Watercolor Paints:
Everything You Need to Know!

The watercolor paints you use is a personal choice, but a very important one. Always buy the best professional grade paint you can afford. Before I talk about brands, I want to go over the basics.

Watercolor paint is made up of Pigments suspended in a Medium. Some pigments are natural and inorganic, most of which are safe. But some are made up of metals like , Cobalt, Cadmium Chrome, Zinc and other metals and may not be safe.

Today some paints are made of Synthetic inorganics distilled from oil and some are made from other chemicals like nitrobenzene aniline. Inorganic comes from the ground and is processed; synthetics are produced by chemical interaction or heating.

Light-fastness is another important element in choosing a watercolor paint. Light-fastness refers to the ability of the pigment used in the paint to resist fading or color change when exposed to light. Some of the pigments used are considered toxic and pose a real problem for artists that use them. The risk is that the pigment particles can be breathed in or absorbed through the skin.

Today this problem is reduced by the National Bureau of Standards who set up the paint standard known as the Commercial Standard 98-42 in 1942. In 1962 it was revised to 98-62 to include modern processes and paints as well as impact on the environment.

This all lead to the ASTM-American Society for Testing and Materials in 1976. The ASTM set up standards so an artist can see what’s in a watercolor paint as well as other important information listed on every tube of paint we buy. I find reading the labels and testing new paint keeps me out of trouble.

There is one more tool I use and that is Hilary Page's Guide to Watercolor Paints. In this book various colors and brands of waterclor paints are compared. I see the ASTM rating, the color index name, and composition of the pigment. There are notes of interest about the pigment, The book includes samples that show me the opaqueness or luminosity of the paint; how it covers a pencil line and what it will do wet on wet (crawl and shoots across the paper). Hilary Page’s book gives an overall rating for each paint. This is a very useful book to have in your library and it is available at Amazon.com: Hilary Page's Guide to Watercolor Paints

I think all of us artists have experimented with a lot of paint to find what we like and what works best for us. I like Windsor-Newton as well as Schmincke-Horadam. I keep a log of paint I’ve tied and notes I think I need in the future putting them in their color groups. Here are my current choices of colors for my art palette:

Blacks

• Payne’s Gray (S)
• Blue Black (S)
• Ivory Black (S)
• Charcoal Gray (S)
• Neutral Tint (S)
• Neutral Gray (S)
• Payne’s Gray Bluish (S)
• Payne’s Gray (W)
• Davy’s Gray (W)
• Neutral Tint (W)

Yellows & Orange

• Titanium Yellow (S)
• Pure Yellow (S)
• Cadmium Orange Deep (S)
• Transparent Orange (S)
• Vanadium Yellow (S)
• Cadmium Lemon (W)
• Cadmium Yellow (W)
• New Gamboge (W)

Blues

• Phthalo Blue (S)
• Cobalt Blue Deep (S)
• Mountain Blue (S)
• Helio Turquoise (S)
• Helio Cerulean (S)
• Delft Blue (S)
• Indanthrene Blue (W)
• Cobalt Turquoise (W)
• Winsor Blue (red shade) (W)
• Antwerp Blue (W)
• Cerulean Blue (W)
• French Ultramarine (W)

Reds

• Winsor Red (W)
• Ruby Red (S)
• Cadmium Red (W)
• Quinacridone Magenta (W)
• Alizarin Crimson (W)
• Quinacridone Red (W)
• Scarlet Lake (W)

Purples

• Thioindigo Violet (W)
• Ultramarine Violet (W)
• Cobalt Violet (W)

Greens

• Prussian Green (S)
• Olive Green Yellowish (S)
• Hookers Green (S)
• Sap Green (S)
• Green Yellow (S)
• Winsor Emerald (W)
• Oxide of Chromium (W)
• Hookers Green (yellow shade) (W)
• Olive Green (W)
• Green Gold (W)

Browns

• Gold Brown (S)
• Vandyke Brown (S)
• Sepia Brown (S)
• Burnt Umber (S)
• Raw Umber (S)
• Translucent Brown (S)
• Titanium Gold Ochre (S)
• Yellow Ochre (W)
• Raw Sienna (W)
• Raw Umber (W)
• Burnt Umber (W)

* (S) = Schmincke, Horadam * (W) = Winsor & Newton

Both Winsor & Newton Artists' Watercolors and Schmincke Horadam Aquarell Watercolors are available online from Dick Blick Art Materials.

That’s it for my color palette for now. You may have noted a few colors of the same name from different company. There are subtle differences in them—test a few for yourself and you’ll see what I mean. My choice of paper, paints, brushes and other supplies are based on my experience and personal preference. If you have questions please contact me.


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