Watercolour Comparisons 3 - primary red

Primary Red (and excellent Cool Red option)

I use four reds in my regular palette - a warm, a cool, an earth and a crimson for convenience. You can see all these colours and many other reds in my website here.

In a limited palette what you need is a red that will make oranges mixed with yellow AND purples mixed with blue. It's rather hard to find but the best options I have come across are either Quinacridone Rose (PV19, also called Permanent Rose and available in most brands), Quinacridone Red (also made with PV19), Quinacridone Magenta (PR122 available in a range of brands) or some of the crimsons, though they tend to make slightly more neutralised purples and oranges than the quinacridones. 

I'm going to focus on the Quinacridones first. To be really useful, you want to be able to wash the colour out to a pink, and both PV19 and PR122 will do that. Both will mix to make stunning purples, and both will mix to make lovely oranges and reds and even crimsons. So if you are looking for a primary triad, either Quin rose or Quin magenta will work fine along with the previously posted ultramarine and mid yellow. They will both also act as a cool red in an expanded palette, so a great starting colour if you are building up a palette of Artist grade colours.

One of my quinacridones pages - Rose, Pink and Magenta in a range of brands, painted in a Moleskine Watercolour book.

Rose Colours painted in a Stillman & Birn Beta book.

I tested a number of brands of PV19 and PR122 paints, as well as a couple of other cool red quinacridones. Quinacridone Red (DS) paints out beautifully, Schmincke Purple Magenta was my favourite of the PR122 version. Quinacridone Rose is lovely in most brands. Da Vinci also makes two versions - a Red Rose Deep (Quinacridone) and Permanent Rose (Quinacridone) using PV19 that are both very nice. (See left)

Quinacridone Rose, Red, Pink, Fuchsia and Magenta pigment swatches.

My favourite of the PR122 range was Purple Magenta, Schmincke, as it was nice and strong and painted out well. Below is the same pigment in Winsor and Newton. It's a great colour. The only downside for me is that I find the magenta colour less useful unmixed than a rose, which is why I ended up using Quin rose in my palette.

Notice how PR122 it makes lovely purples, strong crimsons and reds as well as gorgeous oranges. PV19 is very similar in use, the only difference being its strength making a crimson. If you have a crimson in your palette as well, as I do in an expanded palette, you can use either. Notice that the range of purples and oranges created are rather similar, so in a limited palette you only need the mid yellow and the Ultramarine, or you might go with a CYM palette and use a mid yellow, Quinacridone Magenta PR122 and Phthalo Blue GS.

Quinacridone Magenta PR122 mixed with Hansa Yellow Medium, New Gamboge, Quinacridone Gold, Ultramarine, Phthalo blue RS and Cerulean, painted in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

Finally I would like to look at some Crimsons that can be used as a primary Red. I think of crimson as a convenience colour since it can be created by mixing a warm red or yellow with magenta, but it is a useful colour as well and as stated above, some versions are useful as a single red in a limited palette. Of all the ones I tested the best of these were Carmine by DS, Alizarin Crimson (Quinacridone) by Da Vinci and Permanent Alizarin by Winsor and Newton. I like these colours as they all wash out to a pink so will make clear purples. Not as clear as the PV19 or PR122, but pretty good! If you want a powerful crimson that is not used for making bright purples Pyrrol Crimson (DS) and Anthraquinoid Red (DS) are lovely. And for a mixed pigment version of a permanent Alizarin, the DS version is also lovely.

Crimson watercolour swatches.

And here is Carmine in a limited palette paint-out compared with Quinacridone Magenta.

Daniel Smith Hansa Yellow Light, Carmine and Ultramarine 

Notice the strength of the crimson colour in the top version, and the very strong reds and oranges. In the Schmincke triad with PR122 the purples are even more beautiful.

If you start with a mid yellow, Ultramarine Blue and a Quinacridone Rose/magenta/crimson, you can mix an amazing array of colours.

Add to these a warm red, a warm yellow and a cool blue and you expand the range tremendously, though I'd add Burnt Sienna first! That will be my next watercolour comparisons post...

Schmincke Pure Yellow, Purple Magenta and Ultramarine Finest

Next up - Burnt Sienna options

Watercolour Comparisons 1 - Ultramarine Blue here

Watercolour Comparisons 2 - mid yellows here

Watercolour Comparisons 3 - Primary Red here

Watercolour Comparisons 4 - Burnt Sienna here

Watercolour Comparisons 5 - Greens (Single Pigment, convenience mixes and special effect) here

Watercolour Comparisons 6 - Reds (Cool, mid and warm) here

Watercolour Comparisons 7 - Yellows (cool mid and warm) here

Watercolour Comparisons 8 - Blues here