigment, alizarin crimson is too impermanent for artistic use, but it does make a useful exposure meter when painted out as a sample paint swatch. OK, but at what dilution? For reasons explained below, I suggest a 1:12 or dilute concentration about 1/4 teaspoon paint dissolved 1 tablespoon water, brushed out with a saturated 1" acrylic flat brush to produce a homogenous color. When this swatch begins to fade, you have reached approximately one half the light exposure that any artist's grade pigment should withstand without visible color change. During the months of April to September in most USA locations, with clear weather, this will happen in four to six weeks. Then expose your test samples for twice the number of days it takes the alizarin crimson tint to fail. If the alizarin begins to fade after six weeks, expose the rest of your samples for 12 weeks. Don't count foggy or heavily overcast days; light overcast or partly cloudy days should be included. Paints that remain unchanged after this period are minimally adequate as art materials. To be really

confident in your materials, they should remain unchanged for four times the alizarin standard that is, four to six months of daily sunlight exposure. The other and better solution is to purchase a blue wool scale designed to measure light exposure. This is especially handy for testing year round, testing across extended periods of variable weather, and testing cumulative indoor light levels (for example, the impact of gallery lighting on art displays). The brilliant blue reference strip is the most fugitive (level 1), the dull, dark reference strip the most permanent (level 8). Golden Paints no longer makes their very handy Lightfastness Test System, but you can still purchase individual blue scales (textile fading cards) from TALAS in New York. The blue scales cost about US$10 each, less in quantities of 10 or more. For instructions on how to perform the blue wool tests, you can buy a reprint of the ASTM's Standard Practice for the Visual Determination of the Lightfastness of Art Materials By the User (D5398-97) for US$25, if you can't find the encyclopedic ASTM standards volumes in your local city or university library. Or you can use the excellent lightfastness test instructions in Mark Gottsegen's painting handbook (pp. 128-31). In general, as soon as a significant change occurs in the exposed area of a blue wool reference, then the light exposure has reached that level of the blue wool scale. All paints that change after that point, but before the next reference changes, have that level of lightfastness. That is, every paint starts with a lightfastness of 1, and remains at 1 even after blue wool reference 1 changes. When reference 2 changes, all paints that have not yet changed acquire a blue wool rating of 2, as do all paints that change before reference 3 changes and so on up the scale. When reference 8 changes the test is complete, and all paints still unchanged receive a rating of 8. (Use this table to translate the blue wool levels into conventional lightfastness ratings.) "A significant change" means an unmistakable, definite discoloration: it must be clearly visible when viewed through a 5mm x 40mm (3/16" x 1-5/8") rectangular window cut in a piece of medium gray card or construction paper. Buy a sheet of medium gray

construction paper or art board and make one of these cards for yourself; you will need it for the tests described later. This window equalizes the visible area of the blue wool scale and paint samples, and reduces the area enough to hide the slight dulling of color that usually occurs before the sample actually fades. Finally, the samples must be viewed under bright indirect (indoor) daylight or under an artificial light source of color temperature between 5000K to 7500K and a CRI of 89 or higher. This essentially means samples must be viewed under four 150 watt tungsten halogen bulbs or a photographer's incandescent flood lamp, or a 200 watt metal halide bulb of 5400K or higher. It explicitly excludes all fluorescent, sodium and mercury lights: these will make some color changes very difficult to see. Preparing Paint Samples. Lightfastness results are greatly affected by the density or thickness of the test sample, the fillers or extenders added to the pigment in the paint, and the paint vehicle. You've already determined the vehicle and the amount of fillers or extenders in the paint by your choice of watercolor paint brands. So the only issue is the required concentration or dilution of the paint used to prepare the test samples. Here I disagree with the ASTM standards, which stipulate (ASTM D5607-99, p.3) a liquid draw down sample over Whatman white filter paper, at a dilution that produces approximately a 40% reflectance in the most absorbing (darkest) part of the paint's reflectance curve. That is, the point of minimum reflectance in the reflectance curve must be about 40%; all other parts of the curve will have an equal or higher reflectance. This gives a homogeneous color at a specific paint density, but in most paints the result is a fairly thin color appearance. How thin? Well, a lamp black paint has a roughly flat reflectance profile at around 5%, so a minimum reflectance of 40% means a total reflectance of 40% across the entire spectrum, which in the reflectance to lightness curve equals a CIELAB lightness of about L*

= 69 (a Munsell value step 7), which is a light gray. We can translate this lightness into an approximate dilution recipe if we consider the paint's value range, which is provided for all watercolor paints in the guide to watercolor pigments. The value range of a black watercolor is around 75, and a lightness of 69 defines a value range of 28, which is roughly 40% of the masstone value range for black. Since black is the darkest paint, we can conclude that every other paint prepared to the same specification must have a lighter value than L* = 70. Inspection of pigment reflectance curves (linked from the spectrum icon in the notes to major pigments in the guide to watercolor pigments) indicates that nearly all paints have a minimum reflectance of 15% or less at some point in the curve. So we can apply the 40% ratio to the value range of a paint to determine the dilution of that paint necessary for a lightfastness sample. However, we are really only interested to prepare an accurate exposure sample of alizarin crimson (PR83). So we first look up its value range across all the watercolor paints tested, which is about 55. Then the light exposure samples described above must have a value range of 22 (that is, 40% of 55), or a CIELAB lightness of about 76. The samples below show these value differences; print the image to compare with the lightness of your own paints.

lightness of lightfastness samples diluted to ASTM specifications

for carbon black (top) and alizarin crimson (bottom) watercolors

Most watercolor painters will have the immediate reaction that these are strongly diluted paints. And while watercolors are used in diluted concentrations, they are also commonly used at nearly full strength. The ASTM standard is not representative of common painting practice. Now the conventional wisdom is that diluted paints are less lightfast than concentrated paints, so measuring the diluted paint is a more rigorous or conservative test of paint permanence. But this is not always true. Some pigments are prone to darken in moderate to thick concentrations and are actually more durable in dilute applications. As I've documented for several common pigments (PBr7, PR101, PR108, PY35, PY42 and PY184), discolorations appear in concentrated samples of paints that appear "totally lightfast" as diluted layers in my own tests. So the better way must be to test paints in both concentrated and diluted samples. Surprises do happen!

Here is how to get the necessary paint variation. Charge a flat acrylic brush in the paint mixture, wick it gently against the side of the paint well, and paint half the length of the test swatch with a single, even stroke of the brush. Partly rinse the brush, shake out excess liquid, then continue the stroke to the full 3" length, using only the water remaining in the brush. The first brushstroke with concentrated paint should vary from a wet masstone to a thinning, nearly dry middle color, while the second stroke with the moist, rinsed brush should dilute the end of the stroke into a tint as light valued as the diluted samples shown above.

When dried, the swatch should have a dense, almost full strength concentration of paint at the "masstone" end, and a tint as light as the samples above at the opposite end. You want the stroke to vary from masstone to tint top to bottom, the paint across its length, but to have even color across its varies from masstone to tint; width at every point. Wick up excess paint with a side to side, the clean, thirsty brush, if necessary, to minimize backruns color is consistent at each or blotching at the "tint" end of the swatch. (See point samples at right.) If this is too difficult, try painting the top third of the swatch in the masstone mixture, then pull the stroke down the rest of the way with a brush moderately charged with clear water. An alternative procedure is the draw down sample. With a brush, prewet the lower half of the swatch area with clear water to a moist to satin wetness, then place a small bead of paint on the paper at the top of the swatch area. Set the edge of a putty knife or large palette knife on the paper just above the bead, hold the blade at a 60 angle to the paper, and press into the paper until the blade is slightly flexed. Then pull the knife sharply down and across the paint bead to the bottom of the swatch area. This smears the paint across the paper in an even, thin coat: the prewetted area should hold more paint to give a darker color. The drawdown method is not good for testing the complete range of paint dilutions, but it is very quick and easy to do, and extremely consistent once you get the hang of it. ASTM Recommended Tests. Once you've prepared paint samples and have a blue wool scale, you can do

two lightfastness test swatches prepared with the "two stroke" method (shown are PY42 and PB15)

an ASTM standard test. Both tests require a viewing card to control visual examination of the paint samples, and samples mounted or framed under glass and light protective strips of aluminum tape, as described for the quick & dirty lightfastness test. There are two versions of the ASTM procedures, one for general use and the other for technical use. First, here is the method recommended for general use by artists:
BLUE WOOL RATING SUMMARY BWS 1-3.0 = "fugitive" BWS 3.1-6.0 = "unsuitable" BWS 6.1-8 = "suitable"

simple lightfastness test procedure

according to ASTM D5398

1. Expose the paint samples continuously, and examine every few days, until the blue wool reference 3, when inspected through a small window in a medium gray viewing card, first shows a visible contrast between the exposed and masked sides of the reference dye. 2. Examine all paint samples through the viewing card, and mark any paint that shows a visible change as "fugitive." 3. Expose further until reference 6 first shows a visible change when viewed through the viewing card. Reevaluate all samples through the viewing window, and assign them a rating of "no change," "small change," "large change" or "bleached white."(1) Evaluation: Paints judged to show no change are suitable for artistic work; paints in all other categories should not be used.
Note: (1) These categories differ from those cited in the table blue wool/astm lightfastness standards.

There is evidently some concern about the validity of the references 1 to 5 on the blue wool scale, because the more rigorous method for using the blue wool scales, as described by the ASTM in their Standard Practice for the Visual Determination of the Lightfastness of Art Materials by Art Technologists (D5383-02(2003)), collapses these references into larger categories and relies on the apparent contrast, rather than the timing of the color changes, to define lightfastness levels. This more rigorous procedure is as follows:

rigorous lightfastness test procedure

according to ASTM D5383

BLUE WOOL RATING SUMMARY unsuitable for art materials BWS 0-2.1 = "V, fugitive" BWS 2.2-5.4 = "IV, inferior" BWS 5.5-6.0 = "III, fair" suitable for art materials BWS 6.1-7.0 = "II, good" BWS 7.1-8.0 = "I, superior"

1. Expose the samples continuously, and examine at regular intervals, until the blue wool reference 6, when inspected through the viewing window, first shows a visible contrast between the exposed and masked sides of the reference dye. 2. When a change appears in reference 6, examine all paint samples through the gray card, while viewing each of the blue wool references 1 to 6 through an identical rectangular window in a second gray card, until you can identify the reference band that shows the same or an equivalent amount of color change as the paint. Assign the paint sample this matching blue wool reference number (1 to 6). If the amount of contrast falls between two blue wool references, assign the paint sample a halfway score. If no change or a very slight change is visible, assign the samples a rating of "6+". 3. Ask two other judges to independently perform the same rating task for all samples. Average the three separate ratings to obtain a final rating. 4. Expose the samples further if desired until reference 7 changes. Reevaluate all samples that were previously given a rating of "6+": assign a "6" to any sample that has changed, and upgrade all unchanged samples to "7+". 5. Expose the samples further if desired until reference 8 changes. Reevaluate all samples given a rating of "7+"; assign a "7" to any sample that has changed, and upgrade all unchanged samples to "8". This is the end of the test. 6. Collapse the averaged ratings into five lightfastness categories, as follows(1): BWS 0 to 2.1 = "V, fugitive"; BWS 2.2 to 5.4 = "IV, inferior"; BWS 5.5 to 6.0 = "III, fair"; BWS 6.1 to 7.0 = "II, good"; BWS 7.1 to 8.0 = "I, superior".

Notes: (1) These categories differ from those cited in the table blue wool/astm lightfastness standards.

Juding the amount of contrast or change in two different colors is somewhat subjective. The ASTM attempts to address this problem by having three individuals with normal color vision separately make these judgments,

then averaging their ratings to obtain the final result. I have less confidence in this approach, because it is in fact difficult to compare the amount of contrast in any light valued yellow or orange paint sample, or any color applied as a tint, with the contrast in the dark valued blue wool references, which are 70 units away from white on the CIELAB L* scale. Another problem is that paints change in different ways across time. There is variety in the color change itself. Most paints seem to fade and become duller in both masstone and tint, but there are many exceptions. Chinese white and convenience paints mixed with it will become whiter and more opaque. Impure synthetic inorganic paints, especially yellow cadmiums, will gray or blacken in masstone but change relatively little in tints. Aureolin grays in masstone and fades in tints. In paints that gray or darken, the color change is in the opposite direction from the blue wool scale. It is much easier to identify the time at which any change first occurs in the paint samples or reference scales. But there is also variety in the rate of change. Durable synthetic organic pigments, such as the quinacridones, pyrroles or dioxazines, will fade very slowly but steadily; others, such as alizarin crimson, will hold strong for a while and then rapidly collapse; still others, such as prussian blue, will show slight fading in the first few days, then remain completely unchanged thereafter. The ASTM method of evaluating visible contrast after a specific exposure time attempts to get around these complications, but consistent visual evaluation of color changes is still difficult to do. The method I used in the 2004 paint tests, and the method I suggest you use too, is to review the samples at regular intervals and note the number of days (weeks) of exposure at which each blue wool reference first begins to fade, as well as the time at which each paint sample begins to fade or darken. When the exposure has reached BWS 6 and higher, you (and two painting colleagues) can make the contrast matching judgments between paints and the blue wool reference strips. Using both time and contrast, you make a better judgment of color change in the paints.

I've omitted several details in the standard specification, including the preparation and mounting of paint samples, as discussed above. For complete information buy the ASTM document. Testing Materials. To prepare and mount the lightfastness samples, you'll need the following materials.

watercolor lightfastness test materials

Be sure to use only 100% cotton, acid free or 100% cotton, pH neutral watercolor sheets, as wood pulp or "alpha cellulose" papers can yellow in sunlight, affecting your judgment of color change in the paints. (See the guide to watercolor papers for more information.) The paint samples must first be mounted on a backing to keep them flat. For a small number of paint samples, commercial art store frames, the preassembled kind with a glass cover sheet, are ideal, if you can find one the right size for the number of paints you want to test, and if you can get one with a glass cover sheet is that is not UV protective. When in doubt, have a frame assembled to spec by a local frame shop, and ask them to use soda lime glass for the glazing sheet. Or repurpose an unused frame from your studio. For a large number of paint samples, either on a very large test sheet or multiple sheets you wish to expose at the same time, it is more convenient to fasten the sheets to a sufficiently large rigid backing of plywood or thick composite board, and cover the board with a single large sheet of acrylic or glass. Again, the supplier should be able to cut the board and cover to your specifications, or even supply you with an appropriate scrap piece. The samples must also be covered with a glazing sheet to protect against dirt and moisture. If possible, use a

cover sheet of 1/8" thick soda lime glass (which transmits nearly all UV radiation) from a local window and mirror shop, or a 3mm thick sheet of Acrylite OP4 (an acrylic formulated to transmit 90% or more of UV light down to 300nm) from a local plastics supplier. Soda lime glass is the preferred cover sheet material, as it allows almost all UV light to pass and is completely rigid. If you must use a large sheet, then acrylic may be safer and easier to handle, though it becomes more opaque to UV light after a few months of exposure. Either way, ask your retailer or supplier to cut the sheet to match the dimensions of your mounting board. Glass is rigid and only needs to be secured around the edges of the backing board, for example by wrapping duct tape around each corner, which can be cut away to inspect the samples. The problem is getting the glass exactly aligned over the samples when you remove it to check the progress of the test. A frame does this reasonably well, but the sheet should be secured with duct tape at opposite corners of the backing, to prevent shifting in the frame. For larger sheets I have used the acrylic cover, as it can be secured with bolts through holes drilled through cover and backing, which ensures an exact alignment every time. Recommended Procedure. Prepare and conduct the lightfastness paint samples as follows: 1. Lay out the complete selection of paints (tubes or pans) you want to test. (To minimize work, you can test only paints you are concerned about, but I recommend you test all the paints you use regularly, regardless of their reported lightfastness. Yes, surprises do happen!) Decide how many test swatches you can fit on a single sheet of watercolor paper, and the number of sheets of paper you need. (It will take you about an hour to make the test swatches for 30 paints.)

2. With your pencil and ruler, draw painting guidelines on the testing sheet(s), spaced to give yourself sufficient room between samples. The painted area should be 1" wide and about 3" long. (I draw lines to indicate the start and end of the swatch strokes down the sheet, and use the width of the 1" acrylic flat brush to keep a constant width down the page.) The samples should be spaced horizontally to keep them from running together; I prefer something around 1/4" to conserve space. 3. With a graphite pencil or indelible pen (such as a Sharpie), write the sample information at the top of each swatch area: the brand name of the paint ("Holbein"), the paint marketing name ("raw sienna"), and the pigment Color Index generic name(s) ("PBr7"). 4. Tape or clip the paper to a painting board if you are using a single sheet, then lay the paper flat on your work table. 5. On an easily washable palette or cookie sheet, squeeze out a small bead of each paint you want to test in a widely spaced line. If you are doing many paints, lay out about 4 to 8 beads at a time. Be sure you put the beads in exactly the same order as they are listed across the sheet! The size of the bead will depend on the highest concentration of paint mixture you want to test: usually, a daub about the size of a large pea or new pencil eraser is sufficient to get a swatch starting at a masstone or viscous concentration. 6. Use a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon to pour a constant quantity of water over each paint sample. (For most brands of paint, 1/4 teaspoon makes a mixture of roughly 1 part paint to 4 parts water, which is about right, but test this dilution on a few paints first to make sure you get the concentration you want.) Then dissolve the bead of paint in the water by brushing it gently around the palette. Make sure you completely dissolve any raw paint gummed into the bristles of the brush. 7. Paint the test swatches on the paper, using the method described above. Be sure you thoroughly rinse the brush between each color of paint. 8. If you have more paints to do, sponge or rinse the
typical layout for a watercolor lightfastness test sheet

sheet clean, towel it dry, and lay down the next set of paint beads, in the order they are labeled on the test sheet. Repeat from step 6. 9. When you have finished all the swatches, set the sheet aside to dry thoroughly, and if needed continue to another sheet from Step 2. 10. Affix the finished test sheet(s) and exposure card to the backing. If you are using a frame, securely tape or staple the sheet(s) to the mounting board. If you are using plywood or other large backing, staple the sheets to the board with heavy duty (poster) staples. Affix the blue wool card or alizarin crimson sample in the same way. 11. Mount the cover sheet over the samples and use the ruler and a grease pencil or erasable pen to draw a line down the center of each row of swatches (that is, in the same direction as the brushstrokes) and down the center of the exposure sample or blue wool card. Remove the sheet, turn it over, and apply a strip of metallic tape to the cover sheet so that the two edges of the tape are aligned with two guide lines (shown at right). (Before peeling away the paper covering the adhesive, trim the width of the tape if necessary to get a close fit.) Apply the tape slowly, pressing firmly to prevent air bubbles or wrinkles. Do this between alternating pairs of guide lines until all swatches and the exposure sample or blue wool card are covered over half their width. 12. Turn the sheet over (taped side down) and place it over the samples. Check the fit of the tape mask over each sample. If you are using a frame, place the sheet and backing in the frame and secure from the back with removable wire brads or glazer's points so that the samples are pressed firmly against the cover sheet. If you are using a large board, you can tape the edges of the sheet to the board with duct tape. If you are using acrylic, drill holes through the sheet and board and secure it with a bolt and wingnut from behind. (You may need additional bolts across the sheet to hold it securely against the samples.)

(above) applying aluminum metal tape to the cover sheet above paint samples and blue wool card, to mask them from light (below) paint samples mounted on plywood under acrylic cover

Finally, wipe the sheet clean with a window or acrylic cleaner to remove the guide lines, fingerprints, dust, etc. 13. For indoor testing, set the test swatches in a south facing window that is not shaded during the day by trees, awnings, buildings or other obstructions. Do not place the samples in a kitchen, bathroom or other source of smoke or hot water vapor: this can cause some paints to dissolve or discolor. Do not set the samples behind a UV protective glass window: this will extend the time required to produce results. Nowadays many moderately priced to high end windows (including your car windows) are made with UV filtering glass to prevent sunbleaching of interior fabrics. Usually, but not always, a manufacturer logo stating this feature is embossed in a corner of the glass. If you are unsure, it may be better to expose the sample outdoors. Exposing samples outdoors will produce more aggressive tests, but requires that the samples be monitored carefully, and brought indoors each evening, to protect them against the effects of dew, rain or snow. The best location will be close to a door of your house. The sheets should be laid at an angle so that they are roughly perpendicular to the sun's rays. For most latitudes a 45 angle is a good compromise. 14. Check the swatches regularly, and less frequently as time goes by: once every 2 days for the first two weeks, then once a week for the next two months, then every two weeks until the test is completed. This will take longer if you expose the samples during periods of foggy, heavily overcast or rainy days, or during months of less intense light (October to March). To look for changes in the exposed paints, you must remove the cover sheet from the backing board (or the samples from the frame) and first examine the exposure sample or blue wool card, as described above. Make the inspection under bright north (indirect) daylight or ample incandescent light rather than fluorescent lights, as these will minimize visible changes in some colors. Hold the sample at a 45 angle
outdoor exposure of about 750 watercolor paint swatches with aluminum metal tape as masking material, Acrylite OP-4 cover sheet bolted in place with rubber seal washers

to the light to eliminate glare. You must view the samples through a 5mm x 40mm (3/16" x 1-5/8") window cut into a large medium gray card or piece of construction paper to make contrast comparisons equal. (Changes you can see in the whole swatch, but not through the window, don't count.) Use the viewing window to examine each paint sample in turn, and look for a visible contrast between the masked and exposed side of the sample. Make a written record of the changes as they occur, noting either the blue wool scale step, or the number of days (weeks) of exposure at which a change first becomes visible. (I write on the sample sheet, so it can be saved as a comparison for future tests.) If possible, expose the paints for at least four months, especially if you can just set them in a convenient window: you've already put a lot of work into making and framing the swatches, so there is no reason not to leave them exposed as long as possible. Anything unchanged after six months or longer is a genuine Hulk among pigments. For pigments rated in the guide to watercolor pigments as having "very good" or "excellent" lightfastness (blue wool scales 6-8), the major hazard to your art is probably not change in the pigments but deterioration of the paper you paint on. Make sure you buy the most stable and durable brands of watercolor paper you can afford specifically, paper labeled 100% cotton, acid free or 100% cotton, pH neutral You can also test papers for lightfastness, too; newsprint, for example, will noticeably darken when exposed to sunlight for a single day. If you discover that a paper discolors during the tests, then switch to a better brand of paper for your work. With suitably prepared samples, these test procedures can also be used for colored pencils, colored papers, pastels and prints. If you have embarked on the process of selling your works as gicle prints (pronounced "zhee-klay"), the inks used in these prints should be tested too. Unfortunately I know of no published lightfastness tests of commercial inks used in gicle printers, so I highly recommend you test them

on your own. The simplest and most accurate method is to sacrifice one of your own prints. Mount the print, or a section from it, in framing masked with parallel strips of the metal tape, along with a blue wool or alizarin crimson exposure card, and expose to sunlight as described above. When the test is completed, any light striping across the print indicates that the inks are not lightfast enough.
Last revised 08.01.2005 2005 Bruce MacEvoy

labeling, lightfastness & toxicity

paints

Paint labeling is probably the least interesting topic on watercolor paints ... like reading the fire tag on a new mattress. Unfortunately, boredom leads to apathy, and apathy leads to ignorance, and it is pigments, paints & "colors" this ignorance that paint manufacturers exploit through the marketing romance marketing hype. Paint labels tell you what your are getting for your money, provided you know the difference between pigments, paints and "colors". If you don't, then marketing gimmicks will take control. Lightfastness testing is certainly important, and the focus of recent consumer paint guides. But the claims of these sources need to be taken with a grain of salt. Most paints sold today are required to carry health warnings, but you'll discover why these warnings often overstate the risks of using watercolor paints. None of this information is hard to understand, and it's important background. Look it over, and absorb what you can. It's here for reference when you need it.
paint ingredient information lightfastness tests lightfastness with a grain of salt artistic responsibility health & environmental issues

pigments, paints & "colors"

The most important point to understand about the names of watercolor paints is the simple difference between pigments and "colors." This distinction is essential to understand if you want to get the right pigments in the watercolor paints you buy. Because most artists have been trained under the "color theory" dogma that paints are just "colors", even knowledgeable artists or authors such as Michael Wilcox, Charles Reid, Susanna Spann, Jim Kosvanec or the late Zoltan Szabo do not always keep the distinction clear between pigments (colored powders), paints (mixtures of pigments and liquid vehicle) and "colors" (the product names given to paints). This results in frequent inaccuracies and outdated information in art instruction books, as

explained in my book reviews. The editors at publishing houses such as Watson-Guptill, North Light or Watercolor Magazine share in the responsibility after all, packaging and distributing information is their business. This confusion is an entrenched habit, abetted by the marketing techniques of art materials manufacturers, but a conscientious effort by artists, authors and publishers can put it in the past. What's in a Name? The diagram below shows that the problem comes down to a single question: what exactly is in this paint? What you actually buy online (or in a store) is, of course, the paint the physical runny substance packed into a little tube. The paint is given a marketing name that allows you to identify it in the paint rack or catalog page. But what you really pay for is the pigment powder, because pigments create the color. Confusion can arise because the marketing name may not tell you anything about the pigment ingredients that are actually in the paint.

the problem with paint marketing names Looking only at the pigment ingredients, watercolor paints come in three basic types: single pigment paints, convenience mixtures, and hue mixtures.

The single pigment paints contain only one pigment, with vehicle and additives, period. A paint with the marketing name cobalt blue contains only one pigment ingredient: cobalt blue (PB28). This is always the preferable formulation for artist's paints. You can directly see the quality (color, saturation, tinting strength) of the pigment, different brands of paint made with the same single pigment are usually very similar, and the lightfastness of the paint is as good as it gets. You know what you are working with. Artists often mix paints to get specific colors that no single pigment matches exactly. This is especially true for pastel or whitened colors, purples, greens and dark valued (near black) colors. Paint makers often premix and package these recipes as convenience mixtures of two or more pigments. So a paint with the marketing name cyanine blue might actually contain the pigments ultramarine blue (PB29) and phthalo blue (PB15). Buying premixed paints is not usually an advantage over buying the pigments as separate paints, because premixed paints can hide flaws in the quality of individual pigments, and because the convenience paints are often modified by the artist anyway. You can just as easily mix the color you want from scratch, using single pigment paints. Paint manufacturers also use mixtures of relatively cheap pigments to match the color appearance of more expensive pigments (usually in "student" paints); or they may use a mixtures of reliable modern pigments to match the color of traditionally popular but fugitive pigments. So a paint with the marketing name cobalt blue might actually be made of ultramarine blue and phthalo blue; a paint named alizarin crimson might actually be made with a quinacridone violet. Many of the traditional "earth" pigments (yellow ochre, raw sienna, raw umber, burnt sienna, burnt umber, PBr7), as well as fugitive pigments (carmine NR4, alizarin crimson PR83, and rose madder NR9), polluting pigments (manganese blue, PB33), expensive pigments (cobalt blue, cadmium yellow, PY35, cadmium red, PR108) and highly toxic historical pigments (vermilion, naples yellow, emerald green) are imitated in this way. These hue mixtures can be quite acceptable color substitutes for the original pigments, but they may suffer the same quality and lightfastness problems as convenience mixtures.

In each of these three cases single pigment, convenience mixture or hue mixture the paint manufacturer is free to give the paint whatever marketing name it deems appropriate. Finally, the generic chemical names of modern synthetic organic pigments can make your eyes bug out. Phthalocyanine, diarylide, isoindolinone, benzimidazolone, anthraquinone, pyrazoloquinazolone, anthrapyrimidine, quinophthalone ... these are technical words that paint manufacturers almost always translate into something less forbidding. In a few cases, paint companies adopt the proprietary pigment trade names hansa yellow, irgazine red, monastal blue which often reliably designate a specific pigment. But in the majority of cases, paint manufacturers simply replace the awkward pigment name with an arbitrary marketing alternative. The most common choices are: the names of historical, fugitive or toxic pigments that are no longer used (mauve, carmine, rose madder, vermilion, bright red, dragon's blood, naples yellow, gamboge, indian yellow, chrome yellow, sap green, emerald green, van dyke brown, sepia, indigo, etc.) outdated labeling conventions peculiar to the art materials market (spectrum yellow, primary yellow or permanent yellow). "Permanent" is especially misleading: it was originally a 19th century paint marketing label that meant "a synthetic organic pigment that is not derived from aniline"; it has never meant "a paint that won't fade". proprietary paint manufacturer names or pigment nicknames (winsor red, blockx red, scheveningen red, australian red, thalo red, azo red) nonspecific color poetry (brilliant orange, vivid orange, translucent orange, warm orange, coral orange). In all cases, again, these names tell you nothing about what is actually in the paint. The crux of the problem is that paint manufacturers can name a paint anything they want. The result? If

the marketing name is all you rely on, it is impossible to tell if two paints with the same name ("cobalt blue") contain the same ingredients, or if two paints with different names ("cobalt blue" and "cyanine blue") contain different ingredients and in every case, you don't know what those ingredients really are.

the marketing romance

There is another layer of marketing that defines the paint manufacturer's trade image or brand style a statement of the company's goals, its ingredient choices and paint manufacturing methods and of course its relationship to you, the purchasing artist. I call this the marketing romance, and it exerts an amazing power over the many compulsive collectors of colored gum among watercolor painters. Nowhere else are exotic marketing names and picturesque stories used more consciously and skillfully than in the Daniel Smith mail catalog or web site. Take for example their "PrimaTek pure, authentic mineral pigment" paints, made (as they claim) from crushed regional rocks. (What exactly is an impure, inauthentic, nonmineral pigment made from crushed rocks?) Here is the tout from the Daniel Smith Summer 2004 mail catalog for a paint made of powdered turquoise: "Many cultures thought an amulet [of turquoise] worn on a horse's bridle protected the horse and rider from a fall. The legends are many. The magic is yours to own. ... The mystic beauty of turquoise has been felt by every culture and its use has crossed national and cultural boundaries. Paint with DANIEL SMITH Natural Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Genuine and catch a piece of its rich and colorful history for yourself. Prepare to be captivated." Set aside the suggestion that you might be painting while riding a horse, and focus on the proposition that you catch a piece of rich and colorful history by purchasing a tube of paint. And ask yourself ... how big is the piece of rich and colorful history that fits into a tube of paint? (And if you get more colorful history, does that mean you get less paint?) Laughably, this kind of marketing gibberish actually

works. People are coaxed to buy these paints because they covet protection, legend, magic, mysticism, tradition, colorful history or captivation ... in short, because they seek a consumer experience. For these amateur artists, buying an amulet in an Indian ersatz souvenir shop, and buying a piece of colorful history, are pretty much the same thing. Most marketers do not attempt to seduce you outright, as Daniel Smith does, but rather to distract your attention or mislead through adjectives that deliver empty claims. These hackneyed romance stories make liberal use of nonsense buzzwords such as genuine, pure, natural, authentic, made by hand, craftsmen, rare, classic, workshop, historical, time honored, original recipe, founded in ("founded in 1664"), handed down for generations, used for centuries and, of course, trusted by professional artists. The nonsense here is that none of these terms have any legal force, nor do they refer to any industry standards or regulated practices. They claim much, but guarantee nothing. You defang this kind of marketing bite by reversing the qualifiers in each case (for example, "impure, inauthentic, nonmineral") or by looking into the technical documentation. Here for example is the "quality guarantee" used for many years by Blockx: "We never use non lightfast pigments and never made second quality range. We want artists confortable with quality question so we make only the best one. We still use stone mills the only ones to reproduce an handmade job. All our colors are made in our workshop in Belgium by specialised craftsmen working under the leading of Jacques Blockx himself" [sic throughout!]. So ask: what is an unspecialised craftsman? ("Paintmaker" does not sound so romantic.) What is a handmade job? All commercial watercolor paints are manufactured in the same way: with ingredients measured by hand into large premixing tubs, thoroughly mixed on three roller milling machines fed and controlled by hand, packed in tubes with hand operated crimping machines, and identified with self adhesive labels applied by hand or with paint information preprinted on the tube. No paint is made by blending pigment and vehicle by hand with a mortar and pestle. And how specifically is paint milled with stone rollers

superior to paint milled with the standard metal rollers (beyond the mere claim that "old ways are better")? And how does the fact that Blockx doesn't make a student (second quality) range of paints create any assurance about the quality of the paints they do make? Finally, as I explain elsewhere, during the many years this guarantee appeared in the Blockx marketing literature, Blockx did in fact use impermanent pigments in several paints (see for example PY1, PR3, PR83 and PR106). Isn't it a more reliable guide to quality that a paint company lies or does not lie to you in its marketing materials? As an example of factual investigation, let's drop by those diligent artisans at Old Holland and see what they have to say about their line of 168 watercolors: "One of the unique characteristics of these watercolours is the unparalleled colour strength (maximum pigmentation). And while this high colour strength requires a slightly different approach on the part of the aquarellist (so little paint is needed from the tube or cup for the desired colour effect that you have to get used to the ratio of paint to diluent), the advantages are clear. It is well-known that Old Holland attaches a handpainted colour strip to its tubes of oil paint and acrylic paint, showing the paint in the tube in question. A different solution was chosen for the watercolours. The labels of the tubes and cups of watercolour do not show the full tone of the paint, but the undertone (a logical choice following on from the technique of watercolour painting). The colours on the labels are screen printed with the watercolour in this undertone, using a screen printing technique developed specially for Old Holland." The unparalleled colour strength referred to is assessed by tinting test. I have personally inspected the comparative tinting tests of several watercolor paint brands conducted by a USA watercolor paint manufacturer, and while Old Holland watercolor paints are not noticeably weaker than other brands, they are certainly not "unparalleled". It's relevant to examine the paint ingredient information to find out what pigments we are getting

at unparalleled colour strength. To do this we must consult the Old Holland web site, and click on individual color swatches for ingredient information. A tedious process, but we discover that their two cobalt violet paints are actually convenience mixtures of three (cobalt violet dark) or four (cobalt violet light) pigments, none of them genuine cobalt violet (PV14 or PV49); that sap green lake extra is formulated with black pigment (PBk7) plus four (!) other pigments; and that a staggering 28 colors (!) contain white pigment (PW4) and that's excluding another 6 shades of white or gray paint! Pause for a minute. Why would watercolor paints be formulated with white or black paint? Added white paint is an acceptable ingredient in oil paints, but is generally something to avoid in watercolors. The realization comes if we browse over to the oil paint section: "Oil paint has a special place at Old Holland. It is the first product we manufactured. ... In 1985, following extensive research, Old Holland presented a revolutionary range of 168 oil paints, each with the highest degree of lightness [sic]." Old Holland makes 168 oil colours and 168 watercolors ... it's obvious what has happened. They purchased pigments and formulated pigment mixtures to create their inaugural line of oil colors, and when it came time to add watercolors to their brand, they just mixed the oil color pigment formulations with some gum arabic and glycerine unparalleled strength of white pigment and all! As a last bit of detective work, we're alerted that something is amiss by the fact that most of the description of the watercolor paints is actually focused on the watercolor paint labels the missing color swatches, in fact. I worked for several years in the printing industry, and I can affirm that there is no screen printing technique "developed specially" for any client. Modern printing technology is highly standardized. But why print color samples that would be much easier to create with fast drying watercolors than with sticky and slow drying acrylic or oil colors? My conjecture is: the painted labels would fade in the retail display rack. After all, 28 of the nonwhite paint colors contain white pigment!

Here is the sleeve magic from Sennelier: "Only the purest pigments are chosen and in the time honored tradition. The pigments are soaked in purified water for 24 hours before cold grinding for maximum consistency and luminosity. The binding solution is composed of hand-picked gum arabic from Senegal and honey from the Alps. The result is intensely deep colors that offer delicate transparencies and the distinctive "satin luminosity" unique to French watercolors." In fact, these are standard manufacturing details described to make them sound special. All modern industrial powdered pigments are shipped in "pure" form, all paint manufacturers premix the paint ingredients before milling; all genuine gum arabic is harvested by hand, etc. A few euphemisms (grinding means milling, binding solution means vehicle) and nonsense claims (honey from the Alps is the same as honey from anywhere else, there is no distinctive "satin luminosity" unique to French watercolors) are thrown in for poetic effect. It's quite a shock, then, to read the brief and factually accurate product claims in a 2005 Utrecht catalog: Made in our Brooklyn plant, Utrecht brand professional Artists' Watercolors rank among the world's finest for their transparency, lightfastness and working properties all at a friendly Utrecht price. Your only defense against marketing romance, refund aside, is to apply common sense to the marketing claims. The easiest way is to put the claim in a different context. Handmade may sound as desirable as homemade, but if you imagine that handmade means some guy with an industrial blender in his garage, and homemade means granny drooled in the batter, then the magic evaporates. Does the fact that Old Holland started making paints in 1664 guarantee the quality of products made by the company today? Answer: no, it doesn't. Is honey from the Alps really a better humectant than honey from Spain or France? Answer: no, it's not. Are traditional manufacturing methods really better than modern methods? Answer: it depends, but typically no, they are not. If you can't explain what the marketing claim means, or

explain why the marketing claim makes a difference to the quality of the gummy stuff in the tube, then you can see the emptiness of the marketing gibberish and you've disarmed the marketing magic. The spell is broken, and you're a free spirit again. Now that's magical!

paint ingredient information

So how do you find out about the pigment in the paint? You find it listed on the paint packaging. After a long period of rampant labeling and marketing abuse, the art materials industry has voluntary adopted the ASTM standards for commercial paint labeling. These require manufacturers to list the paint pigments on the packaging, both as the pigment common name (such as "Dioxazine Violet" or "Cadmium Red") and as the pigment color index generic name, a code that identifies each pigment as a generic chemical compound. (A third identifier, the five to seven digit color index constitution number, is a numerical code assigned to pigments to indicate a specific chemical formulation. This number is occasionally withheld to protect proprietary pigment recipes, and is not part of the ASTM standards.) Color Index Name. The color index naming system is standardized, regulated and disseminated by the Society of Dyers and Colourists, London (UK), in collaboration with the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (USA). The current naming codes for pigments and dyes are available to subscribers as the massive Colour Index International, currently in its 4th (2001) edition. The pigment common name is often a technical chemical name ... something about benzimidazolone, or quinacridone, or quinophthalone, or thioindigoid ... we're no longer in that warm and fuzzy realm of poetic paint names that marketers use to move that product. No matter: the color index name lets you identify pigments without the chemical jargon. It's a simple code, that consists of:

 The letter P to denote a pigment (rather than a dye, D, or a basic dye, B); you will occasionally see N to refer to natural pigments such as cochineal, rose madder, gamboge or lapis lazuli A letter to denote one of ten basic color categories: R for red, O for orange, Y for yellow, G for green, B for blue, V for violet, Br for brown, W for white, Bk for black and M for metallic A number referring to a standard list of pigments within each color category. This number is assigned as a pigment is introduced for commercial use, and may be withdrawn or deleted if the pigment is no longer manufactured. (The symbol "N/A" for "not applicable" is used in the rare cases when a pigment is commercially available but is not included in the pigment list to protect a proprietary formulation.) So PY40 refers to the 40th entry in the list of yellow pigments (aureolin), PO20 to the 20th pigment in the list of oranges (cadmium orange), NR4 refers to the fourth red listed in the natural pigment list (cochineal), and so on. (Numbering is not consecutive, as some pigments or dyes have been deleted over time.) Now, the color index name or constitution number is the most reliable way to identify paint ingredients. To help you learn this color naming system which is very easy to use once you get familiar with it all paints in the guide to watercolor pigments are grouped by color index name. The Color Index and "Color". Unfortunately, the color index name does not identify a consistent paint color, because some chemically equivalent pigments can exist in several forms, each with a different hue. Some of the most important examples: cadmium yellow (PY35) can be anything from a lemon yellow to a near orange, cadmium red (PR108) can range from a scarlet red to a dark maroon, natural iron oxide (PBr7) can be anything from a dull yellow or orange to a brownish black, quinacridone violet (PV19) can be a bright red, dull carmine, bright rose, or dark reddish violet, cobalt turquoise (PB36) can be a cerulean blue or a dull turquoise green, and cobalt titanate green (PG50) can range from a pale bright turquoise to a dull yellowish green.

The color index name and number refer primarily to the chemical composition of the pigment. So color varieties within the same CI name are produced through adustments in the manufacturing methods (especially in the amount of time the pigment is calcinated and in the extent or method of grinding into fine particles) or through variations in the the proportions of pigment ingredients or in the structure of the pigment crystal. Thus, the iron oxide color variations are produced by differences in the amount of added manganese, in the length of the calcination, and in the particle size; the cobalt and cadmium variations are produced by the particle sizes and the proportion of added secondary metals (tin or aluminum for cobalts, selenium for cadmiums); the quinacridone variations by the crystal form and particle size, and so on. Even with these important exceptions, the color index naming system is very useful. A look at some commercially available green paints will show you immediately how the color index names are much superior to the manufacturers' marketing names if you want to find out the actual ingredients and paint colors involved in your paint selection:

what's in a paint name?

marketer's paint name ingredients (color index names) paint color

bamboo green cupric green light winsor green YS bright green sap green sap green hooker's green emerald green emerald green

PG36 PG36 PG36 PG36 PG7+PY150 PG36+PO49 PG36+PO49 PG7+PY175+PW4 PG18

The first four greens are made of exactly the same pigment, and will look almost identical on the paper,

even though they have completely different marketing names. None of these manufacturer labels refers to the pigment's common name (phthalocyanine green), so the labels don't explain what is really in the paints, which might tell you whether or how much their colors or handling attributes differ. The next three greens are mixtures of two pigments: the first two paints have different ingredients even though the marketing names and actual paint colors are the same; the last two paints are made with exactly the same ingredients (in different proportions), yet the marketing names (and paint colors) are different. Again, without the color index names, it would be impossible to sort this out. The last two examples show two paints with the same name. Using the color index name, you find that one is made of three ingredients, the other of a completely different single pigment that almost every other paint manufacturer calls by its common name, viridian. (Vert meraude is the common name for viridian in France.) You also can verify that neither paint contains a speck of the historical pigment emerald green, PG21, the poisonous copper acetoarsenite. "Hue" Paints. To conform to the ASTM labeling standards, manufacturers must also use the designation hue for a paint that is named with a pigment common name but that does not actually contain the pigment. For example, a paint named Manganese Blue must contain the pigment "Manganese Blue, PB33," and if it does not, it must be called Manganese Blue Hue. Every paint manufacturer I know of does not respect the letter of this standard, especially for historical color names carmine, madder, sepia, indigo, van dyke brown, gamboge, emerald green, and any color name with sienna, umber or earth in it. No matter: even in these cases, the color index information will clear up most of the confusion. Finally, the ASTM standards recommend that the packaging show the paint's ASTM or manufacturer lightfastness rating, and federal or state (California) law requires a health warning for pigments that may poison or cause allergic reactions (as described below).

Although paint manufacturers have become more forthright, you cannot depend on paint manufacturers to name paints accurately. With the color index name you cut through the marketing clutter and actually see what you're getting for your money. Always refer to the color index name to be sure of what you are buying, and only choose paints that show the pigment common name and color index name on the tube: "Dioxazine Violet, PV23," "Cadmium Red, PR108," and so on. Pigments listed in the guide to watercolor pigments, in the complete palette, or mentioned elsewhere in this site, always refer to the color index name so you know which pigment is being talked about. If you encounter a paint that does not provide this industry standard information on the paint packaging and in the brochure, you have a simple remedy don't buy it!

lightfastness tests
Lightfastness refers to the chemical stability of a pigment under long exposure to light. As a source of energy, light can cause color and chemical changes in many pigments. These changes can cause the color to whiten, gray, darken, change hue, fade or completely disappear. Permanence or fastness refers to the chemical stability of the pigment in relation to any chemical or environmental factor, including light, heat, water, acids, alkalis, or mold. For example, ultramarine blue is extremely lightfast, but it will fade if brushed with a dilute acid. It may seem obvious that paint pigments should be extremely durable, yet surprisingly the chemical stability of watercolor pigments has been addressed in the USA through independent testing and standardized labeling only since 1984. A Brief History of Lightfastness. Guides to the choice and use of pigments, including a discussion of their relative permanency, have been available to artists at least since the early 15th century, when Cennino Cennini described permanency problems and

recommended stable pigments in his Il Libro Dell'Arte (Book of the Arts, c.1400). Even before that time, painters relied on craft tradition, workshop training and generations of experience with pigment acquisition and manufacture to create lasting paintings in fresco or tempera. By the 16th century, with the advent of oil painting in Italy, pigments were being imported or manufactured expressly for artists; by reputation the finest pigments were sold in Venice and Florence. Painters became less adept at making pigments themselves, but they still had to know how to make paints and how to use them for best results in easel or fresco paintings. The traditional range of artist's pigments slowly began to expand toward the end of the 18th century, as the new science of chemistry and the new industry of chemical manufacture began discovering and producing new synthetic inorganic pigments of iron, copper and cobalt. In addition, new and more complex methods for purifying and laking organic colorants such as madder and carmine created a huge number of new colors. At the same time, commercial colourmen appeared as pigment providers and then paint manufacturers, and artists began buying premade paints. It was in this era that painters largely lost the practice of making paints, and with it a clear understanding of the chemistry of the pigments they used. They began buying manufactured paints, often as new and untested colors. The English chemist George Field published the first scientific study of artist's pigments, Chromatography: A Treatise on Colours and Pigments for the Use of Artists (1835). Field documented that many pigments then in use, especially those made from vegetable matter, were fugitive. In part because of Field's influence, several Victorian artists (including Alfred Hunt and William Holman Hunt) began performing their own permanency tests before using any manufactured paint. After about 1860, new industrial methods were invented for synthesizing organic (carbon based) dyes from coal tar or petroleum, and organic chemistry developed the infrastructure to discover and manufacture hundreds of new pigments. These new colorants stimulated a late 19th century fashion for bright colors in fabrics, clothing, furnishings, and artworks. Artists wanted brilliant pigments in order to appease the rising

demand for dramatically colored paintings, so paint manufacturers began selling paints made with the new chemicals. Unfortunately the lightfastness of these new dyes and pigments was often not scrutinized, and many artists denied or downplayed the permenancy issue. J.M.W. Turner was notoriously unconcerned about the permanence of his materials and methods. One anecdote has it that the paint manufacturer William Winsor chided Turner for buying so many pigments known to be fugitive to which Turner replied: "It's your business to make paints, it's my business to use them." Sir Joshua Reynolds, Vincent Van Gogh and James McNeil Whistler were also maddeningly slipshod in their use of painting materials: several of the Reynolds portraits I have seen in Europe now have a ghastly gray blue appearance because his laked carmine and yellow pigments have entirely faded. The lightfastness issue came to a head in England in the early 1860's, when the art critic John Ruskin was asked by the British National Gallery to develop methods to display and conserve the items in the Turner Bequest. Soon knowledgeable collectors such as Ruskin and the museum curator J.C. Robinson were publicly voicing concerns about the permenancy of many commonly used art materials. Their claim that some watercolor pigments faded if improperly or even routinely displayed was at first hotly disputed. But the debate was put to rest by the Report ... on the Action of Light on Water Colours (1888) by the chemist Walter Russell and the amateur painter Capt. William de W. Abney. Like Field before them, they carefully documented that many watercolors did indeed fade under even moderate exposure to sunlight. Lightfastness Standards. The first attempts to establish objective lightfastness standards appear toward the end of the 1880's, in the report by Abney and Russell, in standards developed by the German Society for Rational Painting Techniques, and in simple paint recipes and lightfastness evaluations published by Winsor & Newton in 1892. In 1907, a committee of artists and manufacturers met in Germany to set industry lightfastness standards, and adopted alizarin crimson (PR83) as a minimum lightfastness standard. Today it is considered to be far below the lowest

standard for artist's materials. Paint manufacturers continued to operate largely independently of these voluntary industry standards in large part because most artists continued to ignore the problem. Some paint brands began using the term "permanent" to convince buyers that their pigments were not as fugitive as the usual coal tar derivatives, but this label was (and still is) a marketing moniker rather than a guarantee. In the USA, the unregulated state of the industry was addressed with paint manufacturing standards proposed in 1938 by Massachusetts artists working in the WPA (a Roosevelt era program of government funded art projects in public buildings across the USA). These were published as voluntary guidelines, for oil paints only, by the new National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in 1942 (revised in 1962). This Paint Standard remained the industry guide for many years. The ASTM and Lightfastness Ratings. The introduction of acrylic binders, and the discovery of many new synthetic organic pigments, led the Artists Equity Association in 1976 to lobby the NBS for new standards. The NBS delegated this task to the American Society for Testing and Materials (the ASTM), the largest independent standards writing body in the world, which sponsored the actual work by a large group of European and American artists and paint manufacturers. This ASTM subcommittee developed testing methods and a classification according to the reaction of the pigment to a standard exposure to light, called a lightfastness test, and published its standards and reports in 1984. These define industry minimum standards for commercial paints the best quality paints should easily exceed them. The Standard Test Methods for Lightfastness of Pigments Used in Artists' Paints (D4303-03) describes the industry accepted standards for conducting lightfastness tests with sunlight, fluorescent lights, a xenon arc fadeometer, cool white fluorescent lamps or fluorescent UV lamps. The Standard Specification for Artists' Watercolor Paints (D5067-99) describes the specific methods for testing diluted watercolor paints on filter papers, and lists the lightfastness test results for several dozen common

watercolor pigments. Only tests actually done on watercolors can guide your pigment selections. Lightfastness ratings of oil or acrylic paints are not a reliable guide to the permanence of watercolors made with the same pigment, because pigments last longer inside the protective coatings of oil or acrylic vehicles than when left bare on paper with an irregular coat of gum arabic. Keep in mind that some watercolor paint manufacturers simply quote the lightfastness test results provided by the pigment manufacturers, who commonly test their pigments in an oil or acrylic dispersion. Blue Wool Test. Most lightfastness tests expose paint samples to abnormally intense light radiation, because this more quickly produces fading or discoloration in impermanent paints. Thus, samples of artist's pigments may be tested by exposure to direct sunlight, even though paintings are normally displayed under much weaker indoor lighting. (Thanks to low latitude sunlight intensity and largely cloudless climate, it is generally accepted that the most rigorous outdoor pigment testing is done at commercial sites in Florida or Arizona, USA.) How much light exposure are we talking about? Direct outdoor sunlight or indirect sunlight in a bright room yields anywhere from 5,000 to 100,000 lux of illumination. This can produce a cumulative radiance exposure (depending on weather) of up to 25 megalux hours annually, which is 30 to 50 times higher than the brightest art gallery illumination.

The problem then is to measure the amount of light exposure the test samples receive. The current solution is the blue wool textile fading card or blue wool scale (at right). This consists of eight strips of wool mounted side by side on a small card; each strip or reference is colored with a blue dye that fades after exposure to a known amount of light. The dyes have been chosen so that each reference takes about two to three times longer to begin fading as the next lower reference in the scale. (Under normal solar testing conditions, reference 1, the least permanent, will begin to fade in 3 hours to 3 days, depending on geographic location, season, cloud cover and humidity; reference 3 will fade in 5 days to 2 weeks; reference 6 in 6 to 16 weeks; and reference 8, the most permanent, in 6 to 15 months.) These scales are used for paint lightfastness testing under international standard ISO 105-B, and are also used by gallery curators to measure the accumulated amount of light received by museum displays of paintings, textiles or photographic prints. To perform the lightfastness test, a blue wool scale is exposed alongside the paint samples. When a reference strip in the scale begins to discolor, all paints that have also begun to discolor at that point but not before are rated as having that level of lightfastness. This procedure provides the blue wool ratings for paint lightfastness commonly cited by paint manufacturers. The problem with solar radiation is that you are at the mercy of weather, season and geographic location. So lightfastness is also measured by exposing paint samples to prolonged artificial light, which produces more accurate and reliable results than sunlight testing. The instrument of choice is a xenon arc fadeometer or weatherometer (brand names vary), which can measure precisely the amount of illuminant energy the sample has received and can be programmed to cycle through alternating periods of light and dark, usually for a total exposure equal to 1000 hours of sunlight exposure. (Filters are used to adjust the xenon light to more closely match the sun's visible spectrum.) The xenon arc method provides an intense light that produces quicker results and with less heat exposure than solar testing. UV fluorescent or halogen lamps, which provide more UV radiation than incandescent lighting, can also be used, and in those tests a blue wool scale is again necessary to measure light

a blue wool scale (top) unexposed; (bottom) exposed to sunlight for 800+ hours

exposure. Through accumulated testing experience and scientific study, the ISO exposure levels are used to estimate the amount of time that a paint will remain visibly unchanged under exposure to natural light under normal display conditions that is, away from a window, under indirect sunlight or moderate incandescent light, and properly framed behind a UV protective glass or acrylic cover. This table gives one version of the eight blue wool lightfastness levels, from 1 (fugitive) to 8 (extremely lightfast), with the amount of light exposure required to produce a color change at each level and the approximate match between the eight blue wool and five ASTM lightfastness categories. (For different and more stringent ASTM standards, see the discussion under doing your own lightfastness tests.)

blue wool / astm lightfastness standards

A B Comments I. Excellent lightfastness. Blue wool 7-8. The pigment will remain unchanged for more than 100 years of light exposure with proper mounting and display. (Suitable for artistic use.) II. Very good lightfastness. Blue wool 6. The pigment will remain unchanged for 50 to 100 years of light exposure with proper mounting and display. (Suitable for artistic use.) III. Fair lightfastness (Impermanent). Blue wool 4-5. The pigment will remain unchanged for 15 to 50 years with proper mounting and display. ("May be satisfactory when used full strength or with extra protection from exposure to light.") IV. Poor lightfastness (Fugitive). Blue wool 2-3. The pigment begins to fade in 2 to 15 years, even with proper mounting and display. (Not suitable for artistic use.) V. Very poor lightfastness (Fugitive). Blue wool 1. The pigment begins to fade in 2 years or less of

8 7

900 300

100

5 4 3 2 1

32 10 3.6 1.3 0.4

light exposure, even with proper mounting and display. (Not suitable for artistic use.) A : Blue wool reference strip B : Megalux hours of exposure before fading becomes noticeable. Exposure to average indirect indoor lighting (120 to 180 lux) for an average 12 hours a day equals from 0.53 to 0.79 megalux hours each year. Sources: Mark Gottsegen, The Painter's Handbook; Karen Colby, "A Suggested Exhibition Policy for Works of Art on Paper" (Journal of the International Institute for Conservation: Canadian Group, 1992).

Other rating systems have been defined on the blue wool levels, including the schemes using three categories developed by Robert Feller and Karen Colby: these lump blue wool 7-8 into a (I) "durable" or "excellent" category, 4-6 into a (II) "intermediate" or "marginal" category, and 1-3 into a (III) "fugitive" or "sensitive" category. These lightfastness levels apply to artworks "under normal conditions of display" in art galleries that is, hung under controlled and reduced light conditions. The typical museum policy permits the display watercolors considered "lightfast" for no more than three months in a period of three years at illumination levels from 150 to as little as 50 lux; "fugitive" historical watercolors may not be displayed at all. When not on display, paintings are stored inside portfolios in dark archive cabinets and are shown only briefly by appointment with a museum curator. Home display is another matter, and here is what the ASTM says on that topic: In a normal home environment these times [required for paints to fade] can be expected to be shorter, especially if the artwork is located near a window, or in direct sunlight or fluorescent illumination, or is located in tropical or subtropical climates. When [the standard ASTM lightfastness test] was conducted in different locations and at different times of year, "Fugitive" materials took from a few days to 2 months to fade, while materials rated "Inferior" and "Fair" took from approximately three months to eighteen months to change color. Materials rated as "Good" showed no color

change when Reference 6 faded but some of these showed a color change before Blue Wool Reference 7 faded. [This passage refers to the lightfastness categories defined in ASTM D5383-02, 9.1.1, which differ from the table above.] However, paints classified in the blue wool category for "fair" lightfastness (III) in my 2004 lightfastness tests began to fade after six weeks of direct daily sunlight exposure during northern California summer and fall months, and all "fugitive" samples faded within two weeks. The ASTM projections seem to me charitable and optimistic. All evidence considered, then, the consensus seems to be that it is best to use pigments rated BWS 7 or 8. In the guide to watercolor pigments I recommend that you do not use any materials rated BWS 6 or lower. Using lightfast paints does not mean that you can ignore the proper mounting and display of watercolor paintings. Mark Gottsegen's painter's manual provides extensive information in the chapter on "Picture Protection," and complete information on lightfastness testing and the ASTM paint standards. You can also order the technical documents I've cited directly from the ASTM web site. The most recent ASTM lightfastness standards for pigments used in watercolors were published in Standard Specification for Artists' Watercolor Paints (D5067-99); that report includes lightfastness ratings for many common watercolor pigments, though it also omits several common pigments and includes a few that no paint company currently uses.

lightfastness with a grain of salt

After this long discussion of paint lightfastness, here is the letdown. As an artist and consumer, you should be skeptical of published lightfastness ratings, whether of the permanency of a generic pigment, or the permanency of a specific brand of watercolor paint. Both manufacturers and some independent paint gurus publish paint lightfastness tests to guide or reassure consumers. But these ratings can be seriously

misleading. They imply that paint lightfastness is a fixed quality, constant over time, that can be measured accurately by a single test of a single tube of paint. This is never the case. The first problem is that pigments do not have a specific, unchanging lightfastness. That is, the various pigment manufacturers who make pigments classified under the same color index name differ significantly in the quality of their raw materials, the efficiency of their manufacturing plant, the quality controls applied to their manufacturing methods, the chemical purity, particle size and laking substrate of their pigment product, and the additives used to stabilize the pigment for storage and transport. To make paints, the different paint manufacturers use these pigments in different concentrations, and add different amounts of extenders or brighteners. All these factors can affect the lightfastness of the paint. This means the same generic pigment can receive very different paint lightfastness ratings, depending on who manufactured the pigment and who manufactured the paint. This variation is especially large across the many synthetic organic pigments. Second, different lightfastness tests can yield conflicting test results, a point the ASTM makes very clear in its testing literature. The effects of moisture or heat are not measured at all by the ASTM tests, but more importantly, concentrated and diluted paint layers will discolor at different rates, as I document for some synthetic iron oxide pigments. And third, large scale lightfastness testing is costly and time consuming. In fact, no paint manufacturer tests all their paints: some manufacturers test some of their paints, but most do not test any paints at all. I believe Daniel Smith is the only manufacturer actually to test their pigment stock, but I do not know how frequently this is done. In most cases, the lightfastness rating on the tube of paint is actually the ASTM rating of the generic pigment, or the pigment manufacturer's lightfastness rating (which may be based on chemical reasoning rather than an actual light exposure test, or a test of the pigment in an acrylic dispersion), or a rating inferred from "common knowledge" or the chemical structure of the generic pigment.

When you realize that all these factors varied pigments, varied tests, different manufacturers, different quality control issues, incomplete testing, "conceptual" pigment ratings are at work in the marketplace, you can appreciate the problem with relying on a single published lightfastness rating. And this problem is significant because paint manufacturers have never tested the specific paints you buy in the store. No manufacturer tests all their paints, some manufacturers test some of their paints; and many never test any of their paints at all. Do the "consumer reports" paint guides, or my guide to watercolor pigments, offer any help? Not really. The current (2001-02) Wilcox guide simply parrots the ASTM or manufacturer ratings, without testing any paints for lightfastness. The Page guide is based on actual paint lightfastness tests (so far as I can determine), though these are not ASTM standard tests and the tests were done years ago. The evaluations in all guides are based on a single tube of paint, although paint manufacturers make hundreds or thousands of tubes of each "color" in a year. All these uncertainties make the published lightfastness ratings in marketing brochures or "consumer reports" paint guides hard to trust. But if you conclude that lightfastness tests are therefore worthless, you're wrong. The tests are important ... but the answer is to do your own lightfastness tests, rather than trust the ratings offered by the manufacturers or paint guides.

artistic responsibility
At this point, anyone reading this who actually works in the art materials industry or an art retail business is rolling on the floor laughing ... What, artists test paints? Ha ha ha, you're dreaming! Artists can't be bothered to test paints! Well, that may be true, but if so it invites a look at the current paint selection practices among watercolor artists, and what effect those may have on art purchasers and on the market price and exhibition

reputation of watercolor paintings. Michael Wilcox has often ridiculed the ethics of paint manufacturers because they market impermanent pigments such as alizarin crimson (PR83), rose madder genuine (NR9) or aureolin (PY40). But what about the artists who buy these paints? After two centuries of accumulated experience, published guidance and painstaking scientific documentation of the issue, artists cannot claim to be ignorant of the problem of paint lightfastness, or claim to be unaware of the many substitutes for fugitive pigments (in particular the quinacridones) available from modern industrial chemistry. As the creators of works that fade, the responsibility for permanency lies entirely with artists. There are publishers who collude in misleading students about these issues. North Light Books, Watson-Guptill and Watercolor magazine regularly publish painting tutorials or artist profiles that tout the use of indisputably impermanent pigments by professional artists such as Paul Jackson, Jeanne Dobie, Charles Reid, Al Stine, Linda Stevens Moyer, Steve Hills or Mel Stabin. Yet even here, as the authors of books or articles that mislead, the primary responsibility rests with the artists. So why do many contemporary painters still use fugitive materials? One problem is, unfortunately, that some paint manufacturers mislead their customers about paint permenancy. As explained above and in my review of Michael Wilcox's paint guide, some paint manufacturers simply quote the pigment manufacturer's assurances, or rely on technical information about the generic pigment, or quote ASTM test results performed on a competitor's product many years ago. Whether this practice is cynical or just negligent is not at issue: the point is that you cannot trust the lightfastness assurances of some watercolor paint manufacturers. And you don't know which manufacturers those are, until you test paints for yourself. Another aspect of this issue is generational. Any survey of watercolor exhibitions, art instructional publications

or retail consumer behavior shows it very clearly: older artists tend to prefer impermanent pigments. Perhaps because these pigments all date from the 19th century and are, therefore, "traditional," this preference is inexplicably turned into a badge of refined artistic standards. Here, for example, is the American watercolorist Eliot O'Hara, writing in 1946: "[Alizarin crimson], although somewhat too violet for a perfect spectrum red, is so good a mixer and so transparent that all but "sticklers" and perfectionists excuse the fact that it is not as completely permanent as several other less useful reds." This was written a decade before the many quinacridone and perylene substitutes became available, but the same glib arrogance is imitated even today. Product demand from these "old masters" sustains the manufacture and marketing of impermanent paints, and models a misguided indifference posing as refinement that younger artists are encouraged to emulate. Shouldn't painters have the right to use whatever materials they choose? Well, obviously! Paint with food dye on latex, if that is your pastime, and enjoy! But artistic preferences become a public concern as soon as artists receive payment for their work. Then it is no longer a question of "exercising artistic freedom," but a question of business ethics. Selling a painting that will fade within a few years, with no warning to the buyer of that fact, can be considered a form of fraud, pure and simple. Artists could easily advise buyers at the time of sale, "This painting [print] is made with one or more pigments that have been found by independent testing to fade after moderate exposure to light," and let buyers decide for themselves, at least forewarned they must mount and hang the work appropriately. Yet most artists who use impermanent pigments say nothing about it to their buyers. Why not? Because the artists deny there is any problem. This denial takes many forms, but the two excuses I've heard most often are I have never seen any problems myself, and the paints I use are lightfast enough. (Lightfast enough for what is never explained.) Usually, these excuses are strung together: I have never seen any problems, so the paints must be lightfast enough. The first claim is certainly naive, if not

cynical (one year framed in the studio or gallery is not ten years on a buyer's wall, and you know that). The second is muddled thinking: see for example Jeanne Dobie's comments on rose madder genuine (NR9). In fact, I know a few watercolor painters who have developed the opinion that I'm not going to be intimidated by the lightfastness police, and one or two others who have told me flat out: once I sell the thing, it's not my worry. A few, candidly, feel they are not getting paid enough anyway for the labor they put in, so the buyer can have no complaints. And I wonder whether these artists are not the most honest, and speak for many others. Which brings me to the primary reason for my concern with this issue: continued use of fugitive pigments by some watercolor painters depresses the price all can command for a fine painting. It poisons market confidence in watercolors and reinforces the entrenched belief among informed buyers and professional curators that watercolor paintings will fade. Not just some paintings, or possibly will fade, or will fade after extreme exposure to light: they fade, dude. This prejudice, in turn, justifies the practice: paintings are gonna fade sooner or later anyway, so why not use whatever paints I want? Amazingly, despite common prejudice and beliefs, watercolors can be more permanent than oil paintings if the artist uses today's lightfast pigments and archival papers. I look forward to the day when a watercolor artist can command $2,000 rather than $200 for a superb full sheet painting, and when watercolors are considered the equal of oils or acrylics in the gallery and museum marketplace. That won't happen as long as talented, ambitious, otherwise responsible artists continue to assert that alizarin crimson or rose madder genuine are "lightfast enough" to clinch that sale.

health & environmental issues

Some artists want to attend to the health or environmental impact of the materials they use, and in a few cases watercolors do present some problems.

Environmental Impact. Environmental impact occurs through mining or raw materials manufacture and the disposal of manufacturing wastes. Unfortunately, though many high quality pigments are manufactured in Europe, Japan and the USA, the environmental consequences of industrial pigment manufacture are increasingly being exported to the Third World (China and India in particular), whose environmental laws and enforcement are of a different kind. This is one reason why pigments can be made there so cheaply. Synthetic inorganic pigments made with cadmium, cobalt, chromium or manganese can generate severe toxic wastes in unregulated manufacture. In most cases, these can be remediated through waste treatment, though these procedures can make pigments such as manganese blue uneconomical to produce. (Paints made with mercury or lead are no longer available in watercolors, though some lead may be present in extremely small amounts as trace impurities in cadmium, zinc or nickel paints.) I know of no way at present to find out whether pigments are manufactured in an environmentally friendly way, because (for proprietary reasons) paint manufacturers do not disclose where they buy their pigments, and there is no easy way to obtain trustworthy environmental impact statements from specific pigment manufacturers in, say, China. Painters have no effective control over these upstream environmental impacts. Your control begins at the time you purchase and use the paint. When disposed of by washing down the sink, paints made with cadmium, chromium, copper, cobalt or nickel (nickel azo yellow, PY150, and nickel dioxine yellow, PY153) are hazards in untreated waste water for example, the leach field to your septic tank. The cumulative impact depends on how much paint you use, and for how long, but the State of California assures me there has never been a site ruled to be polluted because of the use of watercolor paints. Toxicity Warnings. The same gang of synthetic inorganic paints raises health issues, too. But these need to be put in perspective. An artist's life in olden times was genuinely risky. Pigments such as mercuric

sulfide, lead oxide or emerald green (originally made with arsenic) were toxic to manufacture and toxic to use and toxic meant it could kill you. Most painters lived through these dangers, however, so even starving artists were sufficiently forewarned not to eat their paints for dinner. Today, paint health labeling standards for products sold in the United States follow the guidelines set down by the ASTM: "Conforms to ASTM D4236" means the paint packaging or label provides health information as recommended by the ASTM technical report Standard Practice for Labeling Art Materials for Chronic Health Hazards (D4236-94(2001)). (Some states, such as California, may require additional labeling.) These ASTM guidelines require paints to be labeled toxic, or potential health hazards, if "in the opinion of a toxicologist" the pigment in the paint might produce "a chronic adverse health effect" as a result of any "reasonable foreseeable use or misuse" of the paints. For one interpretation of these standards applied to artist's pigments, see the excellent summary posted by the City of Tucson Environmental Management Division. These guidelines do not specify what a "chronic health effect" is, or how serious it must be to qualify as "adverse", nor what a "foreseeable misuse" might be. They do not specify the type of proof necessary to form the toxicologist's opinion, nor the methods used to determine toxicity, nor the level and duration of exposure necessary to produce a toxic effect, nor in what proportion of the total population the toxic effect would occur, nor how serious the potential toxic effect would be. In practice, then, the chain of definitions and logic connecting "opinion," "adverse," "forseeable misuse" and "toxic exposure" means paints may be slapped with a toxic label if they can produce any potential adverse health effects whatsoever as a result of any imaginable use by any ignorant painter or unsupervised child. That is a very broad brush. In fact, with very few exceptions, art materials manufacturers have abandoned the use of extremely toxic pigments, notably all pigments containing lead,

strontium or mercury, and have curtailed the use of most remotely toxic pigments including heavy metals such as nickel or cadmium. Risk Assessment. The toxic effects of watercolor pigments arise from inhaling the pigment as a powder, dust, mist or vapor (when the paint is applied with a spray gun or heated on a stove); by swallowing the paint, or by skin contact with the paint through ignorance or sloppy working habits. In other words, the toxic effects of pigments depend almost entirely on your painting methods. Risk from Inhaling. Pigments are most often inhaled when used in pastel chalks, or when the artist is working with raw pigment to prepare watercolor paints by hand, or when the paint is heated over a stove or as it dries with a high temperature air gun. Nearly all artists buy their paints prepackaged in tubes or pans, so the hand manufacture of paints is not a significant source of risk. If you do use raw pigment for any reason, you should wear a face mask or filtering respirator mask while you handle the pigment and while you clean up after work. Finally, watercolor paints are rarely sprayed on. Overall, then, the inhalation hazards from painting in watercolors with a brush or similar implements are close to nonexistent. Risk from Ingestion. The principal risk with watercolor paints arises from swallowing them, and this most often happens when brushes are "pointed" or shaped with the lips or mouth while still wet with a toxic pigment. (You can also get an accidental mouthful from a burst tube while trying to unscrew a stuck cap with your teeth.) You should never put a brush in your mouth for any reason: use a paper or cloth towel to blot away excess water or shape the bristles. (I just snap the wet brush over the floor, which does both at once instantly.) To be toxic in "foreseeable use or misuse," the exposure must extend over months or years, and must be to the most toxic (water soluble cadmium, lead chromate or cobalt arsenite) pigments. You can also be poisoned by eating the paints, but you literally must consume one or more tubes of paint to merit a doctor's attention.

The other risk is that children may be led by the lovely color of the paints to eat them, or pets may try them for a snack. Even when ingested, the cadmium or cobalt paints might make a child sick after a single dose, but they are not toxic enough to permanently harm or kill the victim. Risk from Skin Contact. A third "hazard" is that the pigment may cause skin irritation in some people. I have never encountered anyone to whom this has happened, or even anyone who knew of someone to whom it happened, but it is possible. Unless your reaction is immediate and strong, you may develop a skin condition slowly and not notice it at first. If any redness or tenderness develops on your skin within a day or two after using paints, consult a dermatologist for diagnosis. If you are sensitive to the copper, nickel, manganese or cobalt in paints, then you should take special precautions not to get the pigments on your hands or choose alternative pigments for the same color. I personally know two artists, both female, who suffered acute and painful skin reactions on their hands through the use of acrylic or oil paints, but in both cases the reaction seems to have been caused by the paint resin vehicle and solvents, not by the pigments. Used and disposed of properly, nearly all pigments used in modern watercolor paints have no toxic consequences whatsoever. For example, since the 1950's there has never been a recorded death due to ingestion of the cadmium pigment used in watercolor paints. Gottsegen puts it this way: "The hazards of cadmium pigments have been overstated in some published accounts, but do not ignore them." As a category of consumer products, watercolor paints are far safer than house paints, soaps, oven cleaners, solvents, bleaches, fuels, new carpets, pesticides or some foods (such as shellfish) not to mention oil paint solvents and acrylic resins. That said, watercolors should always be handled with reasonable care and applied with appropriate techniques. They should be kept out of the reach or unsupervised use of children.

Watch that cat, too.

Last revised 08.01.2005 2005 Bruce MacEvoy

watercolor brands
This page presents my observations on the brand standards and brand styles of commercial watercolor paints. My approach was to sample widely from "artists' quality" paints focusing on the watercolor brands most commonly offered by retailers, recommended in art instruction books, used by professional artists, or claiming an unusual brand style. I sampled mostly single pigment paints from different paint brands, to get a sense for the variations in a pigment's quality and handling characteristics across manufacturers. I emailed or spoke with each manufacturer for technical information about their products, and compared this information to their marketing claims. Along the way, I developed definite opinions about the quality of products and documentation offered by each company. I've put those comments here, separate from the guide to watercolor pigments where the focus is on the attributes of watercolor pigments. Art Spectrum Blockx Daler-Rowney Daniel Smith Da Vinci Holbein Kremer Lukas Maimeri M. Graham & Co. Old Holland Rembrandt Robert Doak & Associates Schmincke Sennelier

paints

Utrecht White Nights / St. Petersburg Winsor & Newton My reviews are based on extensive product sampling and testing conducted throughout 1999-2000, with annual updates and quality checks since then, and a complete retesting for lightfastness in 2004. All watercolor paint brands are compared on the following brand quality criteria: the number and balanced distribution of "colors" around the color wheel, the paint color appearance (lightness, chroma, hue, texture), the proportion of paint "colors" made with lightfast (as opposed to impermanent or fugitive) pigments, paint handling attributes (transparency, staining, tinting strength or pigment concentration, and activity wet in wet), vehicle formulation and paint consistency, presence of fillers/brighteners (assessed by microscopic analysis), the proportion of single pigment formulations (as opposed to "convenience" mixtures of two or more pigments), the quality and functional convenience of the paint packaging, the accuracy of manufacturer technical information (specifically regarding pigment ingredients and paint lightfastness), the clarity and accuracy of paint marketing names, the presence of ingredient and lightfastness information on paint labels, and the paints' average unit price. Paint Guides. My reviews, and the pigment information found in the guide to watercolor pigments, cannot be relied upon to provide accurate and up to date consumer information about the painting materials currently available for your purchase. Like The Wilcox Guide to Watercolor Paints or Hilary Page's Guide to Watercolor Paints, my reviews are based on an absurdly limited sample of a paint brand's total manufacturing output, and a brand can change its paint formulations in unpredictable ways, at any time, and without notice. I hope to clarify just three essential points: (1) the fundamentals of paint attributes and paint

evaluation; (2) examples of the business issues that affect paint quality and the marketing information available to you, the artist; and (3) the importance of doing your own lightfastness tests and paint tests. "Professional" and "Student" Paints. Some watercolor manufacturers, including DalerRowney, Da Vinci, Lukas, Maimeri, Rembrandt and Winsor & Newton, offer two lines of watercolor paints a "professional" or higher quality line, and a "student" line that is typically less expensive and comes in a smaller color selection and tube size. Because most painting instructors advise students to buy the best quality paints, and my interest was to examine pigments in the purest, highest quality form available, I have not evaluated any "student" paints for these reviews. There are no industry or market standards for the use of the terms "professional" and "student" they are part of the marketing romance and nothing more. All that can be said is that a single manufacturer's "student" line is likely to be of lower quality, and therefore less expensive, than the same manufacturer's "professional" line. This cost difference is usually achieved by using less pigment or a lower grade of pigment, "hue" or substitution mixtures for expensive pigments, more dispersant (to reduce milling time), and the addition of brighteners or fillers. As a rule of thumb, the "professional" paints made by some watercolor manufacturers can be of lower quality and less desirable than the "student" paints by the most reputable brands. Price is no indication of product quality. My advice: always buy the "professional" line and focus on value for your money: the tinting strength and lightfastness of the paints, the packaging quality, and the color appearance. Pigment Suppliers. Art materials manufacturers have to cope with continuous downward price pressures and business uncertainties, with profit driven acquisitions and unannounced product changes likely to accelerate over the next decade. Out of competitive necessity,

many art brands, including Winsor & Newton, are turning to India and/or China for both pigment stocks and paint manufacture. In many cases the reduced costs available from these new suppliers is due to government subsidies, lower labor costs, and lax environmental regulations, not reduced product quality ... but then, one never knows for sure. As always, I strongly urge you to make regular product quality evaluations of your own, especially for paint tinting strength and lightfastness.

Art Spectrum (reviewed August, 2002) - 66 colors, 64% of them single pigment paints. An Australian art materials company founded in 1966, Art Spectrum makes a single "Artists' Water Colour" professional line. These watercolors were among the most expensive in the USA, comparable to Winsor & Newton, Old Holland or Blockx in cost, but have come down in price. The paints are relatively inert wet in wet, so you can paint into or against moist areas without fear of bleeds or backruns, and they stain lightly, making them easy to edit as you paint. The color spectrum is well balanced, the earth pigments are nicely contrasted; the paints produce pretty mixtures and pleasing color relationships seem to happen by themselves. Lightfast pigments are used throughout. However, the quinacridones and phthalos are measurably lighter valued than in other brands, making rich darks harder to achieve, and the quinacridones are dull and not completely transparent, clouded with a whitish additive. Paint consistencies are wildly uneven: the chromium oxide and cadmium orange were so runny they literally poured from the tube; the manganese violet, viridian and cobalt turquoise (cobalt teal blue) were stiff and dried out; the aureolin spewed when opened because the paint had expanded after packaging. These problems occur because the vehicle formulations were not adjusted to different types of pigments, and/or the pigments were not allowed sufficient aging time to stabilize with the vehicle before or after milling. Several mineral paints form a whitish bronze in masstone, and microscopic analysis of draw down samples reveals a moderate load of fillers/brighteners. The paints look best when used close to full strength, but this means you go through a tube of paint pretty quickly helped along by the annoyingly large air bubbles I found in several

tubes. The tubes are sturdy white metal, with a wide cap and average sized mouth; dry pan paints are not available, but most paints set up well in pans. In the USA, Art Spectrum paints are only available in a 10ml size, which inflates the unit cost of the paint. All things considered, the price seems unjustified in comparison to competing brands: with M. Graham, Da Vinci or Daniel Smith you get better quality, for a better price. Finally, the lightfastness of the Art Spectrum paints is excellent and accurately reported. I tested all the single pigment paints Art Spectrum makes. (Paint line minimally documented by manufacturer; the spec sheet emailed to me contained several errors. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is poor: meaningless marketing monikers such as "permanent," "spectrum" or "australian" clutter the names of over 20 paints, and the term "hue" is not used for imitation colors the rose madder and thio violet are made with quinacridone. Tube ingredient information shows pigment common name, color index generic name, lightfastness rating, and health warning as appropriate. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Pearl Paint was $0.65, and average unit cadmium price was $0.84, a decrease of 10% since 2004.)

Blockx (reviewed February, 2008) - 72 colors, 82% of them single pigment paints. Made by a venerable Belgian paint company, Blockx (pronounced "blocks") watercolors are, in the USA at least, the most expensive brand you can buy. One of the smaller watercolor lines, Blockx inorganic paints tend to have a larger particle size than other brands, which gives Blockx viridian ("emerald green"), cobalt violet and some "earth" (iron oxide) paints a distinctively assertive granular texture on paper. Aside from these gems, however, Blockx paints seem to me conventional as a series. Compared to other brands tested in 1999, the phthalos and earth colors were duller, the cadmiums duller and more opaque, and some of the synthetic organic colors (Blockx red, Blockx yellow) were made of inexpensive or less lightfast pigments; their synthetic organic range was extremely limited (no quinacridones!). The new line, launched in 2008, adds many of the now standard pigments, including pyrrole orange, quinacridone red, quinacridone magenta, cobalt turquoise and a delightfully varied selection of 16 "earth" (iron oxide)

paints. Paints are packaged in sturdy black metal tubes, now in only one formulation the usual gum arabic vehicle with a small quantity of honey humectant. The vehicle has a smooth and fluid consistency, and I found vehicle separation was common in the granulating synthetic inorganic pigments. The previous double vehicle formlation (with or without the honey humectant) often failed as dry pan colors: the white cap cadmium paints dried into a rock hard block of resin; the honey rich (black cap) paints remained viscous even after twelve months of curing. (Blockx now makes dry pan colors in half pans, whole pans, and in enormous 3 inch tubs, available from Jerry's Artarama.) The manufacturer paint documentation has also substantially improved: formerly the pigment listed for Blockx yellow was "permanent organic pigment" (uh ... so which one of the 92 currently available synthetic organic yellow pigments might that be?) but now the pigment name and generic color index name are disclosed. This guide pointed out in 1999 that the Blockx signature marketing slogan I guarantee maximum stability against light of all my shades ... signed, Jacques Blockx and the claim that Blockx does not and never has prepared transient or unstable shades were both false: Blockx offered five watercolor alizarin lake formulations (all fugitive!), the impermanent Blockx red (PR3) and Blockx yellow (PY1), and their US$31 genuine vermilion (PR106), which promptly turned a scabby brown on exposure to light. All these paints, highlighted as impermanent in my 2004 lightfastness tests, are now gone. But I am still wary of a company whose quality standards and marketing accuracy were quite different just a few years ago. I tested about half the paints Blockx makes. Only certain colors recommended. (Paint line adequately documented by manufacturer. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is fair. Tube ingredient information lists pigment name and generic color index name. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Art Supply Warehouse was $0.91, and average unit cadmium price was $1.27, an increase of 18% since 2004.) [Note added November, 2009] Jacques Blockx has emailed to me on three separate occasions, stating "painters astonished by your comments asked me the truth" and complaining about my "false comments about our paints". In my replies I have requested he identify the false information and even have sent him,

in both English and in French translation, the text on this site that refers to his paints. However M. Blockx has refused to state which information is false or what comments have astonished painters. In fairness I record his objection here, and encourage interested painters to contact him directly for the clarification he declines to provide to me.

Daler-Rowney (reviewed May, 2000) - 80 colors, 66% of them single pigment paints. The student grade is marketed under the trademark "Georgian," the artists' quality (reviewed here) under "Artists'." The Rowney art products company has been making watercolor paints in England since 1783; in 1983 it merged with the Daler Board Company to form DalerRowney Limited (Daler is pronounced "dayler"), and opened USA distribution offices in 1988. In March, 2000 the company revamped and significantly expanded its watercolor line with the aim to improve the quality, color and lightfastness of ingredients. I have not used the old paints but am not much impressed with the new ones. Paint consistency varies from buttery to syrupy, depending on pigment; most dissolve moderately quickly and are well milled, although I found vehicle separation or air bubbles in several paints, especially the cadmiums and cobalts, and in other paints after a year or two on the shelf. The paints tend to stain more aggressively than other brands, and several colors have weaker tinting strength than usual (dioxazine violet, ultramarine blue, phthalo greens and quinacridone rose). The Rowney selection of single pigment hues differs from other manufacturers' lines, with uneven results. A few of the single pigment colors, such as warm orange (pyrrole orange, PO73), cobalt blue deep (PB72) or indian yellow (nickel dioxine yellow, PY153) are quite beautiful. But the cobalt turquoises (three in all) are unusually dull, the cobalt blue has a dark greenish cast, and several colors lighten and hue shift substantially as they dry, making finished mixtures hard to judge. The paints consistently present a subtle visual texture (almost like garnet paper) in granulating pigments (excepting the cobalts violet and green, which have coarse granulation) and slightly darker colors, and the vehicle often contains too much gum arabic, causing colors to blossom as they dry or glaze unevenly. My microscopic analysis of draw down samples, and the

cloudiness of paints in diluted tinting tests, confirms that the paints are formulated with a heavy load of fillers and weak brighteners which don't do much to goose up the colors. Tubes are made of sturdy metal with a very sturdy black cap that seats firmly and unscrews easily without sticking. Most colors are available as whole, half and quarter pan paints (in the hard English style), and in a wide range of pan box sets; the tube paints also set up nicely in pans. Finally, I found several Daler Rowney paints with significant lightfastness problems (especially in the convenience greens) and this fact is not accurately reported in the marketing brochure. Overall, a second tier brand in price and pigment quality. I tested every paint in the Rowney Artists' line. Only certain colors recommended. (Paint line well documented by manufacturer, though in need of updating. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is fair: the term "permanent" and evocative but uninterpretable names such as warm orange or bright green are used too often, but "hue" is used consistently. Some tube ingredient information shows the pigment common name, color index generic name, and lightfastness rating; others show only a lightfastness rating. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Cheap Joe's was $0.64, and average unit cadmium price was $0.88, an increase of 47% since 2004.)

Daniel Smith (reviewed April, 2005) - 199 (and still counting!) colors (with 19 "authentic mineral" and 47 interference, pearlescent or metallic colors), 86% of them single pigment paints. Made in Washington (USA) under the trademark Extra Fine, available only through Daniel Smith's catalog, online or retail store channels, these are high quality watercolors, esteemed by many artists (including me) as equal or superior to any other brand. The Daniel Smith brand style includes dense pigment formulations and a broad but discerning selection of modern synthetic organic pigments. Their quinacridone range is still the largest of any manufacturer (and without the color duplication one finds in Art Spectrum or Da Vinci), and they offer an extensive selection of blue, red violet and "earth" or iron oxide pigments. They've also innovated with a wide selection of interference (iridescent, pearlescent, duotone) colors, several metallic paints, and a large selection of PrimaTek mineral pigments, including

lapis lazuli, azurite, amazonite and malachite. They also offer a few antiquated pigments such as rose madder genuine or bohemian green earth (terre verte) that I find consistently dull and weakly tinting. DS now offers more watercolor paint "colors" than any other paint company in the local universe, all gathered by Daniel Smith's paint chemist Ron Harmon with the same enthusiasm that an entomologist collects rare butterflies. To put this selection on best display, DS is one of the few brands (with Kremer, M. Graham and Utrecht) to emphasize single pigment paint formulations, a plus for lightfastness, color intensity and mixing range. Most of the paints are made with high quality pigments and milled to a buttery or syrupy consistency; I rarely encounter vehicle separation or air bubbles in DS paints. The paints are typically more staining and more active wet in wet than other brands; they are also darker valued than equivalent paints by Winsor & Newton, Holbein or MaimeriBlu; but for many of the pigments nickel azomethine yellow (PY150), nickel dioxine yellow (PY153), isoindolinone yellow (PY110), perinone orange (PO43), pyrrole orange (PO73), perylene maroon (PR179), pyrrole carmine (PR264), dioxazine violet (PV23), indanthrone blue (PB60) or phthalo blue RS (PB15:6) the effect is very attractive and provides both a larger color range and clear, glowing tints. Microscopic analysis suggests that the paints contain little fillers or brighteners. Paints sometimes take a little longer than usual to dissolve in water (especially the "earth" colors). The tubes are sturdy black metal, with a small cap and mouth, and the caps rarely stick though they easily balk if not aligned exactly. Dry pan paints are not available, but the tube paints set up well in pans, though most shrink substantially (up to half their wet volume) on the first pour (I find that three pours are usually required to fill a pan). No artist should venture into a Daniel Smith catalog or web site without understanding the differences among pigments, paints and "colors" and with an incantation to ward off marketing romance. But DS publishes many useful "InkSmith" technical documents, including a cook's tour of their watercolor paints and a CIELAB paint color map (titled "The Study of Color"). Finally, the overall lightfastness of the Daniel Smith line is exceptionally good, and their lightfastness ratings consistently match the results of my own tests (they have their own in house fadeometer). Overall, these are exceptionally attractive and reliable products.

I tested all the paints Daniel Smith makes, including a few discontinued colors. (Paint line well documented by manufacturer: the Daniel Smith web site provides pigment ingredient information on the watercolor paint page click on the icon for "show pigment info". The accuracy and clarity of paint names is good overall, but there is a creeping preference for the uninterpretable or misleading moonglow, bordeaux, carmine, potter's pink, undersea green, sedona genuine, cobalt blue violet, etc. Tube ingredient information shows pigment common name, color index generic name, color index number, lightfastness rating, vehicle. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Daniel Smith was $0.60, and average unit cadmium price was $0.83, an increase of 7% since 2004.) Note added Jan. 2012: The Daniel Smith company is no longer owned or managed by Daniel Smith; his appearances in the marketing materials are of the 'Col. Sanders' and 'Betty Crocker' type, and his catalog letters are written by marketing staff. I have not bought paints from the company for several years, so the evaluation above may no longer be accurate.

Da Vinci (reviewed October, 2009) - 106 colors, including 6 iridescent colors, 67% of them single pigment paints; the entire line is available in 15 ml. and 37 ml. tubes. Made in California (USA), Da Vinci paints are sold under the Da Vinci label ("Professional," reviewed here, and the student label "Scuola"), and as manufactured for other brands, including the Michael Wilcox "School of Colour", Gary Spetz watercolors and Cheap Joe's "American Journey" paints. The entire line was reformulated and substantially improved in 2005; and again in 2008 to improve the rewetting properties of the paints when squeezed out and dried as dry pan paints. The Da Vinci brand style strives for bright color, homogeneous consistency and value at a low price. The paints have a uniformly smooth, syrupy texture across all pigments; they dissolve promptly in water. The paints tend to stay where they are put (diffusion wet in wet is subdued), they resist backruns when they are rewetted, and they are rather difficult to lift once they have dried. I also encountered large air bubbles in several of the tube paints tested. Though the "earth" (iron oxide) paints are lovely and well contrasted, the

hue spacing of the enlarged color spectrum is not optimal (especially in the orange to magenta range, including three very similar cadmium reds and similar dark quinacridones). The latest brand revision has added many single pigment paints recommended in my previous review, including nickel azomethine (PY150), pyrrole orange (PO73), pyrrole red (PR254), dioxazine violet (PV23), indanthrone blue (PB60), phthalo turquoise (PB16), cobalt teal blue (PG50) and copper azomethine (green gold, PY129). The paints produce clear, saturated or dark color when mixed at optimal concentration, but I found some pigments (viridian, the cadmiums) used up more quickly than they do other brands, and appeared weaker in tinting tests. My microscopic analysis of draw down samples indicated very little transparent crystal content. Although I have not tested the new line for lightfastness, the lightfastness of previous Da Vinci paints was excellent and appears to be accurately reported in their technical literature. Overall this brand delivers consistent value for the money and is a pleasure to use. I tested only a limited sample of the 2005 Da Vinci paints, but received from the manufacturer paintouts of the entire line. (Paint line is well documented by manufacturer. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is only fair, due to antiquated "hue" marketing names (alizarin, bright red, emerald green, naples yellow, vermilion, gamboge, indian yellow, rose dor, rose madder, indigo etc.). Tube ingredient information shows pigment common name, color index generic name, lightfastness rating, vehicle. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Cheap Joe's was $0.39, and average unit cadmium price was $0.47, an increase of 11% since 2004.)

Holbein (reviewed June, 1999) - 106 colors (and 2 metallic colors), 52% of them single pigment paints, available in 5ml. and 15ml. tubes. Holbein is a Japanese manufacturer of good quality, moderately priced watercolors, formulated according to the company's somewhat maverick paint philosophy. The company claims that no ox gall is used to mill the paints (which may only mean that synthetic surfactants have been used instead), but these paints are certainly among the least active wet in wet that I have tried. Holbein is eclectic in its choice of pigments and manufactures some superb single pigment colors, particularly for

granulating natural inorganics, the natural earths, and several synthetic organics, but unfortunately Holbein is also not especially discriminating, as the line includes several fugitive pigments not clearly identified as such in the technical documentation. Many colors the cadmiums and cobalts in particular are among the brightest of their kind and granulate more expressively than other brands, but the paints are also among the least concentrated when put through a tinting test, and microscopic analysis reveals that some colors contain a moderate load of fillers or brighteners. Paint consistencies are uniformly finely milled, thick and buttery (indicating the use of dextrin), and dissolve easily. Holbein paints overall are among the most saturated, most transparent and least staining of the brands listed here. Unfortunately, half the colors are convenience mixtures of varying utility. Some of these opera, permanent yellow deep, cadmium green #1, jaune brilliant #2 are the secret vices of many professional artists. The line has been revised recently, primarily by discontinuing a few costly or polluting pigments (such as manganese blue, PB33) and adding some stunning but typically fugitive "brilliant" colors made with basic dyes of poor lightfastness. These are intended for commerical (repro) art, but are worth trying if you don't feel lightfastness anxiety and get a buzz from dazzling color. The tubes are sturdy white metal, stocky and with a wider mouth than most. Dried pan paints are not available, but the colors set up nicely when poured from the tube. Finally, according to my 2004 tests the lightfastness of Holbein paints is only fair, with several fugitive or impermanent colors in the line and paint lightfastness not accurately reported in every case. I tested about half the paints Holbein makes. (Paint line adequately documented by manufacturer. The accuracy of paint names is poor: Holbein does not use "hue" to indicate substitute pigments, and relies too much on evocative but confusing names such as "permanent" (permanent what?), bamboo green (phthalo green yellow shade), cherry red (quinacridone red), and historical names such as carmine or rose madder (both actually made with alizarin crimson). Tube ingredient information shows color index generic name and manufacturer lightfastness rating. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Cheap Joe's was $0.64, and average unit cadmium price was $0.87, a decrease of -5% since 2004.)

Kremer Pan Watercolors (reviewed May 2005; updated May 2009) - 47 traditional and modern colors, all single pigment paints, and 17 pearlescent colors. In 2005 Kremer Pigments, long a source of powdered pigments and paint binders to the trade, launched their own line of watercolor pan paints, made in Germany. These are compounded from a selection of Kremer's stock pigments (the same as used by the more famous commercial brands) and a handmade gum binder developed by Carol Gillott (a painter who also authors the whimsical Paris Breakfasts blog). The 14 color set I purchased included whole pans of benzimida yellow (PY154), anthrapyrimidine yellow (PY108), titanium nickel oxide (PBr24), pyrrole red (PR254), pyrrole carmine (PR264), cobalt blue dark (PB28), cerulean blue (PB35), cobalt teal blue (PB36), phthalo green BS (PG7), chromium oxide green (PG17), venetian red (PR101), italian burnt sienna (PBr7), italian raw sienna (PBr7) and cyprian burnt umber (PBr7). There are now also 14 color "landscape" and "pearl luster" watercolor paint selections available. I was not enthusiastic about the prepackaged pigment selection the set should include a "red" quinacridone violet, a phthalo blue (both now available separately), and an ultramarine blue (still not offered). But on the whole the paints perform superbly. They leap from the pan when touched with a wet brush, a responsiveness that takes time to get used to. The two major drawbacks are that a brushstroke depletes this dense outer coating of paint and then transfers water from the tuft core, producing a fading color stroke and distinct brushmarks in the painting, and there is some kind of electrostatic cling of cobalt pigment to the enamel mixing wells, which the cobalt scratched easily and the pyrrole pigments stained. But brushes rinsed out or cleaned up quickly, even with the pyrroles and phthalo paints. Mixed violets seemed dull when wet but dried to a gently glowing color. The paints are powdery soft compared to commercial brands but are not sticky or gooey, and they dry about as quickly as the last brushstroke. Pigment load is high and all the paints can be easily applied up to a very dense, almost opaque layer. The earth pigments are bright and transparent, with very nice color contrasts. (Although Kremer has posted a pdf file of paint information, pigment information and prices are available only by clicking on individual paint listings at the Kremer web site.) Sets include a hand painted color swatch unhelpfully labeled only with Kremer pigment inventory

code numbers. The fourteen whole pan sets with metal paint box cost $85 (basic or landscape set) or $130 (pearlescent set); refill pan paints can be purchased separately for $6, $9 or $11 (the pearlescent colors), Kremer also sells empty plastic whole or half paint pans and empty metal paint boxes (including the very hard to find 4 row, 28 pan box for $25). Available only from Kremer Pigments; call the New York store at 1-800995-5501 for more information.

Lukas (reviewed October, 2004) - 67 colors, 46% of them single pigment paints, plus 3 metallic colors. Founded by Franz Schoenfeld in 1862 and run by the fifth generation family members today, Lukas paints are manufactured in Dusseldorf (Germany). The student grade is marketed under the trademark "Studio," and the artist's quality (reviewed here) as "Finest Artist's" or "Aquarell 1862," sold in 7.5ml and 24ml tubes and as whole and half pans. The paints have a uniformly smooth consistency, though I found watery vehicle separation in the first squeeze from many colors. The pan paints are hard milled, in the English style, but pick up reasonably quickly. Otherwise, I found the Lukas paints are a good example of the points to look for and avoid in watercolor paints. The paint description in the marketing brochure is intentionally obscure, but the vehicle appears to me to consist primarily of synthetic binders, not gum arabic: the colors rarely backrun and are relatively inert wet in wet, and the coarsely granulating pigments do not present a characteristic gum texture. Many of the paints are formulated as mixtures of three or four pigments, which generally reduces color purity and lightfastness and gives the Lukas line the lowest percentage of single pigment paints of any brand reviewed here. Several pigments used in the line monoazo yellows (PY1, PY74), naphthol reds (PO5, PR8,PR9) and disazopyrazolone orange (PO34) are relatively cheap pigments that are usually rated less lightfast; their cadmiums are the cheapest of any line reviewed here. The pigments are milled to a uniform, bland texture, which is possible because the paints contain a very heavy load of brighteners and fillers, visible as a whitish opacity across all the colors (even the normally transparent quinacridones and phthalos), and as a whitish sludge in sedementation tests. In addition, the

cobalt blue is lightened with chinese white (PW4) and even the relatively inexpensive ultramarine blue is boosted with phthalo blue (PB15). The pigment load is relatively low, so the colors seem to wash out under even moderate dilution. Finally, Lukas does not consistently provide pigment ingredient information or health warnings on the paint packaging (as required by the ASTM labeling standards) or at the company web site; the pigment information is included in a marketing brochure which must be ordered from the manufacturer. (See the section on pigments, paints & colors for general information on this issue.) The ingredient information is clearly wrong in at least two instances: the cobalt violet is manufactured with ultramarine violet (PV15), not cobalt violet (PV14), and the burnt sienna is a red iron oxide (PBr7), not a yellow iron oxide (PY42). Finally, according to my 2004 tests, the Lukas paints include several fugitive or impermanent colors and paint lightfastness is not accurately reported. I tested all the nonmetallic single pigment paints Lukas makes. (Paint line inadequately documented by manufacturer. The accuracy of paint names is very poor, and there are at least two incorrectly described paints. Tubes either show no pigment ingredient information, or a generic pigment chemical description, or pigment color index name, depending on when the tube was manufactured; health warnings appear as a crudely printed adhesive label stuck on over the original label. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Art Supply Warehouse was $0.32, and average unit cadmium price was $0.42, an increase of 8% since 2004.) [Note added September, 2006] Lukas reformulated their "Finest" line in 2005; it now embraces 70 colors, 69% single pigment paints and 1 pearlescent paint. All the paints I highlighted as fugitive in my 2004 paint tests and some of the dubious convenience mixtures have been discontinued. The replacement pigments are, to judge by the color index names in the marketing brochure, of excellent generic lightfastness; in fact, Lukas now conforms to the conservative pigment choices common to other manufacturers. Here Lukas illustrates the three paint manufacturing realities: (1) brand quality and paint pigment ingredients are continually moving targets, (2) the past quality standards of a paint company good or bad are no guarantee of current or future standards, and (3) the marketing claims of art manufacturers simply cannot

be relied on. I have not tested the new paints, but as they say: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice ...

Maimeri (reviewed June, 1999) - 72 colors, 72% of them single pigment paints. A well regarded art materials manufacturer in Milan (Italy), Maimeri (pronounced "my-merry") revamped its entire line of watercolors in 1995, adding several quinacridone and modern synthetic organic colors, and increasing the number of single pigment formulations. The student grade is marketed under the trademark "Venezia," but there is little need to try them, as the "MaimeriBlu" (artists' quality) paints are now among the most reasonably priced watercolors you can buy. In most cases the color appearance, pigment quality, lightfastness and handling characteristics rival the watercolors from Daniel Smith, M. Graham or Winsor & Newton. In at least one paint (cobalt violet) the ingredients are incorrectly identified on the packaging, and my 2004 lightfastness tests turned up a few convenience colors that are impermanent (PY35, naples yellow, permanent green light, etc.), so I suggest lightfastness testing on the colors you choose. Some well known workshop artists (Stephen Quiller and Zoltan Szabo among them) have recommended MaimeriBlu but their endorsements were part of an aggressive marketing campaign to gain market share in the USA. The paints generally have a finely milled, buttery texture and dissolve quickly in water. The brand style strives for a bright hue at the expense of pigment personalities (variations in granulation or staining), and the formulations are more opaque and more active wet in wet than other brands. They also exhibit more consistent (moderate) staining across colors, so mixtures and glazes are easier to judge. Microscopic analysis shows a moderate amount of fillers or brighteners. The sturdy black metal tubes have the widest mouth of any brand with a cap that unscrews easily in less than a complete turn. Tube colors set up well in dry pans, and all colors are available in half pan form, though these have often dried to a large dimple that delivers less than the full amount. Colors selected for the half pan sets emphasize earth tones at the expense of yellows and reds. Finally, the lightfastness of the MaimeriBlu paints is very good, with one or two

exceptions that are not reported in the marketing information. Overall, MaimeriBlu paints are bright, sweet and beautifully formulated. I tested all the paints in the MaimeriBlu line. (Paint line adequately documented by manufacturer. The accuracy of paint names is good excepting the mislabeled paints. Tube ingredient information shows pigment common name, color index generic name. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Cheap Joe's was $0.42, and average unit cadmium price was $0.52, an increase of 16% since 2004.)

M. Graham & Co. (reviewed February, 2008) - 70 colors, 80% of them single pigment paints. An Oregon (USA) manufacturer of intense, rich, finely milled and moderately priced paints, sold primarily through independent art retail stores. The paints have a thick, honeylike consistency (M. Graham is one of the few lines to use a honey humectant), and are formulated and milled to harmonize but not obliterate the pigment personalities (pigment texture is visible in several colors, such as the earth pigments, viridian, ultramarine blue and cerulean blue). The synthetic organics (especially the quinacridones rose and violet, phthalos blue and green, naphthol red and dioxazine violet) provide dark, deep colors, and the cadmiums, cobalts and earths are among the most opaque (concentrated) you can buy: in my tinting tests M. Graham paints usually came out on top. Because of the high pigment load, all the paints dilute out to glowing tints. The paints are apparently formulated with minimal fillers or brighteners, as confirmed by microscopic examination of draw down samples, but the heavy pigment load, use of humectants and presence of dispersants cause many colors to stain aggressively I needed soap and hard scrubbing to get the phthalo yellow green (PG36) off my hands. The line is still one of the smallest reviewed here, but was expanded in 2007 and now includes many of the pigments I recommended in my previous review, including nickel azomethine, isoindolinone yellow, pyrrole orange, gold ochre, pyrrole red, indanthrone blue, cobalt turquoise, copper azomethine (green gold), perylene maroon and transparent iron oxides. In addition, M. Graham is one of the companies (with Daniel Smith, Utrecht and the new Blockx) that emphasizes single pigment paint formulations, a plus for

lightfastness, color intensity and mixing control. All in all, these paints reflect great care and craftsmanship, and I am always struck, when I come back to a painting I have made with M. Graham paints, by the clean, colorful harmony and unique mixing effects these paints create. Overall lightfastness of the line is excellent. Tubes are sturdy white metal with a medium sized mouth; the soft plastic cap always glides open without sticking, but may crack or split if screwed down too tightly. Because the vehicle includes honey as a humectant, some of the paints will dry to a hard cake when poured into pans, while others will not dry in pans or when applied as an undiluted impasto on paper. (Manufacturer dry pans are not available.) Finally, the lightfastness of the M. Graham paints is excellent and accurately reported. Overall, in terms of quality and value (rather than price and marketing romance), one of the most satisfactory brands of watercolor paints. I tested all the paints M. Graham makes. (Paint line is well documented by manufacturer: a complete list of pigments is available at the M. Graham web site and in the full color brochure. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is generally good, with a few exceptions (quinacridone rust, turquoise, terra rosa, and omission of "hue" in traditional pigment names gamboge and sepia). Tube ingredient information shows pigment common name, color index generic name, lightfastness rating, vehicle. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Dick Blick was $0.45, and average unit cadmium price was $0.65, an increase of 8% since 2004.)

Old Holland (reviewed June, 1999) - 168 colors, 57% of them single pigment paints. Made in Driebergen (Holland), this is a bewildering line of antiquated ("since 1664" but actually launched in the late 1980's) watercolors that in basic ways falls short of the needs of today's professional artist. By sifting through the Old Holland line you will find a handful of unique single pigment paints, mostly among the earth colors and synthetic organics. Among these, you'll have to discard several fugitive pigments, such as their benzimida yellow (PY120), isoindoline orange (PO69) or anthraquinone red (PR177). All the remaining colors are amateurish convenience mixtures (flesh ochre, flesh tint, 35 varieties of "green" stuff) that any professional painter will avoid they are absurdly expensive and

contain as many as five pigments! Several of the paints are also not at all what they seem: the cobalt violet paints (light and deep) are actually mixtures of cobalt blue deep (PB74), dioxazine violet (PV23) and quinacridone violet (PV19), a combination that is much less lightfast than genuine cobalt violet; viridian green deep is actually a mixture of viridian (PG18) with ultramarine blue (PB29); and 28 (!) of the colors are formulated with white pigment (PW4), because all the pigment formulations were originally developed for oil paints and simply thrown in with gum arabic when the brand extended to watercolors. But it seems unfair to criticize Old Holland for their paint formulations, when their true expertise is in dreaming up idiosyncratic paint names. These are either uninterpretable (indian yellowgreen lake extra is a dull mixture of nickel dioxine yellow, PY153 and copper azomethine, PY129 that has no greenish hue) or are idiotically pretentious (rose dore madder lake antique extra is a dull and impermanent mixture of benzimidazolone scarlet PR175, anthraquinone scarlet PR168, and alizarin crimson PR83). In the Old Holland labeling fairyland lake supposedly means "transparent", extra means a "hue" or imitation paint, and antique means ... well, who knows? The paints are uniformly well milled to a creamy consistency, and microscopic analysis of draw down samples shows little or no use of fillers or brighteners. However, the vehicle is unusually dense, with a sticky, stringy consistency similar to taffy, making the paints so gummy that they take longer to dissolve in water than any other brand. The benefit of this gummy consistency is that almost all OH watercolors stain much less than other brands and often lift completely from the paper, making them convenient for a variety of editing techniques. The drawback is that, in several paints I tested, the vehicle instantly dissolves and blossoms if rewetted accidentally, making adjacent colors bleed at the edges or causing foundation colors to splotch or discolor when glazed with other mixtures. In masstone concentrations the paints often dry with a leathery bronze and are among the dullest paints I've seen, and in my 2004 lightfastness tests I found the vehicle in several mineral colors had a tendency to turn brown under light exposure, which makes me reluctant to put them to paper in the first place. The three or four pigments used in many of the convenience paint recipes strike me as amateurish and fussy, because the general rule is: more ingredients,

less lightfastness. And finally, these are now the most expensive absurdly expensive watercolors you can buy after all, you can't buy rose dore madder lake antique extra or indian yellow-green lake extra anywhere else, you have to pay extra for extra! Paint tubes are bare metal with a gummed paper label, available in 6 ml. and 18 ml. sizes; both sizes have a very small mouth and cap, and OH paints are very susceptible to ooze paint from the crimped end of the tube. Tube paints set up in pans to a hard, resinous finish; half pans are available from Old Holland, and while these contain slightly more paint than other brands, they also do not fit into standard field paint boxes. Finally, the lightfastness of OH paints is not reliable and in some cases is inaccurately overstated (I suspect because the company just quotes the lightfastness of its pigments as formulated in oil paints). Overall, this is a poorly designed, bloated and grossly overpriced line of watercolors, ripe for acquisition and aggressive revamping. I tested about a third of the single pigment paints Old Holland makes. (Paint line inadequately documented by manufacturer: neither the packaging nor paint brochures provide paint lightfastness ratings, the paint marketing names completely fail any standard of accuracy or consistency the meaningless proprietary names "schevenegen" and "old holland" abound. Tube ingredient information shows only generic pigment categories "contains arylide," "contains naphthol AS" which are useless to identify the specific pigment used; color index information is only provided in the paint brochure or by clicking on individual color swatches at their web site. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Art Supply Warehouse was $0.97, and average unit cadmium price was $1.30, an increase of 19% since 2004.)

Rembrandt (reviewed June, 1999) - 80 colors, 53% of them single pigment paints. Made by Royal Talens of Apeldoorn (Holland), Rembrandt paints are relatively inexpensive and of very good, consistent quality. The paints seem to me more active when rewetted than other brands, but less active wet in wet; the colors are slightly darker and more intense than other brands, giving the whole palette a sense of weight and depth, yet the cadmiums are very lustrous, particularly the orange and reds. To economize on

manufacturing costs, the company mixes a wide range of colors from a relatively limited number of paints various combinations of just five pigments (phthalo green, phthalo blue, pyrrole carmine, synthetic red iron oxide and benzimidazolone yellow) by themselves account for 37 different colors! However these pigments are all very lightfast, which makes the mixtures more permanent than other brands, even in the greens. As you would expect in an "economy" brand, microscopic analysis of draw down samples shows transparent crystal content in some paints (the cadmiums in particular). Paints are uniformly well milled with a creamy consistency, but I was very disappointed to encounter several tubes with vehicle separation and/or large air bubbles. This won't cause much anguish about lost paint, because the painted metal tubes hold 20ml. of paint and for that reason are also a little too soft and easy to dent (don't drop them!). Caps are very wide with a grip serration but the tube nozzle is slightly narrower than normal. All colors are available as half pan dried cakes, and half of the colors are available in whole pan; the pans are slightly shallower than usual but the paints are all crisply milled and handle superbly. The tube paints set up well in pans, too. The company recently published a full color paint brochure with complete pigment ingredient and lightfastness information. Finally, my 2004 lightfastness tests show that Rembrandt paints include a fugitive color (PY184) that is not reported in the marketing information, perhaps a quality control lapse by the pigment manufacturer; otherwise the lightfastness of the paints is excellent and accurately reported. Overall, a good line of well manufactured, low priced paints manufactured with a limited selection of high quality pigments, made somewhat less attractive by reliance on mixed hues. I tested about 75% of the paints Rembrandt makes. (Paint line adequately documented by manufacturer. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is poor there's a disappointing preference for the antiquated terms of paintmaking, and lots of "permanent" colors. Tube ingredient information shows color index generic name, lightfastness rating. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Cheap Joe's was $0.47, and average unit cadmium price was $0.61, an increase of 16% since 2004.) Robert Doak & Associates (reviewed May, 2003) - A line of 27 genuine liquid watercolors (pigment in a

diluted vehicle rather than dye dissolved in water), most of them single pigment paints, manufactured by Robert Doak in Brooklyn, NY. Doak is a self taught and highly opinionated supplier of artists' products "you know, I'm famous for my oil paints" and he has arrived at his paint formulations through more than 30 years of testing, experimentation, and manufacturer dialog. I suggest you call him (the phone number is on his web site) to hear about his products firsthand. The Doak watercolor line comprises transparent, non toxic, lightfast and saturated synthetic organic paints the few inorganics include ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, titanium white and several iron oxides (no cadmiums, no viridian), and even these pigments have a very fine particle size. Paints have the consistency of cream straight from the bottle, and a little goes a long way: the colors do not gray when heavily diluted. The vehicle is clear and nearly colorless, made with a synthetic paper sizing rather than gum arabic and glycerin, and pigment choices are limited by the liquid format. Oddly, the paints bronze if applied thickly; when used wet in wet, they seem to sink into the paper and almost never show backruns. Doak's colors are as bright and concentrated as any line I have tested, with one or two exceptions. In one instance, the paint is perhaps too good to be true: his copper azomethine (green gold) retains its green hue yet achieves a chroma above 90 (!) atypical for the usual green gold pigment (PY129) which displays an average chroma of 60 across other brands but is quite typical for a mixture of phthalo yellow green (PG36) and a saturated yellow pigment. Even so, the "earth" colors a rich, dark burnt umber and genuine transparent red and yellow iron oxides are perhaps the crown jewels of the line. About the watercolor line I have four reservations. (1) Pigment lightfastness is only certified by the pigment manufacturer at a blue wool lightfastness of 7 or better in masstone and 6 or better in tints. Doak does not himself test the paints for lightfastness, I have not tested his paints, and most pigment manufacturer tests overestimate the lightfastness in watercolors. (2) Because the vehicle contains no gum arabic, the paints stain very aggressively: applied to dry paper they accent even slight imperfections in surface sizing, show the first brushstroke imprints or edges, and are difficult or impossible to lift from many papers. (Precoating watercolor papers with a layer or two of gum arabic will help somewhat.) (3) Doak withholds the minimum

pigment information required on packaging by ASTM standards. His watercolor price list (and web site) does not show color index information about the pigments; pigment specs are not available online, and he failed to send me pigment ingredient information after three personal requests, and assurances from him that he would. The pigments are provided in small plastic squeeze bottles; pigments settle out in the bottles if the paints are left undisturbed, but they quickly remix with a vigorous shaking (which should be done once every few days), although paints left sitting too long unshaken can show a stubborn flaking or clumping (flocculation) in solution. (4) At last review, Doak offered 36 different paints, but has reduced that number by deleting important colors such as azo orange, azo red, quina red rose, etc., implying an even greater emphasis on his oil line. I've tried 16 of the 27 odd watercolors Doak manufactures. Only certain paints are recommended, and I suggest Doak be considered a (high priced) source of raw pigments rather than finished watercolor paints. (Paint line undocumented by manufacturer: the handprinted labels only give Doak's address and a cursory, uninterpretable paint marketing name azo alizarin, thalo turquoise, etc. The paints cost $4.50 a fluid ounce in the smallest (4 oz.) containers, and prices go down for larger sizes.) Available by contacting Robert Doak & Associates at 718-237-1210 or by writing to 89 Bridge St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA.

Schmincke (reviewed October, 2004) - 105 colors (and 5 metallic colors), 65% of them single pigment paints. A German manufacturer, Schmincke (pronounced "shmink-uh," not "shmink-ee") paints are moderately expensive but uneven in quality. Most Schmincke watercolors have a syrupy consistency and most can be used straight from the tube with little added water. Many of the tubes I tried (both 9ml and 15ml sizes) contained large air bubbles, and there's an annoyingly frequent separation of ingredients out comes pigment, then watery vehicle. This kind of separation can happen when opaque pigments are left hanging for a long time in retail paint racks, and it happens sooner when the paints have a thin consistency. Separated vehicle is clear and colorless, and paints crack excessively when dried, suggesting the vehicle is formulated with glycol rather than gum

arabic. The color formulations are sometimes second rate their "ultramarine" color is ultramarine mixed with phthalo blue! and microscopic analysis of draw down samples confirms that some paints contain a significant amount of colorless particles. But the paint documentation is excellent so you won't be confused about pigments, and Schmincke's marvelous full color brochure includes extensive information on the individual paints and different paint box palettes. Paint tubes are unpainted metal with a paper label and larger than usual mouth; the caps are faced with a coin/screwdriver slot to assist in opening when stuck (though I find this rarely happens with the syrupy consistency). All colors available as half or whole pan dried cakes, poured out and slightly smaller than other brands. The line includes a few beautiful, unique colors, such as their translucent orange (pyrrole orange PO71). Other interesting single pigment paints, like their permanent red (pyrazoloquinazolone scarlet PR251), were discontinued when the line was revised early in 2002 (which may have included changes in pigment suppliers). To my eye, most of the Schmincke paints lack personality and do not yield the best chroma in bright pigments. However, I've learned that some "photorealist" and botanical artists prefer Schmincke paints exactly for their consistent texture and less emphatic chroma. Finally, my 2004 lightfastness tests indicate that the Schmincke line includes several impermanent colors but in general this is accurately reported in the marketing information. I tested over half the paints Schmincke makes. (Paint line well documented by manufacturer. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is poor: proprietary marketing names and antiquated pigment names abound, the label "chrome" is used for paints that contain no metallic pigment, etc. Tube ingredient information shows generic color index name only. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Art Supply Warehouse was $0.80, and average unit cadmium price was $0.92, an increase of 36% since 2004.)

Sennelier (reviewed June, 1999) - 80 colors, 48% of them single pigment paints. A French line with a marked preference for convenience mixtures, Sennelier (pronounced "sen-nel-ee-ay") offers several fugitive colors, including fugitive purples, a few different

formulations of alizarin, and the antiquated and highly fugitive pigment cochineal (genuine carmine), which since the 19th century has been appropriate only for food coloring. Because the Sennelier marketing department claims that all their rated colors are lightfast, they just leave the fugitive colors unrated ("NR", just as they do with movies that want to avoid an "X" rating!). Paints are mixed to a creamy consistency and some colors, such as their French vermilion (disazo condensation scarlet, PR242) are delightfully vivid, but the color appearance of most of the paints strikes me as unremarkable. Tubes are bare metal with a paper label and sometimes contain air bubbles. Honey and gum arabic are used as the vehicle, so the paints will not completely dry when applied in thick or undiluted concentrations on paper, and most paints will not dry as pan colors; however half pan cakes (fully dry, in the English style of preparation) are available from the manufacturer. Overall, a disappointingly substandard line of paints, with significant lightfastness and labeling problems. I tested about a third of the paints Sennelier makes. (Paint line adequately documented by manufacturer, mislabeling aside. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is fair. Tube ingredient information shows color index generic name, lightfastness rating. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Art Supply Warehouse was $0.41, and average unit cadmium price was $0.51, an increase of 10% since 2004.)

Utrecht (reviewed June, 1999) - 42 colors, 90% of them single pigment paints. Manufactured by the Utrecht art retail company in New Jersey (USA), these are among the prettiest and most economical paints I have tried finely milled, with a honeylike consistency and no air bubbles. The pigments are high quality: cadmiums are bright and sweet, ultramarine and cobalt blues are rich and clear, the earth colors are warm and nicely spaced along the spectrum from a sunny ochre to a purplish venetian red. Utrecht paints are among the most lightfast, most transparent (evidently because the sedimentary and staining pigments are less concentrated), and least staining (excepting only Old Holland) of the paints I tried. The vehicle is unusual, containing only gum arabic with much less plasticizer (glycerin or honey) than other brands, and no wetting

agent (ox gall). This gives some colors a chalky appearance in masstone and a tendency to bronze or dry out on the palette, and even diluted solutions have a slightly gooey thickness but a few drops of glycerin solution remedies all that. The benefit is that the paints blossom and diffuse less expansively or energetically than other brands, yielding more consistent control from full strength to tints. (Utrecht paints are good student colors for that reason.) Unfortunately a few paints dioxazine violet, prussian blue and phthalo blue in particular are excessively diluted with vehicle in order to lighten the color, making the paints unexpectedly weak and lowering lightfastness, but the tonal values are easier to match across paints. (However, microscopic analysis of draw down samples showed little or no evidence of transparent crystal content.) The 7.5ml metal tubes are distinctively longer and narrower than usual, with a small cap and mouth. Utrecht does not have a watercolor brochure. The print catalog and web site do not list the pigment ingredients, but the paint naming conventions are very accurate (cerulean blue chromium, quinacridone magenta, dioxazine purple and hooker's green really is PG8!) Utrecht is one of the few companies (with Kremer, Doak, Daniel Smith and M. Graham) that emphasizes single pigment paint formulations, a plus for color intensity and mixing accuracy. Finally, with two exceptions the Utrecht paints have excellent lightfastness and this is accurately reported in the marketing literature. Overall, an attractive line of paints, a pleasure to use, but with a vehicle formulation you may need to adjust to use satisfactorily. I tested all the paints Utrecht makes. (Paint line minimally documented by manufacturer. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is excellent. Tube ingredient information shows pigment common name, color index generic name, vehicle, lightfastness rating, and detailed health warning as appropriate. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Utrecht was $0.60, and average unit cadmium price was $0.76, unchanged since 2004.) (Note added 6/2012: I last purchased Utrecht watercolor paints eight years ago. This year, several readers have alerted me to a recent change in the Utrecht watercolor paint formulation, which seems to have moved their market position farther in the direction of "student" materials.)

White Nights / St. Petersburg (reviewed June, 2003) - 24 colors, 71% of them single pigment paints. A Russian line of inexpensive paints, formerly sold under the "Yarka" brand name but now marketed as "White Nights." The White Nights were somewhat messily poured out as "semi-moist" (in the French Russian style) whole pans. (Tube colors were available in the USA as a "student" set of twelve colors but have been discontinued.) The White Nights pan sets were advertised as "professional" watercolors but inspection of the product suggested something far less ambitious. The finished appearance of the White Nights paints varied with the color: the scarlet, madder lake (alizarin crimson), carmine and ultramarine blue were rich in masstone; the cadmiums were thin; the cobalt blue was cut with additives; the earth colors were grainy and, like the phthalo green and red violet, rather dull. The paints dispersed well in washes but the earth colors were hard to moisten and tended to streak. According to manufacturer technical data (prepared in 1995), the scarlet, madder lake, carmine, red violet, golden ochre, sepia and russian green (hooker's green, PG8) formulations all used fugitive pigments, and for that reason alone could not be considered "professional" quality. The St. Petersburg line is expanded to include 56 colors, yet at least 12 of these new shades use pigments that either I or the ASTM has found to be marginally lightfast use with caution. The oversized white plastic paint box, which accommodates all 24 whole pan colors with a lift out mixing tray, is well manufactured but not particularly convenient to use. Overall, the coloristics of these paints do not compare even to the best "student" grade paint lines, and the pleasingly bright colors will fade rather quickly. I tested all colors in the box set. Because these paints are not professional quality, and use no pigments not available elsewhere, I haven't included White Nights or St. Petersburg in the paint evaluations. (Paint line inadequately documented by manufacturer. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is poor; pan sets only give vague and nonstandard lightfastness ratings.)

Winsor & Newton (reviewed May, 2005) - 96

colors, 79% of them single pigment paints. The English Winsor & Newton (in the USA, a subsidiary of ColArt Americas, which also holds Liquitex) has long been the standard for watercolor paints and the brand professional artists recommend most frequently. Student paints are marketed under the trademark "Cotman." The "Artists'" paints are often said to be most expensive you can buy, although they are not that distinction goes to Blockx or Art Spectrum (compare the average unit price information at the end of the brand reviews). They have also been considered the highest quality brand of watercolor paint available, although their quality is now matched by Daniel Smith, M. Graham and Maimeri, and at a lower price. The Winsor & Newton quality is still good: pigments are often as saturated as any available, though they typically stain more than other brands and are not always the most concentrated when put through a tinting test. The dried colors are bright and clear from masstone to tints; average transparency is second only to Utrecht. After the major brand revision in 2005 the paints have a more syrupy texture and are slightly faster drying than before, but seem as easy to rewet or lift. The raw paint dries to an unfamiliar smooth matt sheen, and some paints have a vague but bitter chemical odor. (The new pan paints dissolve more easily and are a joy to use under field conditions.) They also deleted some unpopular yellow paints and convenience mixtures, added several new colors (among them a few ceramic colorants "earth" pigments), replaced two dark convenience mixtures with dark synthetic organics, and made pigment substitutions in response to pigment manufacturing changes most important among them quinacridone gold (PO49), which is now a convenience mixture of three paints. The Winsor & Newton range is smaller than Daniel Smith's, but it is still comprehensive and well balanced, with the exception of an odd emphasis on muted yellows and ochres. Microscopic analysis of draw down samples reveals moderate use of fillers and/or brighteners in some colors, the cadmiums in particular. Tubes are sturdy metal, painted white with a medium sized mouth, but unfortunately the hard plastic cap sticks eagerly to the porous metal of the tube, and this happens across many different types of pigments and even when the paint is used daily. (When watercolor books explain how to open a stuck cap, they are almost certainly talking about Winsor & Newton tube paints.) Shielded from heat and temperature

variations, the tube paints even the cobalt pigments stay usable for years without hardening or drying out. Paints also come in half and whole pan dry cakes. The whole pans contain more paint than other brands, but have no labeling on the pan itself; the newer half pans are labeled on the side with the paint name and product number. Finally, the Winsor & Newton paints have excellent lightfastness, with three exceptions that are accurately reported in the marketing literature. Overall, Winsor & Newton paints are a pleasing and reliable product. I have tested every paint Winsor & Newton makes, including several discontinued colors. (Paint line well documented by manufacturer. The accuracy and clarity of paint names is poor: "permanent" and "winsor" are used too frequently, and historical names such as scarlet lake, turner's yellow, rose dor or caput mortuum are uninterpretable to today's artists. Tube ingredient information shows pigment common name, color index generic name, lightfastness rating. The July, 2007 average unit price* at Cheap Joe's was $0.66, and average unit cadmium price was $0.88, an increase of 4% since 2004.)

*AVERAGE UNIT PRICE is the U.S. retail price of a milliliter of tube paint (obtained by dividing the price of the largest available tube size by the number of milliliters in the tube) averaged across a shopping basket of 18 standard colors (cadmium yellow, arylide yellow, cadmium orange, benzimida orange, cadmium red, quinacridone magenta, ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, prussian blue, phthalo blue, cerulean blue, phthalo green, viridian, sap green, burnt sienna, raw sienna, yellow ochre, lamp black). Prices current as of July, 2007. Note on Prices and Price Changes: All "manufacturer suggested prices" are the basis of substantial "price discounts" by retailers, so I use the standard USA retailer prices (not the sale prices) for comparisons. I compare prices within the same USA retailer, but other retailers may offer different prices and show different price changes from one year to the next. For imported products or products purchased abroad, price changes over time will partly be the result of fluctuating currency exchange rates. Price changes reflect brand competitive pressures. Steep discounts often indicate an effort by a brand to hold or gain market share (especially when losing market share); while price increases suggest a business trying to recoup previous discounting or advertising costs, a business milking a secure niche market or devoted customer base, or a business coping with sharply

increased labor and/or materials costs. Last revised 05.02.2009 2009 Bruce MacEvoy

guide to watercolor pigments

The colored links at the top of the screen take you to detailed information on modern watercolor pigments, based on evaluations of over 750 commercial watercolor paints the most comprehensive watercolor paint information available on the Internet. (If you don't see the color links, click here.) The information on this site is built around a simple strategy for choosing watercolor paints: Identify the specific pigments (listed in the complete palette) that are most desirable for your style of work. Purchase these as single pigment paints (rather than "colors" that are imitation "hue" paints or convenience mixtures) from the most reputable manufacturers. Test for yourself the paints' handling attributes and lightfastness to ensure you are getting the quality of product you expect. This guide is based on my best effort to consult authoritative sources, including the Colour Index International (4th edition online), the ASTM, extensive manufacturer and academic correspondence or conversations, and my own 2004 lightfastness tests of over 750 watercolor paint swatches. It provides information not available from any other source. Within each color category, pigments are listed in order of color index name. The entry for each pigment gives its chemical name, the date of its chemical discovery and/or first use as an artist's color, and a list of paints sampled that contain the pigment. Paints are identified by the manufacturer's marketing name (the paint's color name) and the item number. If the item numbers on your tubes of paint are different from those listed here, then you have a different size tube (for example, 7.5 fl.oz. instead of 14 fl.oz.) or the manufacturer has (1) redesigned the label or the packaging, (2) changed the paint ingredients, (3) changed the ingredient supplier(s), (4)

paints

changed the paint formulation, (5) changed the paint manufacturing methods or any combination of these and in those cases your paint may not match the descriptions given here. Each paint is ratings on five watercolor handling attributes (transparency, staining, granulation, blossoming when rewetted, diffusion when used wet in wet), with five measurements of the color's value range, CIELAB hue angle, hue shift between masstone and undertone, and lightfastness in masstone and in tint. All color measurements have been made with a GretagMacbeth spectrophotometer. These ratings are summarized at the bottom of each page, and explained in detail at what the ratings mean. Below each pigment entry are notes on the pigment's appearance, history, manufacture and handling attributes, with a summary of notable differences among the paint brands listed. The spectrum is a clickable icon that links to the reflectance curve for a specific pigment ... it also indicates pigments that other artists have found especially valuable. The notes also indicate my recommendation of the "top 40" pigments that are the most important within their hue category and the most reliable and desirable in terms of pigment manufacturing quality, and paint lightfastness, color mixing and handling attributes. Technical terms used in the notes are explained in the section on pigment attributes. The average J, aC and bC location of pigment masstone colors in the CIECAM color appearance space (under the D65 illuminant) are tabulated on this page. Once I identified a pigment, I tested it in paints from at least three different manufacturers if possible; the most important pigments have been tested in paints by a dozen manufacturers. This was done to identify the underlying pigment attributes separate from the variations caused by pigment manufacture, vehicle formulation and paint milling methods. I omitted "student" paints and most convenience mixtures (colors made by mixing two or more pigments together), and I have not reviewed all brands of watercolor paint. For these reasons, this guide is a partial list of paints, but a complete list of

pigments currently used by watercolor manufacturers. I hope these reviews and related materials help you to discover what is distinctive about the many paints available today and encourage you to explore their beauty by doing watercolor evaluations of your own.

Last revised 08.01.2005 2005 Bruce MacEvoy

the complete palette

This page is a complete listing of the over one hundred distinct pigments currently used in watercolors and serves as an index to the pigments listed in the guide to watercolor pigments. Excluding iridescent or pearlescent pigments, fluorescent pigments or dyes, and the unique mineral complexes used in the Daniel Smith PrimaTek paints, nearly every watercolor manufactured today is made with pigments in this list. Pigments are organized into 28 color categories around artist's color wheel. Each category includes the currently used watercolor pigments for that color, and suggests a single pigment watercolor paint (by name and manufacturer) that represents the pigment's unique attributes. When a pigment under a single color index name is available as one or more distinct colors, two paints are listed that illustrate the pigment's range. If the color range is extremely large (cadmium yellow, iron oxide), it is listed in all the color categories that describe it. Different typefaces are used for the pigment or paint names, as follows: highly recommended (includes "Top 40" pigments) cobalt turquoise reliable and permanent alizarin crimson unreliable or fugitive permanent green convenience mixture (2 or more pigments) quinacridone gold obsolete or discontinued cobalt blue All the highly recommended pigments are lightfast, versatile, and handle well in watercolors. They include (but are not limited to) the paints most often chosen by most watercolor painters, and most of them are available in most watercolor paint lines. Note that this group includes several exceptional pigments that have not yet become widely popular or are only offered by a single watercolor paint manufacturer. The manufacturer serial numbers indicate the paints

palettes

actually tested in the guide to watercolor pigments. If these product numbers differ from those on your tube of paint, then the tube is a different size (for example, 7.5 fl.oz. instead of 14 fl.oz.) or the manufacturer has (1) redesigned the label or packaging, (2) changed the ingredients, (3) changed the ingredients supplier(s), (4) changed the paint formulation, (5) changed the paint manufacturing methods or any combination of these and your paint may not match the color descriptions or paint ratings given here.

The location of the 28 color categories is summarized as a color wheel small diagram called a palette scheme. The palette scheme below shows the approximate positions of the 28 color categories on the artist's color wheel. The denser spacing of color categories across the red to yellow side of the circle corresponds to the larger number of pigments and finer color differences made in that part of the hue range.

palette scheme for the complete palette

click on a palette scheme anywhere it appears to see a key identifying the color categories symbolized by each diamond

Palette schemes are used throughout this site to illustrate the selection of paints in artists' palettes, hue contrasts in different color harmonies, the location of hues in hue circles, and so on. 1. Click on the palette scheme anywhere it appears (including here) to see a key identifying the color category symbolized by each colored diamond. 2. Click on a color diamond in that key to go to that color

category in the table below. 3. Click on the color index name of any pigment in the table, and you will jump to the analysis of that pigment in the guide to watercolor pigments. 4. Click on the hue description for a pigment in the guide to watercolor pigments, and you will return to this table, where you can find other pigments available in the same hue range.

Color Index Name

Pigment Name(s)

Paint Brand & Number

green yellow
PY3 PY35 PY37 PY159 PY175 PY184 PG7+PY42 PG10 PY97+PG36

hansa yellow light cadmium lemon zirconium silicate bismuth yellow olive green nickel azomethine green permanent green yellowish

Daniel Smith 070 Winsor & Newton 080 Holbein 040 Winsor & Newton 058 Winsor & Newton 222 Winsor & Newton 033 Daniel Smith 037 MaimeriBlu 338

benzimidazolone yellow [lemon] Winsor & Newton 211

yellow
PY1 PY34 PY35 PY40 PY53 PY97 PY117 PY120 PY129 PY138 PY151 PY154 PY159

arylide yellow G chrome yellow cadmium yellow cadmium yellow pale aureolin nickel titanate yellow hansa yellow medium copper azomethine green benzimidazolone yellow [middle] copper azomethine green quinophthalone yellow

Blockx 212 Winsor & Newton M. Graham 060 Winsor & Newton 087 Winsor & Newton 063 Daniel Smith 061 Daniel Smith 039 Holbein 046 Old Holland 014 Winsor & Newton 217 Rowney Artists 014

benzimidazolone yellow [pale] M. Graham 018 benzimidazolone yellow [pale] Winsor & Newton 058 zirconium praesodymium silicate Winsor & Newton 348

orange yellow
PY65 PY83 PY108 PY150 PY153 PY216 NY24

hansa yellow deep diarylide yellow HR anthrapyrimidine yellow nickel azomethine yellow nickel dioxine yellow titanium zinc antimony stannate genuine gamboge

Daniel Smith 031 Old Holland 015 Daniel Smith 024 Daniel Smith 108 Daniel Smith 020 Winsor & Newton 649 Winsor & Newton 069

yellow orange
PO20 PY35 PY110 PY139 PY153+PO62

cadmium yellow orange cadmium yellow deep isoindolinone yellow R isoindoline yellow indian yellow

Blockx 312 Winsor & Newton 086 Daniel Smith 133 MaimeriBlu 114 Winsor & Newton 319

orange
PO20 PO62

cadmium orange benzimidazolone orange

M. Graham 038 Daniel Smith 212 MaimeriBlu 110

red orange
PO5 PO20 PO34 PO36 PO43 PO67 PO69 PO71 PO73 PR108

beta naphthol scarlet cadmium red orange disazopyrazolone orange benzimidazolone scarlet perinone orange pyrazoloquinazolone orange isoindoline orange pyrrole orange pyrrole orange cadmium red orange

Lukas 1099 Blockx 321 Lukas 1088 Art Spectrum W11 MaimeriBlu 125 Daniel Smith 014 Old Holland 145 Old Holland 018 Schmincke 218 Daniel Smith 126 Holbein 216

orange red [spectrum red]

PR48 PR106 PR108

beta oxynaphtholic acid scarlet vermilion [mercuric sulfide] cadmium scarlet cadmium red light

Holbein 225 Blockx 320 Winsor & Newton 006 Holbein 214

PR112 PR168 PR188 PR242 PR251 PR255

naphthol AS-D red anthraquinone scarlet naphthol AS scarlet disazo condensation scarlet pyrazoloquinazolone scarlet pyrrole scarlet

M. Graham 120 Old Holland 151 Winsor & Newton 044 Sennelier 675 Schmincke 361 Daniel Smith 084

red
Note: "Spectrum" reds (which contain no blue reflectance) are indicated with an asterisk (*). See the sample reflectance curves here. PR3 PR9 PR108 PR149 PR170 PR209 PR214 PR254 PR260

beta naphthol red* naphthol AS red* cadmium red* perylene scarlet* naphthol AS red* quinacridone red disazo condensation red* pyrrole red isoindoline scarlet*

Blockx 225 Lukas 1097 Winsor & Newton 082 Daniel Smith 044 Rowney Artists 509 M. Graham 155 Old Holland 024 MaimeriBlu 263 Old Holland 148

deep red
Note: "Spectrum" reds (which contain no blue reflectance) are indicated with an asterisk (*). See the sample reflectance curves here. PR23 PR83 PR108 PR170 PR176 PR177 PR178 PR179 PR216 PR264 PR N/A PV19 PV29

naphthol AS carmine* alizarin crimson cadmium red deep* cadmium red naphthol AS red* benzimidazolone carmine anthraquinone red perylene red perylene maroon pyranthrone red deep pyrrole crimson quinacridone pyrrolidone [carmine] quinacridone red perylene violet

Holbein 210 Winsor & Newton 002 MaimeriBlu 232 M. Graham 040 Daniel Smith 093 Daniel Smith 094 MaimeriBlu 253 Daniel Smith 029 Daniel Smith 002 Holbein 023 Daniel Smith 127 Winsor & Newton 226 Daniel Smith 056 Winsor & Newton 470

violet red [magenta]

PR60 PR122 PR171 PR202 PV19 PV19 PV32 PV42 NR9 NR4

disazo lake quinacridone magenta benzimidazolone maroon quinacridone magenta quinacridone violet quinacridone rose benzimidazolone bordeaux quinacridone pink rose madder genuine cochineal (carmine)

Holbein 002 Winsor & Newton 229 Daniel Smith 039 Daniel Smith 073 M. Graham 158 Winsor & Newton 075 M. Graham 156 Daniel Smith 008 Daniel Smith 013 Winsor & Newton 090 Sennelier 637

red violet
PR88 PV14 PV15 PV16 PV49 PR259

thioindigo violet cobalt violet deep ultramarine red manganese violet cobalt violet light ultramarine pink

Winsor & Newton 231 Holbein 110 Rowney Artists 417 Daniel Smith 052 Daniel Smith 038 Daniel Smith 088 M. Graham 192

violet
PV14 PV15 PV23

cobalt violet deep ultramarine violet [RS] dioxazine violet

Holbein 110 Daniel Smith 030 Winsor & Newton 221 Winsor & Newton 213

blue violet
PB29 PB60 PV39

ultramarine violet [BS] indanthrone blue triphenylmethane violet

M. Graham 193 Daniel Smith 018 Sennelier 903

violet blue
PB29 PB29 PB72 PB73

ultramarine blue french ultramarine ultramarine blue deep ultramarine blue GS cobalt blue deep cobalt blue deep

M. Graham 190 Winsor & Newton 068 Holbein 094 Winsor & Newton 220 Rowney Artists 116 Winsor & Newton 233

blue
PB15:1

phthalocyanine blue RS

Winsor & Newton 208

PB15:3 PB27 PB28 PB35

phthalocyanine blue phthalocyanine blue GS iron [prussian] blue cobalt blue cerulean blue RS

M. Graham 140 Winsor & Newton 207 Daniel Smith 036 Winsor & Newton 003 M. Graham 090 Holbein 092 Winsor & Newton 065

green blue
PB15:3+PG7 PB16 PB17 PB33 PB36 PB36 PG50

green blue phthalocyanine turquoise phthalocyanine cyan manganese blue cerulean blue GS cobalt turquoise cobalt teal blue

MaimeriBlu 409 MaimeriBlu 350 Holbein 101 Blockx 250 Daniel Smith 065 Winsor & Newton 078 Utrecht 166

blue green
PG7 PG18 PG19 PG26 PG50

phthalocyanine green phthalocyanine green BS viridian cobalt zinc oxide cobalt chromate cobalt titanate [BS]

M. Graham 150 Winsor & Newton 209 Winsor & Newton 077 Rowney Artists 324 Schmincke 533 Winsor & Newton 067

green
PG7+PY3 PG36 PG50

permanent green phthalocyanine green YS cobalt titanate YS cobalt green light

Daniel Smith 022 Winsor & Newton 210 Winsor & Newton 234 MaimeriBlu 316

yellow green
PG7+PY150 PG23 PG7+PY3 PG36+PY175 PG7+PO49 PG7+PY3 PG8 PG17 PG36+PO49

hooker's green terre verte permanent green light sap green phthalo yellow green hooker's green chromium oxide green hooker's green

Rembrandt 623 Blockx 161 Winsor & Newton 048 Daniel Smith 047 MaimeriBlu 339 Daniel Smith 043 Daniel Smith 124 Utrecht 163 Winsor & Newton 072 Winsor & Newton 202

Note on "earth" colors. Traditionally, a large number of unsaturated warm or green pigments were extracted from natural clays mined throughout Europe and the Middle East. In modern watercolors these natural pigments are often replaced by mixtures of many different synthetic iron oxide pigments, many of them manufactured as concrete colorants or wood and leather stains. However, these are still referred to as "earths" in the art materials literature, and the term "hue" is routinely omitted by paint manufacturers from paint marketing names. This section includes natural iron oxides pigments, synthetic iron oxides, and synthetic organic pigments that have the same unsaturated or near neutral color appearance.

earth yellow
PBr7 PBr24 PO49 PR108+PO20+PW6 PY37+PY42+PW4 PY42 PY43

raw sienna chrome titanate yellow quinacridone gold naples yellow gold ochre mars yellow transparent yellow oxide yellow ochre

Daniel Smith 197 M. Graham 160 Winsor & Newton 203 Daniel Smith 096 Holbein 232 Blockx 115 Winsor & Newton 059 Daniel Smith 060 Daniel Smith 121 Winsor & Newton 216

earth orange
PBr7 PR101 PBr11 PO48 PO49+PR209 PR102 PY119

burnt sienna burnt sienna transparent red oxide magnesium ferrite quinacridone orange quinacridone sienna burnt yellow ochre zinc magnesium ferrite

Daniel Smith 198 M. Graham 020 Winsor & Newton Daniel Smith 020 Daniel Smith 019 Daniel Smith 091 Daniel Smith 095 Old Holland 059 Holbein 328 Winsor & Newton 381

earth red
PO65 PR101 PR101 PR101 PR101+PY42 PR175 PR206

methin nickel complex venetian red [mars red] indian red mars brown light red benzimidazolone red quinacridone maroon

Old Holland 136 Winsor & Newton 051 Utrecht 006 Old Holland 346 Winsor & Newton 029 Daniel Smith 046 Daniel Smith 007

PR233

chrome aluminum stannate

Winsor & Newton 537

brown [dark earth hue]

PBr6 PBr7 PBr7 PBr25 PBr33 PBr41 PR101 PR101

van dyke brown raw umber burnt umber benzimidazolone brown zinc iron chromite disazo condensation brown transparent brown oxide caput mortuum mars violet

M. Graham 194 Daniel Smith 041 Winsor & Newton 554 M. Graham 030 Daniel Smith 032 Schmincke 041 Schmincke 648 Daniel Smith 129 Winsor & Newton 215 Daniel Smith 102

white
PW4 PW6

zinc white titanium white buff titanium white

Winsor & Newton 011 Winsor & Newton 206 Daniel Smith 015

gray
PBk10 PBk19+PW4+PBk6

powdered graphite davy's gray

Daniel Smith 010 Winsor & Newton 019

dark shade
PBk6+PB60 PBk6+PB15+PV19 PBk6+PB29 PBr7+PBk7 PBk31

indigo neutral tint payne's gray sepia perylene black

Daniel Smith 025 Winsor & Newton 032 M. Graham 128 M. Graham 178 Winsor & Newton 386

black
PBk6 PBk7 PBk8 PBk9 PBk11

lamp black furnace black vine black ivory [bone] black black iron oxide

Winsor & Newton 034 MaimeriBlu 537 Old Holland 367 M. Graham 110 Daniel Smith 021

Last revised 03.13.2009 2009 Bruce MacEvoy

tube, pan & liquid watercolors

paint tube tricks

Commercial watercolor paints come in two forms: as a thick or paste dry liquid pan tricks packaged in metal tubes, and as a dry cake in small plastic pans.
liquid watercolors

There's more to the two types of packaging than a difference in price. This page presents the main points of usage and care with each type of paint. I should mention that you can buy dry pigment powder and prepare your own paints. Pigment, gum arabic and other ingredients are available commercially packaged as expensive small jars from the major paint manufacturers (and available from most online art retailers), or packaged and sold more economically in bulk from companies such as Kremer Pigments that deal in artists' pigments primarily. Ingredient lists and mixing instructions can be found in the Gottsegen painting handbook and other sources. Just place a golf ball sized pile of raw pigment on a sheet of glass, pour dissolved gum arabic, simple syrup (sucrose syrup) and water into the middle, then knead the paste with a spackling knife for ... oh, about two hours. This is a labor intensive pastime, but I know one artist who swears by the result.

a brief history of watercolors

During the 17th and 18th centuries, watercolorists fabricated their own pigments and paints, using chemicals, earths or plant raw materials purchased from apothecary or herbalist shops. Recipes and mixing instructions were published in drawing handbooks, and these show that making paints could be complex and tedious work. Painters stockpiled finished batches of pigment powders, and mixed a fat pinch of the dry pigment with gum arabic, granulated sugar and water before starting a new painting. In London, however, a few colourmen such as Robert Keating and Matthew Darly began to serve the artists' market around the middle of the 18th century, and by 1780 several were advertising their wares in London publications. In addition to papers, paintboxes and "pencils" (the term for watercolor brushes until around

1850), all sold premade dried pigments in tied off pouches of pig's bladder "about the bigness of walnuts." Around this time, too, the firm of William & Thomas Reeves developed hard, dry cakes of premixed color, stamped with the colourmen's names and wrapped in paper. These cakes were dissolved into paint by rubbing them in a spoonful of water placed on special, 3" china saucers or mussel shells (the cakes were too hard to soften with a brush). The cakes and saucers continued in use until late in the 19th century, and "rubbing out one's colors" was the morning chore of many Victorian watercolor painters. As topographical watercolorists began to travel England and the continent expressly to sketch landscapes and ruins, a variety of portable paint boxes or paint chests typically made of mahogany, but sometimes of fine materials such as ivory or Wedgewood jasperware also came into use. By 1800 these boxes were made with square recesses to hold hard paint cakes; by 1830 enameled tin boxes were also available. These metal boxes proved immensely popular: a one shilling box was invented in 1853, and by 1870 over 11 million had been sold. In 1832, the new firm of Winsor & Newton began selling a semimoist paint formulation, based on a honey and glycerin vehicle recipe invented in France. The paints were prepackaged in tiny porcelain pans designed to fit the hard cake slots in existing paint boxes. Wrapped in foil to keep the paints moist, these greatly improved the convenience and portability of watercolors. Finally, the collapsible metal tube with a screw cap for packaging mixed paint was invented in 1841 (for oil paints) by the American portrait painter John Rand. This was first adopted for watercolors by Winsor & Newton in 1846, using a modification of the moist pan paint recipe. These tubes replaced less satisfactory packaging concepts, such as the syringelike glass or metal tubes invented by the English artist James Hams in 1822.

tube vs. pan

Tube paints are efficient for mixing up large quantities of paint (for washes, large glazes, or just a really big painting). They are ready for mixing straight from the tube and dissolve quickly in water. Some artists claim that tube paints have a more vibrant color than pan paints, but I have not found that to be true even when I measure the color difference digitally. I suspect difference may simply be due to the fact that it is easier to achieve a high concentration of paint and water with tube paints. Indeed, some artists use the paint straight from the tube. The disadvantages are that it's hard to judge exactly how much paint you need for any painting, so you usually end up with excess paint on your palette, which dries out anyway. And once tube paints are contaminated with other colors (particularly one of the phthalos), they are difficult to retrieve. Tubes are not a perfect packaging solution. Pigment and vehicle separate if the tube is infrequently used or has spent a long time hanging in the retailer's paint rack. The cap sticks if it is gummed up with paint. The tube can burst or the paint can dry out from prolonged exposure to heat or improper sealing. And tubes are bulky they contain mostly water and gum arabic, and only 5% to 50% actual pigment. Dry pan colors have different advantages. They are quick to set up and paint with just open your paint box and wet the cake and very easy to clean up. If protected from moisture and extreme temperatures, they will store indefinitely. There is no wasted color, other than what you lose in your rinsing tubs or leave in your mixing areas. They are easy to clean if you pollute them with another color (villain phthalo again). And they are marvellously compact and easy to transport. The disadvantages of pan colors are that they require more fussing to moisten and mix up. They yield small quantities of color at first (though more when thoroughly moistened). Some pigments (such as earth pigments, viridian or rose madder genuine) form hard cakes that are more difficult to work with, and sometimes produce streaky color mixtures. The frequent rubbing of the cake required to moisten it or pick up paint can be hard on brushes, especially with

the abrasive cobalt pigments. And pans are expensive for the amount of pigment they contain anywhere from three to five times the cost of tube paints. Don't make the mistake of thinking that tube paints are for "real" artists and pans are for students or children. David Cox, Winslow Homer, J.S. Sargent, John Marin, Edward Hopper and Philip Pearlstein, to name a few, are among the many artists who preferred pan colors to tube paints, even in the studio.

when to use
As you might guess, these relative strengths and weaknesses make the two forms of color more appropriate for different applications. Pan colors are especially convenient for field work or small studio sketches. The folding dry pan palettes are light and compact, and the pans transport well they dry out in a matter of minutes once the painting is finished, so they don't run together as you jostle your paint kit back down the mountain. If the pan paints are well made, they will soften quickly and with little water. (Pans are usually harder to get started the first few times they are used.) Dry pans are ideal for planning the palette for a painting. Experiment with paint combinations using the dry pans, and when you have the palette selection you want, squeeze out the painting colors from tubes. Pans are easy to switch in and out of your dry pan palettes, so you can always pack in exactly the colors you want to render a particular type of geography or atmosphere. (I keep assorted extra pans in my plein air paint kit in an empty Altoids mint tin.) Pan colors are fine to use for any small to medium sized painting, particularly when a large number of pigments are required in small quantities (for example, some botanical paintings) and large washes aren't required (botanical paintings again). I haven't seen any evidence that tube colors consistently look brighter or better than pan colors on the paper, since the pigments are

identical in either form. Many painters get along just fine doing field paintings with tube colors; they carry the small size tubes (available from most brands except Daniel Smith and M. Graham) and squeeze them out into folding field palettes, which come in a variety of designs and sizes. A compromise approach is to squeeze out a quantity of tube colors in the studio onto a folding plastic or metal palette (or a flat palette with a snap on cover), and let the paints harden in the wells before transport to the field. Then they can be moistened on site and used in the normal way, though they can take longer to dry out once the painting is completed. For medium to large paintings, or mixing washes or glazes, tubes are definitely easier to use. The main trick is to judge how much color to squeeze out for each painting. Some artists simply work with a fixed palette, squeeze out plenty of color to start, and leave what's left to dry once the painting is done. To begin a new painting, they squeeze out fresh color to get the colors moistened, or spritz the dried paint with fresh water. (Some actually let the paint dry out before they ever start working, since they prefer the consistency of paint dissolved from a hard start.) Since these painters continually work with the same color selection, they only soak and clean out the palette when the paints get muddied or moldy, or are mostly used up. I don't work with tubes in that way. I squeeze out just enough paint for the requirements of each painting. I wet all the paints with a small amount of water, then dilute down and mix these thick solutions for color mixing. I find this uses less water in the long run, and lets me work more quickly once the painting is started. Usually there is little unused paint when I'm finished, so I discard what's left and clean the palette rather than save the paint for another session. If I haven't finished, I cover the palette to keep the paints for another day. All brands of tube paints rewet to their original brilliance after they have completely dried. It's better to let them dry than to try to keep them wet, since a puddle of wet paint will develop

mold in a few days, and you'll have to clean up and start all over.

paint tube tricks

Tubes have some unique problems that you will encounter sooner or later. Here's how to deal with them. Stuck caps. The common advice for stuck caps is to heat the cap and twist it off; some artists suggest using a match or candle. That's the wrong method! There are different types of plastic used to make paint tube caps. A hard plastic such as styrene is brittle if stressed. This cap is dimensionally stable under heat, but can catch fire if heated with an open flame. A softer plastic such as polystyrene typically has a slightly waxy or slippery texture, and feels flexible or rubbery when stressed (press the edge of the flat top of the cap with your thumb, and it will bend slightly). The softer, flexible plastic can warp or shrink if exposed to excessive heat, even the heat of scalding tap water, but there is usually no need to heat them in the first place: their naturally greasy surface texture makes them stick rarely if at all. If they do stick, gentle twisting with your fingers is usually sufficient to loosen them. The harder plastic caps will stick, but are more resistant to heat. However, the heating is best done with hot (scalding but not boiling) tap water run only over the cap and metal shoulder of the tube for about five to ten seconds. (My kitchen has one of those separate, squat hot water dispensers for cups of tea, and this water works perfectly.) Never immerse the cap or tube in boiling water. Absolutely do not use a flame of any kind. You won't achieve an interior heat that is any greater than you get with hot water, and the flame can melt, char or ignite the plastic. After the cap is heated, let it cool for a few seconds, then wrap your index finger completely around the top circumference of the tube and completely grip the rest of the tube in your fist, with the cap barely exposed. (Holding the tube by the end or middle may cause it to

twist under the strain.) Gently unscrew the cap with the other hand, increasing pressure slowly and steadily. Great force, or tools such as pliers, should not be used. If the cap resists, heat again, if necessary for a longer time. After the cap is unstuck, let it soak in warm water for a few minutes, then thoroughly clean the inside of the cap and the threads on the tube mouth with running water and a paper towel before resealing the tube. This will minimize sticking in the future. You can minimize sticking caps by squeezing paint more carefully. Hold the tube an inch or so above the palette, so that the mouth of the tube does not push into the fresh pile of paint you are squeezing out, and shear the excess paint cleanly off the mouth of the tube (with the edge of a paint well or the palette surface) before recapping. A reader has also recommended the clever expedient of wrapping the threads of the metal tube with white teflon plumber's tape. Cut a 3 centimeter long segment of tape, then wrap it counterclockwise around the threads (in the direction that you unscrew the cap) and trim off the excess with a razor blade. The tape provides a better seal, yet makes the cap easy to unscrew. Nearly every stuck cap I have encountered has been on a tube of Winsor & Newton paint. These use the hard styrene caps with an unpolished, porous aluminum tube mouth that seems eager to stick with many kinds of paints. Most other brands use the softer plastic that rarely if ever sticks. Final hint: when you throw a tube of paint away, unscrew and save the cap (soak and clean it first). Caps that must be repeatedly unstuck are likely eventually to be damaged, and it's handy to have a few replacements on hand when that happens. Paint remaining in a nearly empty tube. The solution is a paint tube wringer available from most art retailers. The tube wringer is made of a pair of serrated rollers mounted in a pair of hinged plastic or metal handles. The handles are used to pinch the rollers across a tube of paint, then the rollers are turned with a

knob to squeeze paint up the tube. It's very effective! When the paint tube is nearly empty, a small amount of paint will remain under the metal top of the tube where a paint wringer can't reach it. You can use a pair of pliers to pinch the sides of the tube against the metal top, to force out the last bit of paint. I just bend the empty tube to one side, lay the tube on a table with the nozzle pointing straight up, and press down on the shoulders of the tube with my thumbs: the paint pops out the top. Hardened paint. Certain types of pigments (especially cobalts) tend to harden in the tube. Paint hardens because (a) the cap was not screwed on tightly, (b) the paint was stored near excessive heat over a radiator or in direct sunlight, (c) the pigment was insufficiently "aged" in the vehicle when the paint was manufactured, or (d) the paint is several years old, including both the amount of time you owned it and the time it hung by its neck in a retailer display rack. If the tube of paint is new or nearly so, request a refund or exchange from the retailer. If you want to salvage a hardened tube, you can do so in two ways. The first remedy is to force a clear plastic cocktail straw (the narrow kind) into the paint through the mouth of the tube. Push the straw straight into the tube as far down as it will go. Pull the straw out. It should pull with it a plug of hardened paint. If the paint is too hard for a straw to penetrate, you can use a large nail instead. Fill the hole you've just made with water, and screw on the cap. Knead the tube to mix the water inside with paint, but do not use too much pressure. Set the tube aside for a few days, and repeat if necessary until the paint is sufficiently softened. The second remedy is to cut the tube open and extract the paint. With a packing knife or sturdy scissors, amputate the empty tube at the crimp, and open the end. Do this carefully, as some parts of the paint may still be liquid. You now can scoop out the paint with a small palette knife (cut down each side of the tube to make this easier).

The hardened paint can be used in several ways. If the paint is still semimoist, the most convenient recourse is to pack the doughy paint into empty plastic dry pans, available from most direct order art retailers (Daniel Smith, Jerry's Artarama, or Cheap Joe's). Let the pans set for a day to dry, then use them in the normal way. If the paint is so hard it crumbles or breaks when you try to cut it, you can save the dried paint in a small jar, or wrapped in aluminum foil, until you need it for a painting. Dissolve the quantity of paint you need in water. (Usually the paint has to soak for at least day to soften thoroughly, and you may have to add gum arabic or glycerin to adjust the texture.) My preference is just to throw it away. If the problem recurs, try buying the paint in smaller tube sizes and use it as soon as possible. Better yet, switch paint brands or art retailer. Well formulated and manufactured paint, displayed and sold by a well managed retailer, stored properly and used within a few years by the artist, will simply not harden in the tube. Period. Excess paint. If you squeeze too much paint out of a tube, or find that paint keeps flowing out of a tube after you have stopped squeezing it, just hold the tube vertically (with the mouth pointing upwards), and find a place where the tube has an oval diameter. Gently squeeze the oval of the tube at its widest diameter, between your thumb and index finger. This will change the oval to a circle, increasing the inside area of the tube, which makes room for the paint. The excess will withdraw into the tube.

dry pan tricks

Pan paints have many fewer problems than tube paints, but there are still a few tricks to know. Empty pans. Pans are awkward to use when the color is nearly depleted. When you see white plastic at the bottom of the pan, it's time to fix it. Dampen the mostly used cake, then scrape out the residue paint into a wetted, half used pan of the same color, and pack it down with a palette knife. (Rinse and save the empty pan; you can refill it with tube colors.)

I don't recommend you simply top off the half used cake with new paint from a tube. After a while you end up with a residue of very old paint at the bottom of several layers of new paint. Uneven paint. A common annoyance is uneven pickup of the paint, which soon results in a deep hole at the center of the cake. This happens especially quickly for softer colors, such as cadmiums, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, or the phthalos. The hole is created by your tendency to pick up paint from the center of the cake, as a way of preventing paint from dripping over the sides of the pan. The solution is to let the hole develop until it traps the paint solution, then to work the brush against the sides of the hole to widen it toward the edges of the pan. Once you've reached the edges, it's easy to work the cake evenly all the way to the bottom. Filling new pans. You may want to use unique paints offered by companies that do not offer dry pans, or do not offer pan paints in whole pans (the size I prefer). You may also want to use tube paints to make pans as a way to save money; one 15ml tube of paint easily makes four whole pans. The solution is to squeeze your preferred paint into an empty plastic pan. These empty pans can be ordered from most online retailers. If you don't find the pans in the catalog (usually listed under pan paint sets, or painting accessories), call them on the phone and ask. You cannot prepare dry pans from Sennelier paints, or with Blockx paints in tubes with the black caps. These all use substantial amounts of honey in the vehicle, which prevents the paint from drying to a solid cake. Most other brands, including the newer formulations of M. Graham, dry out just fine. However, with some brands, such as Blockx in the white caps or Rowney Artists, the problem is just the opposite: the paints dry to a resinous brick that is very difficult to wet and lift with a brush. Squeeze a small daub of paint into each bottom corner of the pan, so that you don't trap air in the corners or sides (this can cause the pan to loosen as it dries or trap water when you wet it). Next fill the sides and

center of the pan, then fill to slightly overflowing. Use a palette knife to lightly shape the surface if necessary. Then hold the pan firmly between the thumb and index finger, paint up, and firmly tap it at the corner of a table or shelf three or four times, to settle the paint into the pan. Let the pan dry for a day or two, until the surface is completely dry and the paint is firm but not hard to pressure. Most brands of paint will shrink to create a large dimple in the center of the pan. Fill this and let dry a second time, and repeat again if necessary. The pan is now ready to use. Cleaning your kit. I am always surprised at the number of artists who work with a filthy watercolor pan box muddied and contaminated colors, grungy mixing pans, pan holders clogged with dirt or debris. I can't tell if this is laziness, or an interest in appearing "artistic." Every month or so I lift the dry pan tray out of my paint kit and completely rinse out and wipe clean the mixing areas, then completely wipe clean the pan holders and enamel base. Sometimes it's necessary to dismount the pans so they can be cleaned separately, and to remove dirt or sand trapped underneath. Use a small (#6), damp sable brush to clean the surface of contaminated paints. Dismount the paint pan from the clasp tray, then use the brush to wet the paint lightly and lift foreign color from the surface of the paint. Wipe the sides of the pan, and reinsert into the tray. Enamel paint boxes, and dry pan paints, are expensive. Regular cleaning will reduce trapped moisture or corrosives that will damage the enameled surfaces and exposed hinges and clasps; and crisp, clean pan colors are more potent and easier to use.

liquid watercolors
The newest packaging idea is liquid watercolors pigment and vehicle prediluted in distilled water. This is a category with significant differences among products.

In a class of its own are the Robert Doak & Associates Artist Water Color, manufactured in small batches by Robert Doak in Brooklyn, NY. These are pure watercolor pigments, packaged in a variety of containers depending on the size of the order. (My preference, the 10ml. Size, comes in small, slender plastic squeeze bottles with a capped dropper spout that must be cut to open, like most brands of household glue.) Packaged in squat stopper bottles, like those used for inks, are a few brands of mass produced "watercolors." The most popular brand is Dr. Ph. Martin's, which markets both a "Radiant Concentrated Water Color" (really a dye) and "Hydrus Fine Art Watercolors." The "radiant" watercolors are not true watercolors (that is, pigment suspensions) but moderately diluted, "synchromatic transparent aniline dyes". Many of the colors are especially brilliant and equally fugitive. As dyes, they stain the paper immediately and cannot be revised; they also tend to make surprisingly dull color mixtures (try mixing the bright blue and bright yellow, for example) because they do not reflect light the same as ordinary watercolors. They are used to stain leather, cloth and paper, and can be used for graphical art applications intended for photographic reproduction or printing (although these limited color systems are unlikely to capture the brilliance of many of the pure colors.) As art materials these are pleasurable enough for kids and are convenient to use for conceptual sketches where the accent is on bright unmixed hues. Otherwise, they are unsuitable for any artwork you intend to last for more than a few months. The "Hydrus" brand are standard watercolor pigments and vehicle in the same stoppered bottle format, with a significant amount of fungicide added to prevent the growth of mold. The major problems with these colors are the quality of the pigments and their appearance on the page, which to my eye seems rather dull. As the paints are already in solution, they cannot be used for drybrush techniques or masstone application. The bottled colors are easier to handle than tubes or pans, and let the painter get straight to work.

There is incidentally little or no lightfastness information provided with these products. With nonstandard color names such as "tangerine," "persimmon," "artic rose" or "slate blue," you have no way of knowing what pigment has been used in the mixture. If you use these products in art works intended to last then you are only looking for disappointment.

Last revised 08.01.2005 2005 Bruce MacEvoy

A palette is the selection of paints used to make a painting. These determine all the mixtures and color effects you can create for the image. This section summarizes the range of choices available to you. a basic palette Recommended paints for learning the basics of color and color mixing, or for working in the field with minimal equipment. the complete palette The most common pigments available in 36 basic color categories (with links to the guide to watercolor pigments). palette types Brilliant or muted, staining or transparent, the paints in your palette should work well together. palette paintings It's easier to understand palettes by seeing what they can do. Here are the palettes of more than a dozen contemporary watercolor painters.
DISCLAIMER: The information on watercolor products contained in this site is provided without warranty or guarantee of any kind. If you discover errors or omissions, please offer your guidance with an email. Thanks.

palettes

a basic palette
The beginner's mistake is always ... too many paints. Too many paints! Color is a seductive experience, and it's easy for a beginning painter to get pulled into an orgy of paint purchases.

palettes
context for your choices

basic mixing strategy Yet most experienced artists end up on the other side: by trialthe and error they have par down their palette to a handful of paints that provides them with all the mixing power t the artists' "primaries" need. A dozen paints is often the magic number that seems generous without being ex

I follow their example in this page, a complete guide to the beginner's watercolor palette. I introduce standard paint concepts, describe the range of pigment alternatives available in watercolors, and explain step by step how to choose the paints that meet your color mixing goals. I pass on the fruits of experience from many painters, but I also teach you how to make decisions for yourself. I dispel some common color myths or watercolor superstitions I have to use transparent watercolors, I have to use "primary" colors, I can't use black, I can't use white that have been inherited from the 19th century (the Queen Victoria era). These are superstitions that only get in the way of discovering the palette that works best for you. There are also incidental considerations, such as brand and packaging, that may affect your paint choices, and we'll briefly look at those topics as well.

exploring the "primary" palette expanding the palette other palette topics

context for your choices

Before we start, here is some important information about paint ingredients and some pointers to related materials on this site. These will be helpful to you as you design your basic palette. Basic Paint Attributes. As you buy and evaluate new paints, it is useful to understand some of the basic attributes on which paints differ from one another. The

most important attributes that will affect the quality of your work, and that you can evaluate for yourself, are: color appearance. The color of any paint is described by three attributes: hue (the name of a corresponding spectral color red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple and magenta), lightness or value (from dark to light) and chroma or saturation (from dull to intense). The color appearance of a paint is affected by how much it is diluted with water; the color of a paint straight from the tube is its masstone or top tone color, and its color when heavily diluted with water or white paint is its undertone or tint color. lightfastness. Paints that can withstand prolonged exposure to light are considered lightfast. You should avoid any paint that is not completely lightfast (has a lightfastness rating of "6" or less in the guide to watercolor pigments). It is simple and very educational to conduct your own lightfastness tests. pigment load or pigment concentration. This is the proportion of the paint, by volume, that consists of pure pigment. The more pigment there is in the tube of paint, the richer the masstone color, the higher the tinting strength, and the more paintings you can make with a single tube. tinting strength. The relative intensity of color imparted by a small quantity of pigment to a large volume of water or white paint; the mixing strength of the paint compared to other paints. transparency. Watercolor painters traditionally intend a nonstandard meaning for "transparency". Paints that can obscure a black/white pattern on the paper underneath actually have a high hiding power or opacity. Low hiding power (what watercolorists call transparency) allows greater freedom in layering paints. Transparency actually means that the paint is clearly visible as a discoloration when applied to a black surface. Watercolorists should examine paints applied to black paper or plastic, because high transparency confirmed with this test indicates a paint that is free of normally invisible additives or fillers. staining. Paint that is difficult to lift or blot away from paper is considered to be staining, although quite often

this paint attribute depends on the absorbency (sizing, fiber length and pulp density) of the paper. viscosity. Commercial watercolor paint consistency ranges from a "short" consistency, clayey paste to a honeylike liquid; the current manufacturer trend is toward more liquid (lower viscosity) paints. particle size. The average size of individual pigment particles, which may be as large as grains of sand or so small they can only be seen under a powerful microscope. Although you can only identify the largest particle sizes by eye, particle size affects many other paint attributes color appearance, lightfastness, tinting strength, transparency, staining, viscosity and granulation texture. dispersability. This is the quality that allows a paint to dissolve quickly and evenly in water. Paints that take a long time to dissolve or that dissolve into clumps have low dispersability and are typically made with a high proportion of gum binder. Choose Pigments, Not "Colors". As you navigate paint selections, you must keep in mind the difference between pigments, paints and "colors", that is: the chemical substance that provides color (pigment) the mixture of pigment and viscous liquid that you can apply with a brush (paint) the marketing name that the paint manufacturer gives to the paint product ("color"). A "color" such as indian yellow, burnt orange, spectrum red, permanent violet, royal blue or hooker's green is simply a fancy sounding name used to make the paint more attractive to buy ... it tells you nothing about the color ingredients that are actually in the paint. The beginner's mistake is to believe that different color names mean significant differences in the ingredients or colors of the paints which to the beginner means, I have to buy them all! In fact, many paint "colors" are made with exactly the same single pigment, or the same pigment mixtures in slightly different proportions. Across all paint brands, the 30 most commonly used

pigments account for about 80% of all the "colors" on the market! If you make your paint selection by choosing pigments rather than "colors," you can make an "apples to apples" comparison of the quality and price between different paint brands. You'll also be able to choose substitute paints if you need to paints that contain the pigment you want, even if the paints are from different brands and have completely different marketing names. To make your pigment selection easier, most paint tube labels identify the pigment ingredients using a standard "ID number" system, called the color index name. I give the color index name for pigments discussed here, which also link to pigment listing in the guide to watercolor pigments. Use these references as you develop your palette selections, and you will effortlessly become familiar with the character and handling attributes of different pigments. All reputable paint manufacturers now provide the color index names of the pigments in the paint. If you encounter a manufacturer that doesn't don't buy their paints. Pigment Alternatives. Although there are easily 1000 paint "colors" available across all watercolor paint brands in the USA retail art market, all these "colors" have been manufactured with just 100 or so generic pigments or colorants. Pigments are the real carriers of color in paints, so painters want to find the best pigments for a specific selection of hues, values and textural effects. However, if you look within a specific hue category yellow, red, blue or green you'll find many pigment alternatives to choose from for a yellow or red paint, but relatively few pigment alternatives for a purple or blue. (Most green paints are convenience mixtures of green and yellow or blue and yellow pigments.) As guidance, the total inventory of pigments available to you, along with many of the convenience mixtures (prepackaged mixtures of two or more pigments) made from them, are listed in the complete palette. This is just an index to all the pigments described in the guide

to watercolor pigments. The artist's color wheel shows the color (hue and chroma) of the 90 or so most common pigment choices in the format of a traditional color wheel. This shows graphically where there are abundant or sparse pigment alternatives. It will be helpful to print out this color wheel as a guide to the pigment landscape you must navigate.

the artist's color wheel

click here for a full sized image

To help you sort through these choices, the complete palette organizes paints into common color categories, and the palette scheme locates these color categories around the color wheel. This will familiarize you with the standard color names ("deep yellow," "blue green", etc.) and the pigments that provide each color. An understanding of the basic recipe and ingredients in commercial watercolor paints can help you choose and use paints more effectively. The section on paint ingredients explains the backbone composition of modern watercolor paints and the effects that different ingredients have on paint handling attributes such as transparency and staining. A basic fact about all paints is that the pigment determines the vehicle recipe, and the vehicle

determines the paint handling attributes. For example, many brands of ultramarine blue (PB29) will shoot away from the brush when applied to wet paper (used wet in wet). This does not happen because the pigment likes water, but because a soapy dispersant or wetting agent was added to the paint to accelerate the mixing of pigment and vehicle during manufacture. Each brand has a different and proprietary backbone composition for its watercolor line. Some brands use more dispersants than others (although use of strong dispersants is less common than it was a decade or two ago), and as you progress in painting you will learn to separate those paint attributes that are due to the pigment from those due to the paint formulation. You control the paint handling attributes by the choice of watercolor brands you use. Brand Anxiety. Finally, many novice painters feel it is important to buy the "best" brand of watercolors. This concern is usually misplaced. Despite the wide variation in pricing, tube sizes and full color marketing hype, most of the "professional" grade artists' paints offered for sale in the USA are of comparable quality and provide very similar painting results. There are important brand differences, but these matter only when you have reached a high level of technique. I vett the various manufacturers in the page on watercolor brands, but at this point don't obsess about the "best" brand of paint to use. Read this page, make some preliminary selections, discuss your requirements with the folks at your local art store, try the brand(s) of paint they recommend, and go from there. Let's get started!

the basic mixing strategy

Building a palette involves four steps. As described in the section on palette paintings, an artists' paint selections usually represent a basic color mixing strategy. So the first step in building your basic palette

is to choose a minimal palette of 3 to 6 "colors" that gives you the entire range of mixed hues and dark values all the way down to a near black. The second step is to translate these "colors" into specific paint selections, choosing the best single pigment paints from among the pigment alternatives available in watercolors. These paints provide the foundation for the rest of your palette. The third step is to explore your minimal palette selections by creating mixing step scales between every pair of paints in the palette, then making a paint wheel of the hues for all 12 points of the tertiary color wheel, mixing near neutral and dark values (as close as possible to black), and making several experimental paintings. If any paint among these foundation colors is badly chosen, these explorations will reveal it. The fourth and final step is to add paints for colors you cannot mix adequately with the minimal palette you already have. "Adequately" means that you find the colors are too difficult or complicated to mix, or you require the mixed color so frequently that you don't want to mix it each time from scratch, or the mixed colors are not satisfying because they are too dull, bland or light valued, or the mixtures separate before they dry or are too staining or opaque. Following these steps, the basic palette I recommend contains a balanced selection of lightfast, highly saturated pigments from around the artist's color wheel. The palette map and paint list are:

palette map for the basic palette

paint list for the basic palette

benzimida yellow (either PY151 or PY154) nickel dioxine yellow (PY153) cadmium scarlet (or cadmium red light) (PR108) perylene maroon (PR179) quinacridone magenta (PR122) ultramarine blue (PB29) phthalo blue GS (PB15:3) cerulean blue (PB35) phthalo green BS (PG7) or phthalo green YS (PG36) gold ochre (PY42) or yellow ochre (PY43) burnt sienna (PBr7) or transparent red oxide (PR101) neutral tint, indigo or sepia (mixed pigments, usually including PBk6)

Basic Mixing Strategy. The first step in building your basic palette is to select a minimal palette of paints necessary to mix the complete range of hues. These represent your basic mixing strategy, so the aim is to choose the fewest possible paints. Here are the most common alternatives. Using 2 Paints. Unfortunately, it's impossible to mix the complete range of hues with just two paints, although you can make effective and even atmospheric paintings with a two paint palette that provides an elemental warm/cool, light/dark contrast. Painting a dozen or so works with a two color palette is a healthy preliminary to selecting a wider range of paints: as with drawing in charcoal or Cont crayon, you will find that you can accomplish beautiful effects with only minimal color variations.

Using 3 Paints. Three paints are the minimum necessary to mix every hue around the color circle. After much historical trial and error, it has been found that the most effective selection is a "primary" triad palette of magenta, yellow, and cyan. (Note that middle red and middle blue are not the best "primary" colors.) This palette is widely used to teach color mixing because it strips away everything that distracts you from the basic mixing combinations: how to get an orange, green, violet, brown, and so on. Unfortunately, the "primary" triad palette has serious limitations in the chromatic balance of color mixtures, and requires a lot of skill to use effectively in a painting great for virtuosic displays of color mixing, but one of the more difficult choices for a basic mixing strategy. However, it has the benefit of being widely taught and accepted by many artists, so if you want to follow in that tradition than three paints is all you need. Using 4, 5 or 6 Paints. The common remedy for the limitations of the "primary" triad palette is to add more paints to expand the gamut of the palette. The traditional solution (since at least the 19th century) has been the split "primary" palette which divides each "primary" color into two reds, two yellows, and two blues. In my view this is not the best solution to the mixing difficulties, as explained on another page, but many color mixing texts use the split "primary" system and you may find it useful. If I were allowed a palette of six paints, my immediate choice would be the brilliant, balanced and easily manipulated secondary palette. I explain some of the advantages of that selection on another page, and there is no reason you shouldn't adopt this palette as your basic mixing strategy. However, we've been distracted from our goal of starting with the smallest number of paints, because we're now adding paints to make mixing more convenient. So let's consider instead a palette based on the four unique hues or the artists' primaries yellow, red, blue and green. These four paints can mix the complete range of hues at high saturation, get almost the maximum range of value

(that is, they can mix an almost black near neutral), and they are easier to understand than the "primary" triad palette as a way to learn color mixing in relation to a color wheel. The four hues mark off the four fundamental quadrants of a color wheel: bright warm colors between yellow and magenta, dark red violets and purples between magenta and blue violet, the full range of blues from blue violet to blue green, and the full range of greens between blue green and yellow.

the artists' "primaries"

Once we've settled on a basic mixing strategy (four paints), we want to choose paints that have the highest possible chroma or saturation. Why? Because this gives us the largest gamut or mixing range. So we will disregard the many lovely but somewhat dull paints available, and focus on colors that are rich and intense. But which red, and which blue? There are so many! Let's look at each hue in the artists' "primaries" to identify the major pigment alternatives in the watercolor paints for each hue. Yellow. This is really the keystone hue, because you will use it to mix colors around the entire color circle from dull green blues through bright yellow greens and all warm hues from deep yellow to deep red (only purple mixtures do not use yellow). As the lightest valued and most saturated of all paints, yellow also determines the warmth of the light and atmosphere in your painting. The key, then, is to choose your yellow not as a color all by itself, but as the essential component of a wide range of other color mixtures. Intense or saturated yellows come in three basic hues: a light or lemon yellow; a medium, pale or neutral yellow, and a deep or near orange yellow. A medium or pale yellow is, by popular consensus, the most flexible choice, and works equally well in the "primary"triad palette, the artists' "primaries" palette, and the secondary palette.

light yellow (lemon) medium yellow deep yellow BENZIMIDAZOLONE YELLOW (PY151 or PY154, and conveniently abbreviated as "benzimida yellow"). As offered by Winsor & Newton, M. Graham, Da Vinci, Schmincke or Rembrandt, benzimida yellow is a wonderful neutral yellow, neither warm nor cool, semitransparent and saturated, wth excellent lightfastness and good tinting (mixing) strength. It dilutes to a transparent tint, holds its own against any other paint it is mixed with, and harmonizes well with the cadmium and earth paints. A popular choice for basic yellow is hansa yellow (PY97), offered by Daniel Smith and Winsor & Newton; although it is one of the most saturated yellow pigments available and is a potent and flexible mixer, it has marginal lightfastness in my view. The major alternative for a basic yellow is one of the cadmium yellows. These have been commonly used since the late 19th century and are still very popular today. I suggest a "cadmium yellow light" or "cadmium yellow pale" (with a hue angle between 80 and 90), such as the M. Graham, MaimeriBlu or Rembrandt cadmium yellow light, the Winsor & Newton, Rowney Artists or Holbein cadmium yellow pale (PY35). Some artists recommend a greener color, a "cadmium yellow lemon" with a hue angle well above 90; but cadmiums of that hue are too whitish, with so much green that they produce unappealing orange and scarlet mixtures. The "middle" cadmium yellow offered by many brands is too warm (tinged with red) to provide a balanced yellow, but this increases the intensity of mixed oranges and reds. (Refer to this cadmium color chart to compare the hues offered by different paint brands.) All cadmium paints have some drawbacks that may affect your selection. First, they are relatively pricey though well worth the money for their rock solid permanence and color intensity. Second, cadmiums are commonly described as opaque and therefore more

difficult to handle, especially in foliage green mixtures that must appear luminous or transparent. Third, the cadmiums come with a health warning, though the health risks are, in my view, nonexistent if you use standard painting techniques. (This means don't eat the paint, put paint soaked brushes in your mouth, or inhale paint as a mist, spray or heated vapor; and don't leave tainted rinse water where a pet can drink it.) And finally, cadmiums are potentially polluting, and technically should be disposed of as hazardous waste, in the same way you'd get rid of lead based housepaint (though the quantity of cadmium in watercolors is vanishingly small compared to the amount of toxic metals in other sources). Because of these issues, most paint brands offer equivalent red, orange and yellow colors using modern, carbon based (synthetic organic) pigments, which are harmless all around. Some manufacturers offer a balanced yellow hue labeled a primary yellow or spectrum yellow. Be careful of those designations, because manufacturers sometimes choose a lemony yellow pigment, such as hansa yellow light (PY3), as the "spectrum" color. The problem with these lemon yellows, and similar light yellows such as bismuth yellow (PY184) or nickel titanium yellow (PY53) is that they are either too green to mix strong oranges or scarlets, too pale to mix deep greens, or too dull to provide bright yellow accents. (They are delightful pigments in other roles.) I also don't recommend you use aureolin (PY40), as this pigment can fade or turn grayish if exposed to sunlight or moisture. (If you have opted for a "primary" triad palette, use any yellow paint listed under the "primary" triad color wheel.) Many manufacturers provide a synthetic organic "deep" yellow under the marketing names gamboge or indian yellow. These antiquated color pseudonyms tell you nothing about the actual paint ingredients. Genuine indian yellow is no longer available from any manufacturer, and in 2005 Winsor & Newton finally retired its genuine gamboge. Look for the pigment color index name on the label to determine what is actually in the paint and if you can't find the pigment information, don't buy the paint! Red. Red comes in four basic hues a light or scarlet red (close to red orange), a medium red, and a deep or

carmine red, and magenta. There is also a systematic decline in lightness across the red range: deep red is darker than middle red, which is darker than scarlet, which is darker than orange. (orange) light red (scarlet, red orange) medium red deep red (carmine) magenta (rose) Unlike yellow, red is less critical to a wide range of color mixtures: it is most often mixed with yellow to make "warm" colors (various oranges, pinks, tans and browns, and caucasian flesh tones), and to neutralize green mixtures. (Think of orange as basically a red hue, not as a yellow hue, because, like red and unlike yellow, orange paints do not mix green with a greenish blue or bluish green paint.) And many painters think that they need red and blue to make red violet or purple hues, but in fact most red paints do not reflect any "blue" wavelengths and so make drab purple mixtures: only a bluish magenta (red violet) can do purples effectively. If you're a beginning painter then you will instinctively want to choose a "really red" red, such as cadmium red (PR108), naphthol red (PR170) or pyrrole red (PR254). These paints have different drawbacks. Although I like cadmiums for the yellow to scarlet range of hues, the red cadmiums tend to darken and dull too much as they dry, and they are also among the most opaque paints. Pyrrole red or naphthol red are beautiful pigments, but their brilliance tends to make their mixtures with other paints look rather strident, synthetic or one dimensional; and these paints make muddy purple mixtures. Although purples are traditionally of secondary importance in painting, it's wise to avoid a "true" red and instead choose a bluish red that gives strong warm color mixtures (including intense reds) yet still gives an effective range of mixed red violets and purples.

So our choice for a basic red settles on a magenta color. QUINACRIDONE MAGENTA (PR122 or PR202) are superb replacements for the fugitive and obsolete alizarin crimson (PR83). A popular alternative is the light shade of quinacridone violet, almost universally marketed as quinacridone rose or permanent rose (PV19). And if you prefer a color that is warmer than magenta, then the widely available quinacridone red (PR209) provides gorgeous mixtures with yellow, very satisfactory purples with blue, and is a saturated red when used on its own. Any of these four red paints creates a wide range of interesting, muted browns and tans when mixed with yellow or yellow green paints (green gold, sap green). One or both of these quinacridone pigments is offered by every major paint brand, because they provide mixing versatility and good lightfastness. At full strength, quinacridone magenta (or rose) are not too light valued (pink) so they can mix fairly dark maroons and violets with green or blue paints; surprisingly, because of their relatively high saturation, they can mix a satisfying range of moderately intense oranges and reds with most medium yellow or deep yellow paints. Michael Wilcox spurns quinacridone magenta as impermanent, based solely on what appears to be an erroneous ASTM rating. Manufacturer and my own lightfastness tests do not indicate signficant problems in my lightfastness tests, most brands of quinacridone magenta (PR122) turned out to be more lightfast than some brands of quinacridone rose (PV19)! You will find alizarin crimson recommended frequently in published art tutorials, but I advise you to ignore this stodgy, "old master" prejudice. And as old and cynical as I have become, my jaw still drops every time I encounter a watercolor painter who uses fugitive rose madder genuine (NR9). We're not talking about a Queen Victoria pigment here, this stuff goes back to Ben Franklin! A unusual alternative is the dark shade of quinacridone violet (PV19), a very interesting compromise between a red violet and light valued magenta paint. It's warm enough to provide wonderfully dark, muted mixtures with the other warm colors on the palette, yet dark enough to serve as a dark violet when

mixed with blues or greens. (Mixed with phthalo green BS, it makes a wonderful dark, dull blue violet, identical to the increasingly popular indanthrone blue PB60, which is also a great shadow color.) It has excellent lightfastness (always an issue to be concerned about with rose or magenta colors of any kind) and produces a lovely hint of blue in diluted washes. But the drawback to quinacridone violet is its dark hue; it dilutes up to a muted, "bruised" rose color, making it less suitable for floral subjects, it cannot mix a decent orange color, and it can easily overpower an ochre or raw sienna, making it tricky to handle in portraits. Finally, you will discover that the color variations across paint manufacturers in rose or magenta quinacridones are rather large: refer to the guide to watercolor pigments to assess hue and lightness of the different brands. Historically, both yellow and bluish red pigments have been among the most susceptible to fade when exposed to light as you've probably noticed in many color advertising posters left too long in quick mart windows. You should be especially cautious about the permanence or lightfastness of bluish red pigments. Currently the most saturated and lightfast red pigments available include the quinacridones. I used to advocate the beautiful quinacridone carmine [pyrrolidone] (PR N/A), but my 2004 lightfastness tests convinced me I could do better. I also found that some brands of quinacridone rose, and hybrid quinacridones intended to replace fugitive carmine pigments, may also have less than optimal permanence. Do your own lightfastness tests to be sure. It's important to choose your blue red and yellow paints carefully. The number of possible paint choices is very large, and red or yellow are part of every mixed hue around the color circle, with the exception of blues. Blue. The choice of blue and green pigments is drastically more limited compared to the available reds or yellows a fact of chemistry and not an artistic prejudice so the selection for a minimal palette is easier to make. At the same time, any blue selection is less satisfactory because the hue range of colors we call "blue" is quite large from blue violet to turquoise.

There are only five colorants currently available to provide blue colors in lightfast art materials: (1) ultramarine blue, (2) iron (prussian) blue, (3) cobalt blues (commonly labeled cobalt blue deep, cobalt blue, cobalt cerulean, cobalt turquoise and cobalt teal), (4) phthalocyanine blues (red shade, green shade and turquoise), and (5) indanthrone blue. (Because it was excessively polluting, manganese blue is no longer manufactured.) As there are so few useful blue pigments available, blues are typically not named by an abstract color category (such as scarlet red or deep yellow), but after the pigment itself. You should learn to associate these pigment names with the four major blue categories: red blue (cobalt, ultramarine, indanthrone) middle blue (cobalt, phthalo, iron blue) green blue/cyan (cobalt, phthalo) turquoise (cobalt) Consult the complete palette for a full listing. Notice that, as the hue shifts from red blue to turquoise, the cobalt blues get lighter valued but their chroma also declines steadily. Cobalt teal blue is the lightest valued but exceptionally very saturated. Perhaps the best basic paint choice from this limited selection is PHTHALOCYANINE BLUE GREEN SHADE (pronounced "thal-oh", PB15:3). This is another extremely useful modern pigment, widely used in color printing: dark valued, bright across the entire range of tints, very lightfast, and (in the paints labeled "green shade") close to a cyan blue hue. If the paint manufacturer offers a "red shade" and a "green shade" of phthalo blue, the "red" phthalo will be darker valued and closer to a middle blue hue, and is often slightly less lightfast than the green. (This chart shows the hues of different brands of phthalo blue.) (If you want to use the "primary" triad palette, use one of the cyan paints listed under the "primary" triad color wheel.) Phthalo blue can be strongly staining, and has high

tinting strength (is powerful in mixtures); it can also be somewhat dull in masstone, and create backruns in dilute washes. The hue and tinting strength depend on the manufacturer, so review the brands listed in the guide to watercolor pigments to get the paint characteristics you prefer. There are few good alternatives for a basic blue. The major alternative is cobalt blue (PB28), which has a beautiful texture and is extremely lightfast, but is a little too light valued and weak in tinting strength for a basic blue. It is also relatively expensive. However, it is an excellent wash pigment, and you may like the subtle textures you can get with it in this case, the expressive pigment granulation outweighs the other drawbacks. Finally, prussian blue (PB27) is both dark and unsaturated, which makes it less useful as a basic blue but very evocative in certain applications. Some artists do not use it because of its reported marginal lightfastness, but in fact the ASTM (in 1999) assigned it an "excellent" (I) lightfastness rating, and in my 2004 lightfastness tests I found the highest quality pigments were very durable, though there was prompt but very slight fading in the tints of some brands. The hearsay reports of its impermanence or its quirk of changing back to its original color when put in darkness date from the 19th century. However, paints labeled antwerp blue typically are less lightfast and should be avoided. Green. The choice among green pigments is even more limited by the facts of chemistry than the blues. In fact, the first modern greens were copper acetoarsenite (emerald green) and the chromium oxide greens (viridian and chromium oxide), developed in 1820-40. The next important green pigment, phthalo green, was not commercially available until 1936, a century later! That time gap alone indicates the significant chemical problems in creating good green pigments. This is the reason why painters have traditionally mixed their greens from blue and yellow. As with the blues, the range of green hues is large and the selection of useful pigments is quite small. Most greens are convenience mixtures of green and yellow or blue and yellow paints, and you should learn to associate these convenience mixture names with the

four major green categories: blue green (emerald) middle green (hooker's, permanent deep) yellow green (sap, permanent light) green gold (olive) My preference for a basic green is PHTHALOCYANINE GREEN BLUE SHADE (pronounced "thal-oh", PG7), because it is has astonishing tinting strength, is extremely dark in masstone, mixes well with both the yellow and blue pigments, and produces intense near blacks when mixed with a red pigment such as perylene maroon. Phthalo green is also typically strongly staining and some brands have a gooey consistency because so much binder or extender has been added to the paint to buffer its staining and tinting power. You may want to try different brands to find one that works best on your preferred brand of paper. The primary alternative is viridian (PG18), one of the oldest and most lightfast synthetic inorganic green pigments. It is exactly same hue as phthalo green BS but is slightly less saturated; it also has a weaker tinting strength mixtures and is much less staining, so it can be lifted with brush and water. (Try that with a phthalo pigment!) It works well to produce a more subdued range of hues and can give greens and blue greens a lovely subtle texture. Many waltercolor painters feel it is the best green pigment available. Phthalo green yellow shade (PG36) is by comparison a slightly lighter valued and less staining pigment, with slightly lower (but still strong) tinting strength in mixtures, a little too yellow to mix effective dark neutrals with a carmine red paint; you have to use a rose or magenta paint instead. However, it has the highest chroma of any green pigment in use today and produces really intense yellow greens when mixed with a green gold or greenish yellow paint. It may be a better green to choose if you want to mix really bright yellow greens for spring foliage, tropical birds or

botanicals. I can't recommend as a basic green any of the remaining greens, including chromium oxide green (PG17), cobalt green (PG19) or cobalt green dark (PG26). These are older and relatively dull pigments, which significantly limits their mixing range, although the darker cobalt paint is great for dark foliage such as perennial oaks or pine trees, and I find chromium oxide green produces a beautiful range of natural looking yellow greens when mixed with a bright "primary" yellow. The newer cobalt titanium green (which comes in a range of shades, all listed under PG50) has a gratifying mellow tone; the blue shade is lighter valued than viridian but with the same hue and saturation, and like viridian it is relatively easy to handle in masstone and diluted solutions. Unfortunately the inherent whitish color and relative opacity of these unique pigments make them less versatile as a basic green paint. Many artists use a premixed yellow green, such as olive green, sap green or hooker's green (listed as convenience mixtures under PG7 and PG36), but I suggest you start with a pure pigment green. The convenience greens are more variable across brands, which makes it harder for you to learn how to get a specific green mixture as proportions of your basic yellow and green or yellow and blue paints; and all of them are mixtures of phthalo green and a yellow paint, which are already on your palette.

exploring the "primary" palette

Once you've selected on four paints as your basic mixing palette, the next step is to get familiar with what these paints can do. First, use these four to mix the other colors on a color wheel. I suggest you mix the 12 tertiary colors and the near neutral colors produced by mixing paints that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Take your time, and pay attention the relative tinting (mixing)

strength of each paint against the others, the handling attributes of the paints, as well as the transparency, intensity, and texture of the mixtures. Paint out each mixed color at optimal dilution (with just enough added water so that the dried mixture is "not black, not white") and then as a tint (heavily diluted with water). This is important: many paints that are attractive at full strength can be very disappointing in tints. Next, try to mix a dark neutral shade, as close to black as you can get. In most palettes you do this most effectively by mixing a deep red with a blue green, a magenta with a middle green, a scarlet with a turquoise or an orange with a middle blue. Use your dark neutral mixture to darken the tertiary color mixtures you have already prepared for your color wheel, so that each color mixture appears as three color swatches: at maximum chroma, as a shade (darkened with the neutral mixture), and as a tint (the pure color diluted with water). Set this paint wheel up in your studio or home, and look at it under different types of light to judge if you like the results. Once you've familiarized yourself with the range of possible color mixtures, test drive the paints in several small format (say 6"x9") paintings. The goal is not to make masterpieces, but to turn out a variety of colorful sketches. Paint several different subjects botanicals, portraits, landscapes or seascapes, whatever your pleasure to see how the color mixtures and value range perform in each case. Be sure to paint several examples of subjects you most enjoy painting. Take your time, because you are learning about color mixing as well as paints and paint combinations. (You may want to review my intuitive color study when you do.) Really look at the colors, and ask yourself if you love the mixtures your palette can make. Display your paint wheel and test paintings where you can study them all in good light, and look them over carefully. Get a glass of wine or cup of tea, sit down and indulge your eyes. Ask yourself where the total harmony of the colors seems beautiful and where it seems lacking, both in relation to the character of the subjects you chose to paint, and the range of colors it was easy or difficult to mix. For example, you may find your mixed greens are fine if you like to paint florals or landscapes, but too dull if you want to paint parrots.

The mixtures with blue may be too light or too staining. The mixed oranges may look almost brown ... and so on. As you proceed, if one or more of the paints seems badly chosen, try changing one paint at a time to fix the problem. If the mixed oranges seem too dull, you can try shifting your red (rose) or yellow paint toward orange. If the phthalo blue makes dull purples, you can try cobalt or ultramarine blue instead. With this new palette reproduce the questionable painting, and see if it looks better. It is important actually to try out various color substitutions: you'll learn the relative saturation costs of the different paint combinations, and you'll realize how much the colors you can mix with one paint depend on the other cornerstone paints of your palette.

expanding the palette

Eventually you will settle on a selection of four paints. You'll also have a keen sense of the ways you're still not satisfied with your choices the colors you still can't mix as brightly or as easily as you like, or with the texture, handling attributes or value you want. You then are ready to take the third and final step in choosing your basic palette: adding paints to those you already have to fill out these shortcomings in your color mixtures. Artists usually first add to the warm side of the palette, then to the cool side, and finally add any darks or earth pigments necessary to fill out the hue and value range. Warm Colors. Your color mixing explorations with your "primary" colors probably made you recognize the value of adding paints in the range of warm colors. Our color vision is very sensitive to differences in the saturation and tonal value of warm hues, and most deep yellows and oranges mixed from a carmine red and yellow will appear much too dull. So most artists add more warm paints to their palette. (Unlike the violet, blue and green paints, none of the warm colored paints have strong pigment textures, so granulation is not a factor in your selection.)

You could select a single orange or red orange paint to straddle the distance between yellow and carmine red, but this will leave you with less than brilliant deep yellow mixtures. So it's more common to add two paints, a deep yellow and a scarlet or red orange. For the deep yellow, NICKEL DIOXINE YELLOW (PY153) is a versatile and gorgeous deep yellow pigment, especially as made by Daniel Smith (under the marketing name new gamboge) or Rowney Artists (indian yellow). In concentrated form it is almost yellow orange; in tints it shifts to approximately a middle yellow, producing a really attractive range of color mixing effects. It's also semitransparent, with good tinting strength, and very good for mixing natural but glowing middle to yellow greens. An attractive alternative is isoindolinone yellow (PY110), currently only offered by Daniel Smith (permanent yellow deep) and M. Graham. This also has a near orange redness in concentrated applications, but dilutes down to a soft buttery yellow in tints. It is extremely lightfast, semitransparent and has good mixing strength. It may be the best deep yellow pigment available. Interesting alternatives that appear dull but produce beautiful green mixtures are the semitransparent nickel azo yellow (PY150) and quinacridone gold (PO49), now only available from Daniel Smith. (All other watercolor paints with the marketing name "quinacridone gold" are actually made with nickel azo yellow or yellow iron oxide.) Both paints range from a dull, nutty deep yellow in masstone to radiant light yellow tints, making them especially useful for botanical or landscape palettes, and both paints actually increase in chroma as they are diluted, making them acceptable for floral painting as well. I don't recommend you use anthrapyrimidine yellow (PY108), as my 2004 lightfastness tests show it has only marginal permanence (it darkens somewhat in masstone). The other choices, such as cadmium yellow (PY35), cadmium yellow deep or hansa yellow deep (PY65) are also high in chroma and mixing strength, although they seem to me bland by comparison. Finally, you can push the hue even warmer with

benzimidazolone orange (PO62), a yellow orange pigment that is very saturated and has good lightfastness, although it is rather opaque and mixes dull yellow greens. As I've already suggested, avoid convenience mixtures (paints made with two or more pigments) called gamboge yellow or indian yellow. These rarely have anything special to offer in color appearance or mixing attributes, and are often less lightfast than paints made with the single pigments mentioned above. You want to choose a warm yellow that gives a strong color contrast to the basic yellow you already have. If you have chosen a warm "middle" yellow for your four basic colors, you will probably want to go the opposite direction and choose a cooler, very lemony "light" yellow, as described above. Again, you're not so much interested in the pure color of the paint (which you rarely have need of) as in the mixing effects of the yellows with the other red and green paints on your palette. For the red orange, try CADMIUM SCARLET (sometimes labeled cadmium red light, PR108). Nothing glows quite like a pure cadmium scarlet, in part because it is close to the warmest hue in the color wheel (at around hue angle 40). Again, the exact hue varies by manufacturer; the Winsor & Newton shade is the farthest toward orange and one of the most intense, and the Holbein cadmium red orange is also a great choice. Cadmium scarlet creates a very effective range of oranges with hansa yellow deep, nickel dioxine yellow, isoindolinone yellow or cadmium yellow deep, and a complete range of very beautiful reds when mixed with your basic quinacridone magenta or quinacridone rose. It also makes deep gray neutrals with phthalo blue, but the combination of these pigments can be rather dull not necessarily a bad thing, because you have the equally dark, but transparent and lustrous mixture of quinacridone magenta and phthalo green BS as a contrast. The most common synthetic organic (less polluting) alternatives are naphthol scarlet (PR188) or naphthol red (PR170); I do not recommend either paint because they have marginal lightfastness. And why bother, when pyrrole scarlet (PR255) or pyrrole

red (PR254) are both more lightfast and more brilliant colors? The most saturated pigment on the orange side is pyrrole orange (PO73), now available as a pure pigment paint from Daniel Smith, M. Graham, Winsor & Newton and Rowney Artists (warm orange). (My 2004 lightfastness tests indicate that Schmincke's translucent orange (another pyrrole orange, PO71) has marginal lightfastness. Although pyrrole orange is a stunning pure color, it makes duller mixtures with magenta or yellow than a cadmium pigment. Finally, perinone orange (PO43), which comes in both a light (MaimeriBlu's orange lake) and a dark (Daniel Smith's perinone orange) color, has marginal lightfastness (it tends to darken slightly in masstone). As I said, some artists choose an orange paint, in this case cadmium orange (PO20), but you may find that this is too close to the deep yellow hue you already have. It is also one of the dullest cadmium pigments, when compared to a cadmium yellow or cadmium scarlet: in fact, a few manufacturers (including Winsor & Newton and Holbein) mix their cadmium orange from red and yellow cadmium pigments. Finally, a deep red paint is necessary to produce muted reds, dark purples and brownish or ocherish oranges and yellows, including muted flesh tones mixed with yellow. Here you cannot do better than PERYLENE MAROON (PR179). It is an exact mixing complement for phthalocyanine green BS and these make a very dark mixture that can be more intense than carbon black. It is somewhat staining but is typically transparent and has good tinting strength. Best of all: it has excellent lightfastness.

Most painters who prefer alizarin crimson do so because of its dull color rather than its bluish red hue. Quinacridone magenta (or rose) gives the watercolorist an intense, lightfast bluish red, but those saturated red violets seem less attractive substitutes because they don't provide the dull crimson so useful for figure, portrait and botanical painting. Perylene maroon fills that need perfectly (diagram, right). It is the same hue as alizarin crimson, quincardione carmine (PR N/A), pyrrole rubine (PR264) or anthraquinone red (PR177), so it makes intense darks with phthalo green; it has a lower chroma than these other pigments, but this lower chroma makes it more versatile in color mixtures. It has relative color of a stronger red color and a lighter value than burnt carmine & magenta paints umber, and adds an important reddish brown range to landscapes and botanicals as well. on the CIELAB a*b* plane How do you use it? Just separate your requirements for high chroma color and dark, rich color. A high chroma red is mixed from cadmium scarlet with quinacridone magenta, rose or red; a high chroma purple from quinacridone magenta or rose and ultramarine blue. If you need dark blacks, dark warm mixtures or a dull crimson tint, use perylene maroon instead it warms flesh tones, earth colors and vegetable browns. If you need a true crimson or carmine color, mix perylene maroon with quinacridone red or rose, and forget any lightfastness worries. Perylene maroon also works well with iron oxide (earth) paints, as these give the mixtures a granular or powdery quality. Several paint brands (Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, M. Graham, Da Vinci and Rowney Artists) now offer perylene maroon; all are very good. Some artists seem to prefer quinacridone maroon (PR206) but to my taste it is a little too dull and low in tinting strength, and its mixtures with phthalo green are not as dark. If perylene maroon is too dull for you as an alizarin crimson replacement, then quincardione carmine (PR N/A), pyrrole rubine (PR264) or anthraquinone red (PR177) are excellent color matches with good lightfastness. Earth (Iron Oxide) Colors. Your explorations with the four basic paints will have taught you many fundamentals about color mixing, and one of these is the inconvenience of mixing dull warm colors, such as tans, browns and flesh tones. In addition, most

intense (highly saturated) pigments look great at full strength, but (except for the cadmiums) seem to dull and blotch too much in tints. This explains the enduring popularity of the many earth pigments, nowadays almost always convenience mixtures of synthetic iron oxides. No basic palette would be complete without them. Many artists choose either raw sienna (PBr7) or yellow ochre (PY43) as an earthy or dull yellow paint. These yellow iron oxides work very well to make warm foundation tints (to provide a warm background glow behind paints glazed over them), to mix natural subdued greens, and to neutralize blue or red colors slightly. Either raw sienna or yellow ochre is invaluable for landscape and portrait or figure work, as they mix beautifully uneven greens and softened flesh tones. They are especially effective in portrait work, because they reduce the staining intensity of the quinacridone or phthalo pigments, making it easier to rewet, soften or lift (blot) a passage to model facial features. Some artists dislike the clumpy, slightly greasy texture of yellow ochre; it is also coarser than phthalo blue or phthalo green, and more likely to separate from them in juicy mixtures. If you choose raw sienna, get the clear yellow version (Winsor & Newton raw sienna or Daniel Smith's monte amiata natural sienna) rather than dull grayish color offered by most other brands. (To understand the color differences among earth colors, take my earth pigments tour.) My favorite earth yellow is Winsor & Newton GOLD OCHRE (PY42), an excellent paint for portrait and figure painting, capable of creating more expressive textural effects in masstone than yellow ochre or raw sienna, and valuable for its permanence and versatility. There is also chrome titanate yellow (PBr24) which has the same dull deep yellow hue but with a natural whitish tone. In very dilute applications both are very similar to raw sienna, but in masstone they create a rich deep yellow. Chrome titanate is naturally somewhat whitish, which means you can also use it as a whitening paint in landscapes, much like naples yellow, and for texturing effects similar to chinese white. However these special effects take us away from the requirements for a basic palette.

The other indispensable earth color is the dull but glowing BURNT SIENNA (PBr7 or PR101). Nearly all watercolor palettes include it. It provides a wonderful unsaturated form of red orange (the warmest hue), mixes to lovely grays and dark browns with many blues (ultramarine blue in particular), subdues all colors slightly to create subtle warm shadow colors or unsaturated tones, and creates earthy deep green mixtures with phthalo green. Mixed with a touch of quinacridone magenta and cerulean blue it makes slightly deeper and redder flesh tones than yellow ochre or raw sienna. There are some nuances to choosing a "burnt sienna" paint. Most brands of burnt sienna are made with a brownish, relatively opaque variety of iron oxide (usually listed as ingredient PBr7), which gives a darker, less saturated but delicious color, close to milk chocolate. The more intense, slightly yellower and genuinely transparent alternative which can be used by itself or with a touch of quinacridone magenta for flesh tones is made with transparent red iron oxide (PR101, actually manufactured as a wood stain pigment) available from Winsor & Newton, M. Graham, Rembrandt, Maimeri, Da Vinci or Robert Doak. (Again, see the earth pigments tour to see the variation across seven brands.) Try both kinds in mixtures with the other colors on your palette to identify your preference. Some artists dislike the dullness that results from mixtures with earth pigments. In that case, try the more saturated and transparent quinacridone orange (PO48), now available from Daniel Smith, M. Graham and Da Vinci. Cool Colors. Your next step is filling out the cool side of the palette. This is actually the easiest part, because there are not many good blue or violet paints to choose from, and you've already chosen the warm colors that the blues and greens will complement. Leading the list is ULTRAMARINE BLUE (PB29). What a great pigment! This is without doubt one of the loveliest blues you will find: a semitransparent, dark and strongly saturated blue violet, a synthetic version of the costly mineral pigment lapis lazuli that appears in medieval illuminated manuscripts as well as Romantic

era watercolors. It can produce a magical clumpy texture (called flocculation) in washes, and mixes intense dark violets with a rose, magenta or violet quinacridone. Ultramarine and burnt sienna mix a magically subtle range of brown, gray and indigo hues many early 20th century watercolor artists, such as J.S. Sargent or William Russell Flint, were masters at getting the full expressive range from this color mixture alone. Be sure you test your selection of ultramarine and burnt sienna paints to make sure they work well together. Some artists might choose the newer cobalt blue deep (PB72) for their reddish blue. This produces wonderfully glowing blues, especially in tints (where ultramarine blue seems to dull too quickly), but I find it is too opaque for really versatile mixing; it also seems to fade if exposed to acidic paper or air. Finally, indanthrone blue (PB60) is, despite appearances, the same hue as ultramarine blue, but darker valued and much lower chroma. It is a moody and handsome color in some contexts, but probably too limiting for a basic palette: it lightens excessively when it dries, and tends to blotch in large color areas. Most watercolor painters get their textural effects with CERULEAN BLUE (PB35), traditionally a semiopaque, grayish green blue. The opacity, saturation and hue of cerulean blue paints differ significantly across brands (for more information on these differences, see the color notes to this pigment in the guide to watercolor pigments). A good cerulean blue mixes a lovely range of natural looking, mid valued greens with all the yellow and earth paints, makes a delicious range of turquoises with phthalo green, and a glorious sky blue when mixed with a touch of ultramarine blue. It handles very well in washes, but can be grainy, streaky or opaque in glazes. It is the perfect muting or dulling paint in skin tone mixtures with a yellow iron oxide and a carmine or rose paint; its granular texture makes these flesh mixtures easier to adjust with blotting or rewetting after they have been applied. (Notice how often we choose paints for their handling attributes as well as their color!) You will probably find that you don't require any other green paints besides the phthalo green you already have. You can mix a nearly limitless range of green colors using phthalo green, phthalo blue and cerulean

blue with the three yellows already on your palette (benzimidazolone yellow, nickel dioxine yellow, and yellow ochre or raw sienna), muted as much as necessary with burnt sienna (for warm greens) or ultramarine blue (for cool greens). One of the best ways to develop your mixing skills is to learn how to mix any shade of green you want from these basic colors, rather than relying on premixed greens as a crutch. (Premixed greens, in any case, are made with exactly the same pigments you already have, so they don't give you anything you can't mix yourself.) If you do choose another green, then I suggest you consider either copper azo green (PY129) or chromium oxide green (PG17). The first is actually an unsaturated yellow, but looks green to the eye, so it is quite useful to mix bright, transparent and very natural yellow greens; on the warm side of the color circle, it creates muted but interesting browns and tans with quinacridone red or magenta. At first blush, chromium oxide green is a dull and very opaque yellow green, but when mixed with a yellow paint it creates surprisingly bright and effective landscape greens, and it produces beautiful dark green (pine or oak green) mixtures with phthalo blue. Dark Shades. Your final paint choice should help you attain the widest possible value range or help you manipulate mixtures very close to gray. Since you can dilute paints all the way up to the white of the paper, dark is the direction you need to emphasize in a basic palette. A really deep dark paint will let you pull all your mixtures into a full span of dark shades. The choice here is between a black paint (such as ivory black, carbon black or lamp black), and a dark near neutral convenience mixture made with mostly black pigment tinted to shift the color slightly toward brown, violet or blue. However, be advised that none of these paints is a significant improvement over the transparent, rich blacks you can mix with phthalo green and perylene maroon. Their principal advantage is convenience. If you rarely use black in your paintings or paint mixtures, then choose one of the alternatives listed further below. The most common choices among the dark neutral convenience mixtures are payne's gray (shifted toward

blue), sepia (shifted toward brown), indigo (shifted toward blue or green) or the popular NEUTRAL TINT (shifted toward violet). These paints can adjust any color toward a shadow hue, and the bluish or violet shades are superb for moody gray skies. Since these paints are just mixtures of a carbon black with blues you already have in your palette, it may seem reasonable to go with black as your dark pigment. Ivory black (now made with charred animal bones) is extremely intense if made correctly, and is slightly warmer and less greasy or spotty than the carbons made by burning petroleum wastes (sold as lamp, furnace or carbon black). Unfortunately, all carbon pigments have an unpleasant tendency to lighten significantly as they dry because of surface scattering (the origin of the black "dullness" or grayness). Carbon pigment particles are also extremely small and light, and tend to float to the surface in paint mixtures, creating areas of obtrusive and unsightly dull texture in your painting. Increased light scattering is the reason most watercolors lose chroma as they dry, and black pigments only compound the problem. Hence the taboo against them. If you mix your dark neutralizing tint yourself (from perylene maroon and phthalo green, or cadmium scarlet and phthalo blue), then this opens up a slot to add a dark earth pigment to your palette. First suggestion: burnt umber (PBr7) is a lovely, very dark and very warm color that is a longstanding favorite with landscape painters; it also mixes to intense but harmonious darks with ultramarine blue or phthalo blue and, adjusted with gold ochre or quinacridone magenta as appropriate, makes a useful base color for yellower or darker flesh tones (asiatic or negroid, depending on the strength and hue of the mixture). Second suggestion: venetian red (or english red, PR101). This is a beautiful, opaque and very useful pigment, loveliest when used in tints (where it can reach a glowing pinkish or salmon color) or wet in wet (where it can make strong statements because of its opacity). It is also handy for architectural elements such as masonry, brick or warm woods, is very effective as the "earth" component in flesh mixtures with a more intense yellow, mixes interesting maroons with

quinacridone violet, and is a highly effective mixing complement for cerulean blue, iron blue (the dark mixture preferred by Winslow Homer) and all shades of phthalo blue. Note that indian red is darker and even more opaque; the Winsor & Newton light red is an excellent alternative. So ... once again, here's the paint list for the palette we end up with:

palette map for the basic palette

paint list for the basic palette

benzimida yellow (either PY151 or PY154) nickel dioxine yellow (PY153) cadmium scarlet (or cadmium red light) (PR108) perylene maroon (PR179) quinacridone magenta (PR122) ultramarine blue (PB29) phthalo blue GS (PB15:3) cerulean blue (PB35) phthalo green BS (PG7) or phthalo green YS (PG36) gold ochre (PY42) or yellow ochre (PY43) or transparent yellow oxide (PY42)

burnt sienna (PBr7) or transparent red oxide (PR101) neutral tint, indigo or sepia (mixed pigments, usually PBk6)

If you've followed this discussion and actually made your paint choices, congratulations! You now have a total palette of a dozen colors that can equal the mixing power and versatility of many much larger selections of paints. Your last step is to put this palette to work: get out and paint with it! After you've done one or two dozen paintings of different subjects and using different color designs, you'll have a pretty clear idea of where the palette still may not quite meet your needs. However, the steps you've taken to choose the palette will also help you identify the paint choices that may create the problems in your fundamental colors, your warm or cool hues, your earths or your darks. You then can swap out individual colors for new paints to get the effects you want. You may also want to study the palette choices made by other artists, to see if their approach gets you the painting effects you like.

other palette topics

There are a few final points that are worth keeping in mind as you select colors and choose the brands to buy: Manufacturers. I get emails all the time with one question: what is the best brand of watercolor paint? If you are still on the voyage of finding your basic palette, then this is a misplaced concern. All the major brands deliver good quality for the price, and are often indistinguishable as finished paintings. The "best" brand

of paint will be the brand with the most lightfast pigments and the best handling attributes for your painting style. Unfortunately price and "color" are not reliable guides to paint quality. As a beginning painter, you should focus on the handling attributes and the lightfastness of the paints. Avoid "colors" with lightfastness ratings below 6 ("very good") in the guide to watercolor pigments. If you waver on this issue, at least consider my comments on artistic responsibility. Strive to understand how the paint behavior is due to pigment attributes color appearance, particle size, dispersability, specific gravity, tinting strength and transparency. Learn as you go how these pigment attributes help you to understand the paint behavior of the most common synthetic inorganic and synthetic organic pigments. You must also master the fundamental skills of working with paints so that you can do accurate color mixing. Ultimately, by the right balance of paint and water, and the use of unfussy, confident brushstrokes, you will master the secrets of glowing color. Paints made only of pure pigments compounded with water, gum arabic, a little glycerin or sugar syrup and nothing else show astonishingly large differences in paint behavior from one pigment to the next. Unfortunately, the current trend in commercial paints is toward a suffocatingly bland similarity across all paints in a line. Nevertheless, I prefer some paints with a judicious addition of filler, as the pigments would otherwise separate from vehicle in the tube, or be too dark or staining. The difference is between additives that put the pigment on best display, and additives that improve manufacturer profits. That said, for the palette recommendations provided here, you usually can't go wrong with paints by Winsor & Newton, M. Graham, Da Vinci, MaimeriBlu or Daniel Smith. These are among the best you can buy, though every watercolor brand has a few clunkers to avoid. With Holbein, Rembrandt or Utrecht you need to be a little more selective, but overall their paints are also very good. Some of the Daler-Rowney paints are also lovely, but others (their dull cobalts and earth colors in particular) can't be recommended. Schmincke paints look great and handle very well, but I've found some quality problems (lots of air bubbles and

pigment/vehicle separation) in their tube paints. As a personal preference I do not like the "color" range or pigment quality (lightfastness, color brilliance, or paint handling attributes) of Art Spectrum, Blockx, Grumbacher, Old Holland, Sennelier and Yarka paints, nor the excessive staining of the otherwise beautiful Robert Doak liquid watercolors. But by all means try these for yourself if you've heard good things about them. It's not necessary or even desirable to buy all your paints from the same manufacturer. I've explained my preferences among the major watercolor brands, which may help you choose the brand you rely on the most. But you may also find a unique pigment that other brands don't offer quinacridone carmine, for example, is currently only available from Winsor & Newton, Schmincke and Holbein. That doesn't mean you can't choose a cadmium scarlet, burnt sienna or ultramarine blue from another company, if you like their paint better. Color Intensity. The natural impulse for many beginning painters is to choose the brightest (most intense) paints they can find and many paint brands are advertised as "the brightest" or "the most saturated" you can buy. Well, that may be true, but very saturated colors are not always your best choice. Quite often the most intense paint in a particular hue is less lightfast as a result: the sharper reflectance profile that creates the more intense color is also more vulnerable to prolonged exposure to light. In addition, less saturated pigments often make better mixers with other colors, because their less saturated reflectance profile contains more of the other hues they are mixed with. To see this, try mixing greens from the pair prussian blue (PB27) and phthalo blue (PB15:3), which have the same blue hue but different saturation, with the yellows nickel azo yellow (PY150) and cadmium yellow (PY35), which have the same yellow hue. You may find you like the green mixtures from the less saturated prussian/nickel azo pair better! In any case, chroma is just one aspect of a paint that needs to be taken into consideration with lightfastness, transparency, staining, and of course the mixing behavior with other paints on the palette.

What About White? Every watercolorist has probably heard the prohibition, never use white paint! The "artists" who make that pronouncement typically complain about the color effects that result. This hoary dictum arose during the Victorian era as part of the futile academic debate between traditionalist ("transparent") painters and the progressives who freely used brilliant pigments, white paint and bodycolor. It has the same relevance today as the Victorian prohibition against showing bare legs in public. The main issue is that there are relatively few applications for a white watercolor paint. And I have repeatedly found that paints that include a white pigment (such as colors marketed as naples yellow) are less lightfast than paints that do not. On grounds of utility and lightfastness alone, yes, you will probably find white paint an unattractive palette choice. Two white pigments are available to the watercolorist: zinc or chinese white (PW4) and titanium white (PW6). Zinc white is warmer than titanium white (which however comes in a toasty "buff" shade, sold by Daniel Smith). You may also hear it said that zinc white is more transparent than titanium white, but this is a rule derived from oil painting: in watercolors, I've found that zinc white is actually more opaque, and both whites can be diluted to gently clouding, semitransparent glazes. Applied as a glaze over other paints, whites will veil and soften a color area in an atmospheric haze that can be very effective in landscape or abstract painting; mixed directly with paints, they opacify and lighten the color, creating a subtle contrast with the lightening caused by diluted paint over bare paper. Some Victorian artists innovated the technique of coating the paper with zinc white before painting. This foundation layer increased the support reflectivity and therefore increased the brightness of "transparent" paints glazed over it. (This coating cannot be too thick, or worked too aggressively, otherwise it will bleed or smear into paints laid over it.) Touches of dense white paint are also faster and more calligraphic (expressive) than scraping or lifting in, for example, describing the foam on curling waves or adding details whites and highlights to a painting.

Incidentally, with dark paints, you may want to experiment with different mixing proportions and lighting effects. Use dark pigments sparingly, either in concentrated form as a small dark accent, or diluted in mixtures with other paints. If necessary, coat very dark areas with a glaze of gum arabic to reduce the surface scattering. Packaging. The pros and cons of tube vs. pan watercolors depend a lot on the scale and place of your work. Basically, tubes are more convenient for working on large paintings and paintings in the studio, and are often more economical at the cash register; pans are best for smaller paintings and paintings done plein air (in the field), and also waste less paint in use: you never "squeeze out more than you need." If you're a beginner, I suggest you start with tube watercolors you'll mostly be working indoors anyway, and the tubes make color mixing faster and more fun to do. Buy the smaller size tubes (5 to 8 ml.) if they are available from the manufacturer, since you will want probably to try alternative manufacturers or paint colors before settling on the palette you prefer. But as soon as you have decided your brand preferences, shift to the larger sized tubes for new paints: they cost more, but are significantly more cost effective. (As of this writing, only Art Spectrum, Grumbacher, Old Holland, Schmincke, Sennelier, Utrecht and Winsor & Newton offer smaller sized tubes of paint.) When you're ready to paint in the field, you can buy an empty metal paint box from any of the major direct order retailers, and choose the selection of half or whole pan paints you already use in tubes. (The current suppliers of half pan watercolors are *Daler-Rowney, Maimeri, Old Holland, *Rembrandt, *Schmincke, Sennelier and *Winsor & Newton; an asterisk indicates whole pans are also available. Yarka only sells whole pans, and in the USA Blockx is only available in enormous 3" porcelain dry pans intended for studio use.) If the manufacturer does not offer pan paints (Daniel Smith, Holbein, Utrecht), or does not offer the paints in whole pan sizes (MaimeriBlu, Old Holland) or half pans (Yarka), you can always make your own by squeezing tube paints into empty plastic pans and letting them dry

for a day or two. You cannot make pan paints if the tube paints are made with substantial amounts of honey in the vehicle (Sennelier, or Blockx with the black caps). These will not dry out to a hard cake. (M. Graham has recently reduced the amount of honey in its watercolor formulation; test individual paints to see if they harden sufficiently.) The plastic empty whole and half pans are available, in any quantity, from the same art retailers where you buy the empty metal paint boxes. If you can't find this item in their catalog, just call them up and ask for it.

Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

the complete palette

This page is a complete listing of the over one hundred distinct pigments currently used in watercolors and serves as an index to the pigments listed in the guide to watercolor pigments. Excluding iridescent or pearlescent pigments, fluorescent pigments or dyes, and the unique mineral complexes used in the Daniel Smith PrimaTek paints, nearly every watercolor manufactured today is made with pigments in this list. Pigments are organized into 28 color categories around artist's color wheel. Each category includes the currently used watercolor pigments for that color, and suggests a single pigment watercolor paint (by name and manufacturer) that represents the pigment's unique attributes. When a pigment under a single color index name is available as one or more distinct colors, two paints are listed that illustrate the pigment's range. If the color range is extremely large (cadmium yellow, iron oxide), it is listed in all the color categories that describe it. Different typefaces are used for the pigment or paint names, as follows: cobalt blue cobalt turquoise alizarin crimson permanent green quinacridone gold highly recommended (includes "Top 40" pigments) reliable and permanent unreliable or fugitive convenience mixture (2 or more pigments) obsolete or discontinued

palettes

All the highly recommended pigments are lightfast, versatile, and handle well in watercolors. They include (but are not limited to) the paints most often chosen by most watercolor painters, and most of them are available in most watercolor paint lines. Note that this group includes several exceptional pigments that have not yet become widely popular or are only offered by a single watercolor paint manufacturer.

The manufacturer serial numbers indicate the paints actually tested in the guide to watercolor pigments. If these product numbers differ from those on your tube of paint, then the tube is a different size (for example, 7.5 fl.oz. instead of 14 fl.oz.) or the manufacturer has (1) redesigned the label or packaging, (2) changed the ingredients, (3) changed the ingredients supplier(s), (4) changed the paint formulation, (5) changed the paint manufacturing methods or any combination of these and your paint may not match the color descriptions or paint ratings given here. The location of the 28 color categories is summarized as a color wheel small diagram called a palette scheme. The palette scheme below shows the approximate positions of the 28 color categories on the artist's color wheel. The denser spacing of color categories across the red to yellow side of the circle corresponds to the larger number of pigments and finer color differences made in that part of the hue range.

palette scheme for the complete palette

click on a palette scheme anywhere it appears to see a key identifying the color categories symbolized by each diamond

Palette schemes are used throughout this site to illustrate the selection of paints in artists' palettes, hue contrasts in different color harmonies, the location of hues in hue circles, and so on. 1. Click on the palette scheme anywhere it appears (including here) to see a key identifying the color category symbolized by each colored diamond. 2. Click on a color diamond in that key to go to that color

category in the table below. 3. Click on the color index name of any pigment in the table, and you will jump to the analysis of that pigment in the guide to watercolor pigments. 4. Click on the hue description for a pigment in the guide to watercolor pigments, and you will return to this table, where you can find other pigments available in the same hue range.

Color Index Name

Pigment Name(s)

Paint Brand & Number

green yellow
PY3 PY35 PY37 PY159 PY175 PY184 PG7+PY42 PG10 PY97+PG36

hansa yellow light cadmium lemon zirconium silicate bismuth yellow olive green nickel azomethine green permanent green yellowish

Daniel Smith 070 Winsor & Newton 080 Holbein 040 Winsor & Newton 058 Winsor & Newton 222 Winsor & Newton 033 Daniel Smith 037 MaimeriBlu 338

benzimidazolone yellow [lemon] Winsor & Newton 211

yellow
PY1 PY34 PY35 PY40 PY53 PY97 PY117 PY120 PY129 PY138 PY151 PY154 PY159

arylide yellow G chrome yellow cadmium yellow cadmium yellow pale aureolin nickel titanate yellow hansa yellow medium copper azomethine green benzimidazolone yellow [middle] copper azomethine green quinophthalone yellow

Blockx 212 Winsor & Newton M. Graham 060 Winsor & Newton 087 Winsor & Newton 063 Daniel Smith 061 Daniel Smith 039 Holbein 046 Old Holland 014 Winsor & Newton 217 Rowney Artists 014

benzimidazolone yellow [pale] M. Graham 018 benzimidazolone yellow [pale] Winsor & Newton 058 zirconium praesodymium silicate Winsor & Newton 348

orange yellow
PY65 PY83 PY108 PY150 PY153 PY216 NY24

hansa yellow deep diarylide yellow HR anthrapyrimidine yellow nickel azomethine yellow nickel dioxine yellow titanium zinc antimony stannate genuine gamboge

Daniel Smith 031 Old Holland 015 Daniel Smith 024 Daniel Smith 108 Daniel Smith 020 Winsor & Newton 649 Winsor & Newton 069

yellow orange
PO20 PY35 PY110 PY139 PY153+PO62

cadmium yellow orange cadmium yellow deep isoindolinone yellow R isoindoline yellow indian yellow

Blockx 312 Winsor & Newton 086 Daniel Smith 133 MaimeriBlu 114 Winsor & Newton 319

orange
PO20 PO62

cadmium orange benzimidazolone orange

M. Graham 038 Daniel Smith 212 MaimeriBlu 110

red orange
PO5 PO20 PO34 PO36 PO43 PO67 PO69 PO71 PO73 PR108

beta naphthol scarlet cadmium red orange disazopyrazolone orange benzimidazolone scarlet perinone orange pyrazoloquinazolone orange isoindoline orange pyrrole orange pyrrole orange cadmium red orange

Lukas 1099 Blockx 321 Lukas 1088 Art Spectrum W11 MaimeriBlu 125 Daniel Smith 014 Old Holland 145 Old Holland 018 Schmincke 218 Daniel Smith 126 Holbein 216

orange red [spectrum red]

PR48 PR106 PR108

beta oxynaphtholic acid scarlet vermilion [mercuric sulfide] cadmium scarlet cadmium red light

Holbein 225 Blockx 320 Winsor & Newton 006 Holbein 214

PR112 PR168 PR188 PR242 PR251 PR255

naphthol AS-D red anthraquinone scarlet naphthol AS scarlet disazo condensation scarlet pyrazoloquinazolone scarlet pyrrole scarlet

M. Graham 120 Old Holland 151 Winsor & Newton 044 Sennelier 675 Schmincke 361 Daniel Smith 084

red
Note: "Spectrum" reds (which contain no blue reflectance) are indicated with an asterisk (*). See the sample reflectance curves here. PR3 PR9 PR108 PR149 PR170 PR209 PR214 PR254 PR260

beta naphthol red* naphthol AS red* cadmium red* perylene scarlet* naphthol AS red* quinacridone red disazo condensation red* pyrrole red isoindoline scarlet*

Blockx 225 Lukas 1097 Winsor & Newton 082 Daniel Smith 044 Rowney Artists 509 M. Graham 155 Old Holland 024 MaimeriBlu 263 Old Holland 148

deep red
Note: "Spectrum" reds (which contain no blue reflectance) are indicated with an asterisk (*). See the sample reflectance curves here. PR23 PR83 PR108 PR170 PR176 PR177 PR178 PR179 PR216 PR264 PR N/A PV19 PV29

naphthol AS carmine* alizarin crimson cadmium red deep* cadmium red naphthol AS red* benzimidazolone carmine anthraquinone red perylene red perylene maroon pyranthrone red deep pyrrole crimson quinacridone pyrrolidone [carmine] quinacridone red perylene violet

Holbein 210 Winsor & Newton 002 MaimeriBlu 232 M. Graham 040 Daniel Smith 093 Daniel Smith 094 MaimeriBlu 253 Daniel Smith 029 Daniel Smith 002 Holbein 023 Daniel Smith 127 Winsor & Newton 226 Daniel Smith 056 Winsor & Newton 470

violet red [magenta]

PR60 PR122 PR171 PR202 PV19 PV19 PV32 PV42 NR9 NR4

disazo lake quinacridone magenta benzimidazolone maroon quinacridone magenta quinacridone violet quinacridone rose benzimidazolone bordeaux quinacridone pink rose madder genuine cochineal (carmine)

Holbein 002 Winsor & Newton 229 Daniel Smith 039 Daniel Smith 073 M. Graham 158 Winsor & Newton 075 M. Graham 156 Daniel Smith 008 Daniel Smith 013 Winsor & Newton 090 Sennelier 637

red violet
PR88 PV14 PV15 PV16 PV49 PR259

thioindigo violet cobalt violet deep ultramarine red manganese violet cobalt violet light ultramarine pink

Winsor & Newton 231 Holbein 110 Rowney Artists 417 Daniel Smith 052 Daniel Smith 038 Daniel Smith 088 M. Graham 192

violet
PV14 PV15 PV23

cobalt violet deep ultramarine violet [RS] dioxazine violet

Holbein 110 Daniel Smith 030 Winsor & Newton 221 Winsor & Newton 213

blue violet
PB29 PB60 PV39

ultramarine violet [BS] indanthrone blue triphenylmethane violet

M. Graham 193 Daniel Smith 018 Sennelier 903

violet blue
PB29 PB29 PB72 PB73

ultramarine blue french ultramarine ultramarine blue deep ultramarine blue GS cobalt blue deep cobalt blue deep

M. Graham 190 Winsor & Newton 068 Holbein 094 Winsor & Newton 220 Rowney Artists 116 Winsor & Newton 233

blue
PB15:1

phthalocyanine blue RS

Winsor & Newton 208

PB15:3 PB27 PB28 PB35

phthalocyanine blue phthalocyanine blue GS iron [prussian] blue cobalt blue cerulean blue RS

M. Graham 140 Winsor & Newton 207 Daniel Smith 036 Winsor & Newton 003 M. Graham 090 Holbein 092 Winsor & Newton 065

green blue
PB15:3+PG7 PB16 PB17 PB33 PB36 PB36 PG50

green blue phthalocyanine turquoise phthalocyanine cyan manganese blue cerulean blue GS cobalt turquoise cobalt teal blue

MaimeriBlu 409 MaimeriBlu 350 Holbein 101 Blockx 250 Daniel Smith 065 Winsor & Newton 078 Utrecht 166

blue green
PG7 PG18 PG19 PG26 PG50

phthalocyanine green phthalocyanine green BS viridian cobalt zinc oxide cobalt chromate cobalt titanate [BS]

M. Graham 150 Winsor & Newton 209 Winsor & Newton 077 Rowney Artists 324 Schmincke 533 Winsor & Newton 067

green
PG7+PY3 PG36 PG50

permanent green phthalocyanine green YS cobalt titanate YS cobalt green light

Daniel Smith 022 Winsor & Newton 210 Winsor & Newton 234 MaimeriBlu 316

yellow green
PG7+PY150 PG23 PG7+PY3 PG36+PY175 PG7+PO49 PG7+PY3 PG8 PG17 PG36+PO49

hooker's green terre verte permanent green light sap green phthalo yellow green hooker's green chromium oxide green hooker's green

Rembrandt 623 Blockx 161 Winsor & Newton 048 Daniel Smith 047 MaimeriBlu 339 Daniel Smith 043 Daniel Smith 124 Utrecht 163 Winsor & Newton 072 Winsor & Newton 202

Note on "earth" colors. Traditionally, a large number of unsaturated warm or green pigments were extracted from natural clays mined throughout Europe and the Middle East. In modern watercolors these natural pigments are often replaced by mixtures of many different synthetic iron oxide pigments, many of them manufactured as concrete colorants or wood and leather stains. However, these are still referred to as "earths" in the art materials literature, and the term "hue" is routinely omitted by paint manufacturers from paint marketing names. This section includes natural iron oxides pigments, synthetic iron oxides, and synthetic organic pigments that have the same unsaturated or near neutral color appearance.

earth yellow
PBr7 PBr24 PO49 PR108+PO20+PW6 PY37+PY42+PW4 PY42 PY43

raw sienna chrome titanate yellow quinacridone gold naples yellow gold ochre mars yellow transparent yellow oxide yellow ochre

Daniel Smith 197 M. Graham 160 Winsor & Newton 203 Daniel Smith 096 Holbein 232 Blockx 115 Winsor & Newton 059 Daniel Smith 060 Daniel Smith 121 Winsor & Newton 216

earth orange
PBr7 PR101 PBr11 PO48 PO49+PR209 PR102 PY119

burnt sienna burnt sienna transparent red oxide magnesium ferrite quinacridone orange quinacridone sienna burnt yellow ochre zinc magnesium ferrite

Daniel Smith 198 M. Graham 020 Winsor & Newton Daniel Smith 020 Daniel Smith 019 Daniel Smith 091 Daniel Smith 095 Old Holland 059 Holbein 328 Winsor & Newton 381

earth red
PO65 PR101 PR101 PR101 PR101+PY42 PR175 PR206

methin nickel complex venetian red [mars red] indian red mars brown light red benzimidazolone red quinacridone maroon

Old Holland 136 Winsor & Newton 051 Utrecht 006 Old Holland 346 Winsor & Newton 029 Daniel Smith 046 Daniel Smith 007

PR233

chrome aluminum stannate

Winsor & Newton 537

brown [dark earth hue]

PBr6 PBr7 PBr7 PBr25 PBr33 PBr41 PR101 PR101

van dyke brown raw umber burnt umber benzimidazolone brown zinc iron chromite disazo condensation brown transparent brown oxide caput mortuum mars violet

M. Graham 194 Daniel Smith 041 Winsor & Newton 554 M. Graham 030 Daniel Smith 032 Schmincke 041 Schmincke 648 Daniel Smith 129 Winsor & Newton 215 Daniel Smith 102

white
PW4 PW6

zinc white titanium white buff titanium white

Winsor & Newton 011 Winsor & Newton 206 Daniel Smith 015

gray
PBk10 PBk19+PW4+PBk6

powdered graphite davy's gray

Daniel Smith 010 Winsor & Newton 019

dark shade
PBk6+PB60 PBk6+PB15+PV19 PBk6+PB29 PBr7+PBk7 PBk31

indigo neutral tint payne's gray sepia perylene black

Daniel Smith 025 Winsor & Newton 032 M. Graham 128 M. Graham 178 Winsor & Newton 386

black
PBk6 PBk7 PBk8 PBk9 PBk11

lamp black furnace black vine black ivory [bone] black black iron oxide

Winsor & Newton 034 MaimeriBlu 537 Old Holland 367 M. Graham 110 Daniel Smith 021

Last revised 03.13.2009 2009 Bruce MacEvoy

palette types

palettes

The painter judges paint pigments according to two criteria: how they handle during the painting, and how they look when the painting is done. (Most painters are thoughtless about paint lightfastness and toxicity .) matters brand The differences among pigments on these two criteria seem so large, and so apparently useful in producing different painting effects, that artists traditionally select pigments with similar or harmonizing attributes to form a single palette. This page categorizes watercolor pigments into different palette types, listed in the links at right. The prevailing dogma about watercolors is represented by Jim Kosvanec's very fine color wheel book: some pigments are transparent, others are opaque, still others are staining and others are not, and you need to choose and mix pigments carefully to match these characteristics to best effect. On one hand, this is essentially true: paints do differ in many attributes besides color. On the other hand, few watercolors are completely transparent, and whether they stain or not depends as much on the surface and sizing of the paper you use as it does on the paint itself. A lot depends on what you are trying to represent, how you are trying to represent it, and what are the characteristics of all the other paints put into the painting. Style and technique trump almost every other consideration, and the qualities of materials are only desirable or objectionable in the context in which they are used. For that reason I list pigments in multiple categories, rather than in only one. I also suggest other areas to focus your attention the importance of different papers or paint manufacturers in how much a pigment stains, and the usefulness of diluting opaque pigments to create greater transparency.
transparent opaque nonstaining staining saturated earth textured combining paints in a palette

brand matters

The major complication in the selection of a harmonious palette is that pigment behavior depends on the brand of paint, because each brand buys pigments of different quality and formulates paints with a different backbone composition. This point is often confused or ignored even in apparently knowledgeable art books. In his often useful The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook, Gordon MacKenzie writes that indian yellow is a "staining, transparent color," and permanent rose is a "nonstaining, transparent color." These observations are worthless. The names MacKenzie has used are the paint marketing names, not the names of the pigments in the paints. What is actually in a paint labeled "indian yellow" or "permanent rose," and how the paint behaves, can vary considerably depending on the brand of paint you are talking about and which pigment(s) that brand has decided to put into that paint. Thus, paints sold as "indian yellow" are made from at least five different pigments or pigment mixtures, depending on brand: diarylide yellow (PY83), anthrapyramidine yellow (PY108), isoindolinone yellow (PY139), nickel dioxine yellow (PY153) or benzimidazolone yellow (PY154). These paints range from transparent to semiopaque, and from nonstaining to heavily staining but only one of these paints (by Utrecht) was both transparent and nonstaining. Do you suppose that was the paint MacKenzie was talking about? Even with a fairly unambiguous marketing name, such as "permanent rose" (which nowadays always means a magenta shade of quinacridone violet, PV19), or even when referring to pigments using the pigment color index name, the handling attributes of the paint can vary considerably depend on the pigment in the paint, due to differences in particle size, chemical purity, vehicle ingredients, manufacturing additives, and several other arcane factors. The quinacridone rose offered by the nine paint brands that I tested, all of them supposedly "the same" pigment, present significant differences in handling attributes from completely transparent to semiopaque, from moderately to heavily staining and they present equally large differences in hue, texture and lightfastness. Yet none of the "permanent rose" paints I tested came out as

"nonstaining," as MacKenzie claims! There are also broad differences in the brand style of different paint lines: Old Holland watercolors tend to be dull and gummy, and the gum makes them almost always lightly staining or completely nonstaining; M. Graham and Daniel Smith use a high pigment load which makes their colors darker and more staining; Daler-Rowney paints tend to be opaque while Utrecht paints are often the most transparent ... and so on. General declarations about paint "colors" "permanent rose is a nonstaining, transparent color" may seem to offer conclusive guidance, but they don't, unless you specify which pigment and brand of paint you mean. I've just argued that this page is not really worth reading ... but there is a long oral tradition among painters who like to categorize paints, and this page can serve as a brief guide or index to finding the pigments you want. The pigment listings on this page are based on the average attributes of each pigment across several brands (when applicable). Please refer to the ratings and the notes for specific brands of paint or pigments in the guide to watercolor pigments.

transparent
Many watercolor painters make an obsession, a fetish, of "transparent" paints. Yet with few exceptions, all watercolor paints will appear transparent if they are sufficiently diluted, or applied as a foundation layer in a painting. Some watercolorists claim that transparent watercolor pigments meet two specific criteria. First, that light passes completely through the pigment particles, is reflected by the paper, and passes through the paint layer a second time on its way to the viewer creating an effect "like light through a stained glass window." Second, that the paint remains transparent even when applied in many layered glazes. Some painters even go out of their way to build up glazed layers of paint in an attempt to emphasize this attribute.

The truth is that almost no modern watercolor pigment is transparent in the way watercolorists believe. For the gory details, see my discussion of the luminosity myth. The most transparent appearing pigments in use today the phthalocyanine blues and greens, hansa yellows, iron [prussian] blue, unadulterated quinacridones or ultramarine blue will create a visibly opaque discoloration if painted in several layers over a dark gray, waterproof ink or dried out on a black acrylic sheet. All other pigments have a refractive index greater than 1.5 meaning that they are more likely to scatter light at their surface, rather than transmit it like glass. When paints are properly diluted and skillfully applied in single, juicy brushstrokes and without fussing over the paint as it is drying the practical difference between "transparent" and "opaque" paints is negligible. In glazes made with diluted opaque colors, the indvidual pigment particles act much like the individual benday dots in a halftone image: the pigment particles (dots) absorb or reflect light directly, but because they do not completely cover the paper surface, the paper also reflects light of its own. The visual mixture of the two produces a luminous color effect. I rated paint transparency as the masstone hiding power of optimally diluted paint over solid black lines on white paper. The table shows the pigments rated most transparent around the 12 color points of the tertiary color wheel. (For background on the paints located at these color points, see the detailed notes to the visual color wheel.)

transparent pigments around the color wheel 1 light yellow hansa yellow light hansa yellow mediumm benzimidazolone lemon raw sienna m,d raw umber m,d quinacridone gold m isoindolinone yellow nickel azo yellow m burnt sienna m,d PY3 PY97 PY175 PBr7 PBr7 PO49 PY110 PY150 PBr7

deep yellow

red orange

burnt umber m,d quinacridone burnt orange pyrrole orange 4 red perylene maroon m quinacridone red m brown madder quinacridone magenta m anthraquinoid red quinacridone rose m quinacridone violet m cobalt violet deep m ultramarine violet m cobalt violet m ultramarine blue m,d phthalocyanine blue cobalt blue m,d phthalocyanine turquoise phthalocyanine cyan . phthalocyanine green BS viridian phthalocyanine green YS . .

PBr7 PO48 PO71 PR179 PR209 PR216 PR122 PR177 PV19 PV19 PV14 PV15 PV49 PB29 PB15 PB28 PB16 PB17 . PG7 PG18 PG36 . .

magenta

red violet

7 8 9 10 11

blue violet middle blue cyan blue turquoise blue green

12 .
m

yellow green neutral

varies by manufacturer: see individual paint ratings for transparency in the guide to watercolor pigments d transparent at moderate dilution

Unfortunately, many of the completely transparent pigments (rose madder, alizarin crimson, aureolin) are also impermanent, and the modern synthetic organic replacements are semitransparent to semiopaque. The repertory of paints used to achieve transparent effects has dwindled over time even as painting styles have evolved toward brighter colors and stronger value contrasts, which make atmospheric transparency less desirable anyway. In the guide to watercolor pigments, I have been conservative in assessments of transparency, and in many cases the paints identified as "semitransparent" (transparency rating of 3) will work quite well in

multiple glazes, especially when mixed with other semitransparent paints. Although they do not reach the transparency required in masstone, many of the earth pigments work well when applied in diluted washes or as foundation tints to semitransparent watercolors painted over them. Experiment in the context of your own painting methods, and determine what works for you.

opaque
In contrast to the transparent paints, the paints listed here create a powdery or veiling texture over anything underneath them, at almost any concentration except a diluted tint. In most cases, these paints have a relatively small pigment particle sizes or the pigment is unusually heavy in water, which means the pigment settles out of the paint solution relatively quickly and must be frequently stirred up with the brush while painting. Some artists refer to these as sedimentary paints as well as opaque. The common association of "muddy colors" with opaque paints is reinforced by the fact that many opaque pigments are among the dull "earth" hues yellow, orange or red. Despite the negative associations with "sediment" or "mud" in transparent watercolors, these opaque paints contain some of the most beautiful pigments available. All the cadmiums and many of the "earth" pigments are among the most commonly chosen pigments in artists' palettes, which clearly refutes the notion that transparent pigments are required for transparent watercolor painting. The key is in how much opaque colors are diluted, how thickly they are applied, whether they form the top or bottom layers of paint, and whether they contrast in hue or value with the colors used with them. Cadmium yellow will make a cloudy green if painted over a dark layer of phthalocyanine blue, but wonderfully glowing green if the phthalocyanine is painted on top.

The table shows the major opaque pigments around the 12 color points of the tertiary color wheel. (For background on the paints located at the tertiary color points, see the detailed notes to the visual color wheel.)

opaque pigments around the color wheel 1 light yellow arylide yellow G cadmium lemon m cadmium yellow light m nickel titanate yellow bismuth yellow magnesium ferrite naples yellow deep cadmium yellow cadmium yellow deep m mars yellow van dyke brown walnut brown cadmium orange m coral orange isoindoline orange pyrrole orange venetian red indian red cadmium scarlet m cadmium red m cadmium red deep m . . . . cerulean blue . cobalt green dark cobalt green [BS] chromium oxide cobalt green YS lamp black m graphite gray davy's gray chinese white PY1 PY35 PY35 PY53 PY184 PBr11 PBr24 PY35 PY35 PY119 PBr6 PBr33 PO20 PO67 PO69 PO73 PR101 PR101 PR108 PR108 PR108 . . . . PB35 . PG26 PG50 PG17 PG50 PBk6 PBk10 PBk19 PW4

deep yellow

red orange

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 .

red magenta red violet blue violet middle blue cyan blue turquoise blue green yellow green neutral

varies by manufacturer: see individual paint ratings for transparency in the guide to watercolor pigments

As with transparency, my evaluations of opacity are somewhat conservative: I only give a rating of 0 to paints that are really, really opaque (such as chromium oxide green or indian red). You may find some of the paints rated as opaque or semiopaque (ratings of 1 or 2) in the guide to watercolor pigments are still too dense for your purposes (most gouache paints get a 1 in the same rating system). Some painters counsel against mixing opaque paints with strongly staining paints, such as the phthalocyanine blues and greens. It's a complete misconception that "staining" pigments can somehow dye or attach themselves to "opaque" pigments when mixed. I've found that "mud" is actually not a problem of paint mixing, but of how the colors are applied with the brush: "opaque" paints especially should be laid down and left alone. Fussing with them will dull only the color, and destroy the subtle granulated or flocculating textures produced by evaporating water. I think opaque paints get a bum rap. You can get glorious watercolor effects by using them skillfully. As always, my suggestions are: think for yourself, experiment for yourself, and keep your eyes open to what pleases you.

nonstaining
The staining attributes of pigments are probably the most difficult to determine "objectively." The manufacturer of the pigment powder, the milling of the pigment, the vehicle formulation used by the paint manufacturer can all affect the staining power of a paint. Worse, staining usually means the staining effects on watercolor paper, but variations in paper furnish, finish, weight and sizing also affect significantly how deeply a paint penetrates the paper and how difficult it is to remove through sponging or scraping. Watercolor painters sometimes confuse "staining"

with tinting strength or "mixing strength" but these are not the same thing. Staining is an effect on a surface, such as paper; tinting strength is an effect in a liquid, such as water. Both are usually increased as the pigment particle size gets smaller. But it is possible to reduce staining, without reducing tinting strength, by using a larger quantity of gum arabic, and a smaller amount of dispersant or humectant, in the paint's backbone formulation. That said, nonstaining pigments tend to form a fairly consistent set, since a pigment that does not stain is rarely caused to stain by the paint formulation. (Iron oxide, cobalt and chrome pigments do vary in this way, however, because their staining power depends on the size of the pigment particles, which varies according to how the pigment was originally manufactured.) As with transparent paints, the list of truly nonstaining pigments has dwindled over time: many of the original nonstaining colors were made from fugitive natural organic pigments. Nearly all modern synthetic organic pigments stain to some degree, because of their small particle size and manufacturing chemicals added to inhibit pigment clumping. The table shows the major nonstaining pigments around the 12 color points of the tertiary color wheel. (For background on the paints located at the various color points, see the detailed notes to the visual color wheel.)

nonstaining pigments around the color wheel 1 2 light yellow deep yellow naples yellow raw sienna m magnesium ferrite yellow ochre burnt m yellow ochre m mars yellow m nickel dioxine yellow m methin nickel complex . . cobalt violet deep (hue) PBr7 PBr11 PR102 PY42 PY43 PY153 PO65 . . PV14

3 4 5 6

red orange red magenta red violet

manganese violet m cobalt violet 7 8 9 10 11 12 .

m

PV16 PV49 . PB28 PB33 PB35 . PG18 . .

blue violet middle blue cyan blue turquoise blue green yellow green neutral

. cobalt blue manganese blue cerulean blue m . viridian m . .

varies by paint manufacturer and type of paper used: see individual paint ratings for staining in the guide to watercolor pigments, and tests of staining on specific watercolor papers in the guide to watercolor papers

As with the other ratings, my evaluations of staining have been conservative, and you may find many paints listed as "lightly staining" (rating of 1) are more than acceptable for your purposes. See also the following list of staining pigments.

staining
Anyone who has cleaned a plastic paint palette after using phthalocyanine blue or dioxazine violet knows that a handful of paints stain quite heavily and very little can be done with the paper furnish or sizing to change that fact. These truly "staining" pigments are synthetic organics manufactured to submicron particle sizes that can actually adhere electrostatically to porous or nonporous substrates. The greater number of "staining" pigments are simply those with a very small particle size, which allows them to infiltrate tiny cavities or openings in the surfaces of paper, or plastics such as Yupo. The comments in the previous section on the relativity of staining judgments apply also to the pigments listed here, since some manufacturers (Old Holland) strive to buffer or reduce the staining power of pigments,

whereas others (M. Graham) do not. Rather than try to distinguish between pigments that vary by manufacturer and those that don't, I suggest you use the guide to watercolor pigments to confirm any rating of "strongly staining" for the manufacturer you prefer to use. The table shows the major staining pigments around the 12 color points of the tertiary color wheel. (For background on the paints located at these color points, see the detailed notes to the visual color wheel.)

strongly staining pigments around the color wheel

All vary significantly by manufacturer: see the guide to watercolor pigments for details

light yellow

cadmium lemon cadmium yellow hansa yellow medium benzimidazolone yellow benzimidazolone yellow benzimidazolone lemon bismuth yellow cadmium yellow deep hansa yellow deep zinc magnesium ferrite quinacridone gold benzimidazolone orange van dyke brown benzimidazolone brown disazo condensation brown cadmium orange pyrrole orange venetian red indian red cadmium scarlet naphthol scarlet quinacridone maroon disazo condensation scarlet pyrrole scarlet cadmium red naphthol AS red benzimidazolone carmine

PY35 PY35 PY97 PY151 PY154 PY175 PY184 PY35 PY65 PY119 PO49 PO62 PBr6 PBr25 PBr41 PO20 PO73 PR101 PR101 PR108 PR188 PR206 PR242 PR255

deep yellow

red orange

red

PR108 PR170 PR176

perylene red perylene maroon pyrrole red pyrrole crimson quinacridone carmine perylene violet 5 magenta thioindigo violet anthraquinone red quinacridone magenta quinacridone rose quinacridone violet benzimidazolone bordeaux dioxazine violet indanthrone blue phthalocyanine blue prussian blue phthalocyanine turquoise . phthalocyanine green BS phthalocyanine green YS cobalt green BS azomethine nickel complex oxide of chromium lamp black furnace black ivory black graphite gray magnetic black perylene green

PR178 PR179 PR254 PR264 PR%20N/A PV29 PR88 PR177 PR202 PV19 PV19 PV32 PV23 PB60 PB15 PB27 PB16 . PG7 PG36 PG50 PG10 PG17 PBk6 PBk7 PBk9 PBk10 PBk11 PBk31

6 7 8 9 10 11

red violet blue violet middle blue cyan blue turquoise blue green

12

yellow green

neutral

varies by paint manufacturer and type of paper used: see individual paint ratings for staining in the guide to watercolor pigments, and tests of staining on specific watercolor papers in the guide to watercolor papers

Most of these strongly staining pigments are synthetic organic or inorganic pigments produced by manufacturing methods developed over the past few decades. It's probably fair to say that watercolor paints overall have become much more staining and less transparent in recent decades. I think paper manufacturers have been laggard in

responding to the evolution of watercolor paints. There is much that could be done to make watercolor papers more congenial to lifting paint layers, and to holding pigment on the surface, but this would require refinement in paper materials (both pulp and sizing) and different methods of manufacture. Use the guide to watercolor papers to identify the sheets that respond best to lifting colors. Zerkall, for example, makes a wonderful watercolor paper that is in every respect up to the challenges offered by modern watercolor paints.

saturated
Compared to the saturation of watercolor pigments a century ago, modern watercolors offer some brilliant colors, all the better because they are also very lightfast. The table only shows the most saturated pigments around the 12 color points of the tertiary color wheel. The value of the highest saturation varies by hue, and there are some high chroma pigments that receive a relatively lower saturation rating because of their dark (or light) value. At each color point there may be other, similarly saturated pigments available; these alternatives are easy to identify on my artist's color wheel, and are described as "saturated" or "very saturated" in the guide to watercolor pigments.

saturated pigments around the color wheel 1 light yellow cadmium lemon cadmium yellow hansa yellow benzimidazolone yellow benzimidazolone orange cadmium yellow deep hansa yellow deep isoindolinone yellow R nickel dioxine yellow cadmium orange PY35 PY35 PY97 PY154 PO62 PY35 PY65 PY110 PY153 PO20

deep yellow

red orange

perinone orange pyrrole orange cadmium scarlet naphthol scarlet disazo condensation scarlet 4 red cadmium red quinacridone red pyrrole red pyrrole scarlet quinacridone carmine quinacridone magenta quinacridone rose cobalt violet ultramarine blue cobalt blue deep phthalocyanine blue cobalt blue phthalocyanine cyan manganese blue cobalt teal blue phthalocyanine green BS phthalocyanine green YS green gold phthalo yellow green .

PO43 PO73 PR108 PR188 PR242 PR108 PR209 PR254 PR255 PR%20N/A PR122 PV19 PV14 PB29 PB73 PB15 PB28 PB17 PB33 PG50 PG7 PG36 PG10 [hue] .

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

magenta red violet blue violet middle blue cyan blue turquoise blue green yellow green

.
m

neutral

varies by manufacturer

The natural tendency of the beginner is to choose the brightest, most saturated colors possible. This becomes counterproductive once the painter learns how fundamental dull, unsaturated colors are to an effective painting; with a bright palette, the painter must spend a lot of time mixing the saturated colors with their complements (or with burnt sienna, a real band aid color when it comes to adjusting other paints) in order to dull them.

earth

As a subdued complement to the saturated pigments, the "earth" palette consists of unsaturated, often sedimentary colors. Over time, this has become one of my favorite groups of pigments. Earth colors can be as powerful as more saturated paintings, because they seem to glow with a magical, diaphanous light. Just remember to dilute them down, as some of these paints are quite muddy at full strength. The earth colors are not popular in this age of gloss, acrylics and iridescence, but they have many positive attributes. They provide an effective painting framework for small touches of saturated color, which scintillate against the softer earth hues. Their mineral, slightly granular texture makes them easy to rewet and work with a brush to produce subtle gradations of tone almost like working pastels with a brush which makes them especially desirable in portrait flesh tones. They shift in value very little as they dry, making washes and mixtures easier to hit correctly on the first application. They remain effective colors even when diluted, whereas saturated colors can appear flimsy or flat as tints. Finally, they form more natural and varied color harmonies than more saturated colors, which can easily clash or jar through their brilliance. I've been inclusive in preparing this list; many of the pigments listed are not true earth colors, but all the colors work well together and all have the attributes just described. I wanted to offer a large enough list to encourage your exploration of these paints. Select a handful of paints, such as the earth palette described in the guide to watercolor pigments, and try a painting for yourself. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you get. The table shows the earth pigments around the 12 color points of the tertiary color wheel. (For background on the paints located at these color points, see the detailed notes to the visual color wheel.)

earth compatible pigments around the color wheel 1 light yellow raw umber PBr7

nickel titanate 2 deep yellow raw sienna chrome titanium oxide yellow ochre burnt gold ochre yellow ochre zinc magnesium ferrite van dyke brown burnt sienna burnt umber magnesium ferrite mars brown venetian red mars violet raw umber violet indian red perylene maroon thioindigo violet naphthamide maroon manganese violet cobalt violet cobalt violet deep ultramarine violet m indanthrone blue prussian blue cobalt blue manganese blue cerulean blue cerulean blue GS cobalt turquoise viridian cobalt green pale cobalt green dark cobalt green BS chromium oxide green cobalt green YS lamp black charcoal black magnetic black davy's gray chinese white buff titanium white

PY53 PBr7 PBr24 PR102 PY42 PY43 PY119 PBr6 PBr7 PBr7 PBr11 PR101 PR101 PBr7 PBr7 PR101 PR179 PR88 PR171 PV16 PV49 PV14 PV15 PB60 PB27 PB28 PB33 PB35 PB36 PB36 PG18 PG19 PG26 PG50 PG17 PG50 PBk6 PBk8 PBk11 PBk19 PW4 PW6

red orange

red

5 6 7

magenta red violet blue violet

8 9

middle blue cyan blue

10 11

turquoise blue green

12 .

yellow green neutral

varies by manufacturer

Remember that these pigments in general, but the warm earths in particular, are effective when strongly diluted. Although they are not exactly transparent colors, they become transparent when used as tints, and can produce some wonderfully evocative, atmospheric results. See, for example, the paintings by Trevor Chamberlain to appreciate what can be done with this kind of palette.

textured
Some pigments do not dry to the smooth finish we know from housepaints: they form subtle textures, caused by the size and shape of the pigment particles. Textured pigments are relatively out of fashion today. In the effort to emulate the brilliance of acrylics or the precision of photography, textured pigments are often seen as undesirable. I love these paints. To me an expressive resource unique to watercolors lies in the subtle textures of granulating paints left undisturbed to dry. Using them effectively requires skill and self control once you lay them down, you should let them dry without retouching! but I think they are well worth the effort. The table shows the major flocculating or granulating pigments around the 12 color points of the tertiary color wheel. It also lists some characteristically transparent or smooth pigments that can, if applied near full strength, produce a texturing effect that is caused by an unusually strong color contrast between different sized globules or clumps of paint. These are indicated by an asterisk (*). For background on the paints located at these color points, see the detailed notes to the visual color wheel.

textured pigments around the color wheel 1 light yellow azomethine nickel complex* cadmium yellow m nickel titanium yellow azomethine copper complex* raw sienna*m raw umber* magnetic black quinacridone gold* cadmium yellow m yellow ochre*m zinc magnesium ferrite nickel azo yellow* van dyke brown burnt sienna m burnt umber permanent brown* walnut brown* translucent brown* cadmium orange m mars red cadmium scarlet m perylene scarlet* disazo condensation red* methin nickel complex* pyranthrone red deep* quinacridone pink cobalt violet deep manganese violet cobalt violet light ultramarine blue indanthrone blue* cobalt blue deep cobalt violet deep ultramarine violet prussian blue*m cobalt blue m manganese blue cerulean blue cobalt turquoise cobalt teal blue viridian cobalt green pale PG10 PY35 PY53 PY117 PBr7 PBr7 PBr11 PO49 PY35 PY43 PY119 PY150 PBr6 PBr7 PBr7 PBr25 PBr33 PBr41 PO20 PR101 PR108 PR149 PR242 PO65 PR216 PV42 PV14 PV16 PV49 PB29 PB60 PB73 PV14 PV15 PB27 PB28 PB33 PB35 PB36 PG50 PG18 PG19

deep yellow

red orange

4 5 6

red magenta red violet

blue violet

8 9 10 11

middle blue cyan blue turquoise blue green

terre verte m cobalt green deep cobalt green BS 12 . yellow green neutral cobalt green YS vine black ivory black graphite gray magnetic black

PG23 PG26 PG50 PG50 PBk8 PBk9 PBk10 PBk11

varies by manufacturer: see the ratings of paint granulation or texture in the guide to watercolor pigments

This list attempts to be comprehensive. There is a wide variety of texturing effects possible with watercolors; these pigments do not respond to wet-in-wet applications the same way. Pigment textures also vary considerably by manufacturer. I urge you to explore and learn to pay attention to the subtle textures of paints after they have dried. Many expressive resources are available through their thoughtful application.

combining paints in a palette

So, after providing you with these tables of pigment attributes, it's worthwhile to consider how pigments should be combined in a palette. The primary question is how consistently you paint in a single style, and what that style is. If you are a flashy modernist, then saturated paints are probably best for you; if you do a lot of lifting or sponging of color, then earth or texturing pigments are probably more interesting to you than staining pigments. I don't share Kosvanec's specific prohibitions about combining pigments (for example, to avoid mixing a staining pigment with an opaque pigment). I agree that you may want to decide for yourself which pigments work well together but this always needs to be considered within a specific artistic style. Creating broad prescriptions is only a way to narrow the opportunities of art.

And if you paint in different styles, or different types of paper, then the preferences you establish in one approach may not work in others. This means selecting "good all purpose paints" as the core of your palette, with a few added paints for special effects you love. I've described the palettes of many working artists in the section on palette paintings. That may be a good place to start your search. Look for painting styles that intrigue you, study the palettes those artists use, and take those as a point of departure for your own explorations and experimentations. Art is about your personal temperament. Choose what gives you pleasure.
Last revised 11.12.2007 2007 Bruce MacEvoy

intro
1 monochrome 2 velzquez classical 3 "primary" triad chuck long marlies najaka 4 split "primary" nita engle michael rocco lucy willis mel stabin 5 artists' "primaries" charles leclair jeanne dobie trevor chamberlain dale laitinen liz donovan 6 secondary carol carter jim kosvanec 7 modernized paul sign

palette paintings
It's easier to understand a painter's palette if you see it both as an abstract pattern on the color wheel, and "in action" as a finished painting. This section presents a gallery of very different palettes and a painting by the artist who uses them. Palettes aren't merely a mechanism to mix colors: they must harmonize with a style of painting. "Photorealist" painters typically use rather small brushes and do not include granulating paints on their palettes, because pigment granulation conflicts with the aim of exactly controlling the color textures. Other artists prefer granulating paints and large, juicy brushstrokes because these produce unpredictable, expressive texture effects. Still others build their paintings through the patient layering of glazes, and therefore want a palette of transparent colors. A painter's palette embodies the logic of his technique. Besides stylistic or technical considerations, all artists must cope with the four fundamental palette limitations in value range, chroma range, pigment attributes, and mixing inconvenience. These limitations become more acute on smaller palettes, especially those that adhere to the "primary" triad palette and its offspring, the split "primary" palette. How a painter responds to these limitations is also a reflection of her technique. Interestingly, the artists who most emphasize the accurate representation of value and light, such as Jean Grastorf or Nita Engle, often have the most restricted palettes of all a dozen or fewer paints. Color variety can detract from the control an artist wants to achieve. Artists who become exuberant colorists, or who tackle subjects (such as botanical or floral motifs) that invite intense and contrasted colors, often expand their palettes. It's the rare floral artist who (like Marlies Najaka) only uses a baker's dozen of paints. Jim Kosvanec uses two dozen or so paints, and Joseph Raffael may use 40 or more different paints in a single massive watercolor. In part, this is because hues spaced closer together on the hue circle create more saturated color mixtures, so more paints means

palettes

maximum color intensity. But frequently the main attraction is the contrasting character of the pigments themselves, which the painters use as pure color, without much mixing. Often a large number of paints signals the artist's desire to accent pigment variety. Blue paints in particular fleecy ultramarine blue, moody iron or indanthrone blue, shimmering cobalt blue, liquid phthalocyanine blue, and roughly granulating cerulean blue are oversampled for their textural contrasts. Artists with a meticulous painting technique are sensitive to the handling attributes of different paints staining vs. nonstaining, transparent vs. opaque, saturated vs. muted and this usually leads to a larger selection of paints. Despite the fussy and pointless prohibition against using black paints in "transparent" watercolors, many of the artists included here, like Chuck Long or Michael Rocco, choose one or more "black" paints (usually convenience mixtures such as sepia, neutral tint, payne's gray or indigo that consist primarily of a carbon black pigment tinted with a staining pigment) to extend the palette's value range into the deepest darks. And most artists even those such as Lucy Willis who adhere to a split "primary" palette choose a convenience green permanent green, hooker's green, sap green or olive green to provide a dark, muted green without mixing. Despite the watercolorist's conventional wisdom, no paint company makes its green paints by mixing yellow and blue, so there is no reason artists should reject a green paint on their palette. Four issues seem to influence the design of a palette, separate from the demands of an artist's style: emphasis on "primary" colors: some artists rely on a mixing framework built explicitly on the so called "primary" colors. This is always the concept behind any palette that lacks violet, orange and/or green paints. The minimal form is the three paint primary triad palette, which in the right hands is capable of beautifully subdued and harmonious paintings. Most artists instead build their palettes on the split "primary" foundation, which consists of three pairs of red, yellow, and blue pigments a "warm" and "cool"

color in each pair. "Primary" color palettes have the interesting attribute of emphasizing the control of color temperature within a hue span, while producing relatively dull (though often lifelike) color mixtures in the oranges, violets and greens. Nita Engle and Michael Rocco, whose very different painting styles disguise their common interest in the effects of light and atmosphere, both use a modified split primary palette. However there are many minimal or restricted palettes (such as the Trevor Chamberlain or Velzquez palettes) that work very well without any particular focus on "primary" colors. balance of warm/cool colors: the warm/cool contrast is the spine of our color perception, a kind of "metacomplementary" contrast anchored in natural light. Although warm colors typically predominate over cool in modern palettes, artists differ greatly in how much they emphasize this difference: some artists choose many more warm than cool colors, while others choose their paints to produce chromatic balance on the two sides of the hue circle. maximum color intensity: palettes became brighter (more saturated) in the middle 19th century, during the Victorian era, a change that appears clearly if you compare the 18th century classical palette or the economical Velzquez palette with many of the modern palettes shown here. But not all: both Trevor Chamberlain omits a highly saturated yellow paint, and other artists omit a saturated orange, red, violet or green paint. A preference for subdued rather than intense color mixtures also appears in the choice of "earth" (iron oxide) pigments, which formed the core of the classical palette: some artists, such as Liz Donovan, include several iron oxide paints (siennas, ochres, umbers, reds or earths), while others (Chuck Long or Lucy Willis) omit them almost entirely. number of paints: some artists, such as Chuck Long or Jeanne Dobie, manage with a relatively small but well balanced choice of paints, and the minimalist artist's primaries, split primary or secondary palettes carry this preference to an extreme. In contrast, colorist artists prefer an ample palette, and the tertiary color wheel often forms the basic footprint. In some cases the paint choices seem intended to permit mixing directly on the paper the ample selection of greens

included in the palette by Mel Stabin, for example. In other cases, such as Carol Carter's large palette, the selection seems designed simply to provide the most intense colors possible, used unmixed on the page. Want to analyze a palette for yourself? It's easy to do: (1) Make a printout or copy of the key to the palette scheme. (2) Lay a blank piece of paper on top, and trace the outline of the color circle and the twelve color spokes within it. (3) Go through the artist's palette, one paint at a time, and identify the pigment in each paint. Use the complete palette to find the color category where that paint belongs. (For convenience mixtures, guess the most appropriate color category based on the pigments it contains.) (4) Use the key to the palette scheme to locate that color in the color wheel. Mark the spot with a diamond, and write in the name of the color. Do this for every paint. Surprisingly, the artists profiled here are sometimes slow to change their palettes when this means giving up a favorite but fugitive pigment. Many art books still recommend the use of aureolin, alizarin crimson and rose madder genuine, even though these are unsuitable for museum or gallery quality artworks. However, as these choices are an intimate part of an artist's approach, I've let their recommendations stand rather than insert my substitutes (benzimidazolone yellow PY154, perylene maroon PR179, quinacridone rose PV19) for the same pigments. In a few cases I've silently edited the artist's selection of a discontinued paint with the manufacturer's own replacement color or the closest equivalent I know of: quinacridone maroon for brown madder alizarin, benzimidazolone orange for chrome orange, and so on.
Last revised 08.01.2005 2005 Bruce MacEvoy