Ultramarine PB29 watercolours under the spotlight.

One of my most popular posts to date is a watercolour comparison of blues with 43581 views. While I have these comparisons on my website a well, I thought I'd update these and also post some key pigment comparisons all photographed in the same light at the same time as specific spotlight posts. These photographs are taken under 'sunlight' bulbs with no adjustment.

Ultramarine is made with PB29. It may be called French Ultramarine, Ultramarine Deep, Light or otherwise, but it is almost always a single pigment, granulating and liftable colour. It may be a little more on the purple side (warmer) or a little more on the green side (cooler) but it's an incredibly useful colour to have.

French Ultramarine is often the more purple version, if there is more than one in a range. I don't tend to have more than one version of this pigment, though if you wanted to get two that were very contrasting you might look at Old Holland Ultramarine Blue Deep - which is perhaps the most purple and granulating, compared with Schmincke Ultramarine finest which is the least granulating and a little more on the green side.

Ultramarine Blue Watercolours: Ultramarine - Art Spectrum, French Ultramarine Blue Deep - Blockx, French Ultramarine Light - Blockx, Ultramarine Blue - Daniel Smith, French Ultramarine - Daniel Smith.

Ultramarine Blue Watercolours: French Ultramarine Permanent (RS) - Da Vinci, Ultramarine Blue - Da Vinci, Ultramarine (Green Shade) - Da Vinci, French Ultramarine - Daler Rowney, Permanent Blue - Daler Rowney.

Ultramarine Blue Watercolours: Ultramarine Light - Holbein, Ultramarine Deep - Holbein, Ultramarine Blue Light - Lukas, Ultramarine Blue Deep - Lukas, Ultramarine Blue - M.Graham.

Ultramarine Blue Watercolours: Ultramarine Light - Mission Gold, Ultramarine Deep - Mission Gold, Ultramarine Blue Deep - Old Holland, Olutramarine Blue - Old Holland, French Ultramarine Light Extra - Old Holland.

Schmincke introduced French Ultramarine in 2017. It is a lovely and very granulating version, quite different from their Ultramarine Finest, which I think is the least granulating ultramarine available.

Ultramarine Blue Watercolours: Ultramarine Blue - QoR, Ultramarine Deep - Rembrandt, French Ultramarine - Rembrandt, Ultramarine Finest - Schmincke, French Ultramarine - Schmincke (new 2017)

Ultramarine Blue Watercolours: Ultramarine Deep - MaimeriBlu, Lutramarine Light - MaimeriBlu, Ultramarine Deep - Sennelier, French Ultramarine Blue - Senelier, Ultramarine Light - Sennelier.

Ultramarine Blue Watercolours: Ultramarine - St Petersburg, Ultramarine Blue - Schmincke, Ultramarine - White Nights, Ultramarine (Green Shade) Winsor & Newton, French Ultramarine Blue - Winsor & Newton.

Ultramarine Blue Watercolours: Ultramarine Blue Deep - Wallace Seymour. 

'Drawing Attention' - the Urban Sketching Zine.

The Urban Sketchers organisation, which was 10 last year, is going from strength to strength. The monthly newsletter has been redesigned to an informative 'zine' that is packed with information, gorgeous photos and plenty of live links. I am delighted to have been featured in February but I'd encourage anyone interested in urban sketching to subscribe as all the USk events and workshops are being listed in the zine.

Here is the link to subscribe http://www.urbansketchers.org/p/drawingattention.html

Here is the link to the January edition, featuring Rob Sketcherman, Deborah Rehmat, Liz Steel and Lynn Chapman.

And to February,  featuring Marion Rivolier, Marc Taro Holmes and me.

The organisation is gearing up for the next symposium in Porto this July - registration will be open soon - on the 17th February at 15.00 hours GMT - and another series of 10x10 workshops are being offered in many cities around the world. I'm busy working on the next series for Sydney. Hopefully we'll have a great range of workshops to choose from by the end of this month.

Happy Sketching.