Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - complete set

I had painted swatches of a few Mission Gold colours previously, is seen here, but have now had a chance to try the whole range. This is an interesting brand, made my Mijello of Korea. There are 105 colours but they are largely mixed hues created with very few pigments. There are no cadmiums or genuine ceruleans and the only genuine cobalt is Cobalt Blue. The paints are very predictable to work with, in the sense that they re-wet with the touch of a brush and brush out bright and strong, with very little granulation and very little drying shift.

If you love bright colours and are starting out in watercolours, this could be an interesting range to try, though I certainly wouldn't recommend getting the full range, just the single pigment colours. Personally, I miss the granulation that I love as only a couple granulate at all.

October 2018 - The swatches were originally painted out in a rather random order, but I have re-photographed them in a more useful order.  I'll add them all to my website soon. Here is the full colour chart, with the meanings of the symbols. 

If choosing a limited palette of largely single pigment colours, Lemon Yellow or Permanent Yellow Light would be possible cool to mid choices.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Chinese White, Titanium White, Lemon Yellow, Aureolin, Permanent Yellow Light.

I like PY65 as a warm yellow option. 

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Gamboge, Indian Yellow, Permanent Yellow Deep, Yellow Orange, Orange.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Red Orange, Autumn Red, Scarlet Lake, Vermilion, Permanent Red Light.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Permanent Red, Permenant Red Deep, Rose Madder, Rubine,
Permanent Alizarin Crimson.

Permanent Rose is an excellent pigment choice for a primary or cool red.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Perylene Maroon, Cherry Red, Permaent Rose, Compose Opera, Bright Opera.

Most of the purples and violets contain PR122 so Permanent Magenta is a great mixing colour.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Bright Rose, Compose Rose, Permanent Magenta, Red Violet, Crimson Lake.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Bright Violet, Compose Violet, Violet Lake, Bright Clear Violet,
Ultramarine Violet.

Indanthrone Blue is a beautiful deep warm blue, however this sample didn't paint out very nicely.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Mijello Blue, Compose Violet Deep, Shadow Violet, Blue Violet, Indanthrone Blue.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Ultramarine Blue, Ultramarine Light, Cobal Blue #2, Coblat Blue #1,
Prussian Blue.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Manganese Blue, Cerulean Blue, Marine
Blue, Indigo, Peacock Blue

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Bamboo Green, Chromium Oxide Green, Hooker's Green, Permanent Green No 2, Permanent Green No 1

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Sap Green, Olive Green, Yellow Green, Leaf Green, Greenish Yellow.

 Yellow Ochre No 2 is the only single pigment earth yellow in this range.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Green Gold, Yellow Ochre No 1, Yellow Ochre No 2, Raw Sienna, Gold Brown.

Burnt Sienna is a real problem in this range - it is more like a Quinacridone Gold hue and not useful to mix with ultramarine and other blues to create interesting greys as one would normally do.

Red Brown PBr25 is used in a number of the Mission Gold mixes and is an interesting alternative to the more opaque Indian Red in the palette. 

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Naples Yellow Deep, Burnt Sienna, Light Red, Red Brown, Indian Red. 

Van Dyke Brown is a good rich chocolate brown.

Mission Gold Watercolours my Mijello - Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna No 2

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Payne's Grey, Neutral Tint, Ivorry Black, Bluish Pearl, Yellowish Pearl.

 The tints - all these tints have some white in them and have a bit of a feeling of gouache.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Naples Yellow, Jaune Brilliant No 1, Jaune Brilliant No 2, Shell Pink, Brilliant Pink

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Lilac, Violet Grey, Lavender, Verditer Blue, Blue Grey.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Horizon Blue, Compose Blue,  Cobalt Turquoise, Turquoise Blue, Cobalt Green.

Mission Gold Watercolours by Mijello - Green Grey, Emerald Green, Melon Green, Davy's Grey, Yellow Grey,
Grey of Grey.

 I enjoyed painting out these colours as they are very vibrant and 'well-behaved'. They disperse well in water and are easy to paint with, making them very consistent and predictable, as stated in the website. That will appeal to a lot of people. I admit they don't appeal to me - I enjoy playing with a whole range of characteristics in watercolour, not just the colour - but if colour alone is your goal, these are an excellent choice.

The pigments have been improved since the range was first introduced and are now more light-fast. I think they would suit those wishing to work with a full gamut palette, as the range of earth colours is limited. 

If you wanted to create a basic set I would consider Green Gold PY150 or Lemon Yellow PY3 as your cool yellow, Permanent Yellow Deep as your warm and Yellow Ochre as your earth yellow.

For reds look at Scarlet Lake for warm and Permanent Rose for cool (or Permanent Magenta PR122 if you love that pigment) I'd add Rose Madder for a crimson as well.

For blues look at Cerulean Blue (hue) PB15:3 as a cool phthalo blue and Ultramarine Light PB29 as the warm.  

For greens, only to be used for mixing, I'd suggest Viridian (hue) PG7, which is phthalo green BS and neutralises a crimson, and/or Bamboo Green PG36, which is Phthalo Green YS, and neutralises PR122 and PV19.

The earths are tricky, but I'd look at Yellow Ochre PY42 as mentioned, Red Brown PBr25 or Indian Red PR101 as an earth red. I'd probably add Van Dyke Brown as a deep brown and make my own custom version of a burnt sienna with the Yellow Ochre and Red Brown.

Happy painting and thank you to Winifred for the samples :-)

Mission Gold watercolours

I have continued to test various brands of watercolours and add all the samples to my website here so you can compare them side by side.

Some of the latest I have tried are Mission Gold watercolours from Korea, which were launched a few years ago. They are made by Mijello, who have also created some very innovative palettes. Initially they had a number of fugitive pigments and have reformulated many of their colours. They now have a range of 105 colours, some of which are lovely, but you would have to pick and choose what you might try and read not only the colour name but also the pigment numbers as otherwise you'll get a number of surprises!

Take Burnt Sienna for example. This should be made from PBr7 - though often the transparent PR101 is used - and should be a neutral orange that is useful alone or mixed with Ultramarine to make a huge range of hues, including great greys and deep warm browns.

Mission Gold Burnt Sienna looks like a deep Quinacridone Gold hue - there's no way this would make greys with Ultramarine! It is made from PBr25, PR112 and PY150 - all perfectly good pigments but not burnt sienna PB7. Why? No idea. It's a lovely colour but it isn't Burnt Sienna.

On the other hand - Prussian Blue, also picture left, is exactly what you'd expect - a cool, slightly neutralised blue, made from PB27.




I scanned these in a fairly random order, but you can see Permanent Red (PR112), Permanent Yellow Deep (PY65), Prussian Green (PB27 + PG7), Crimson Lake (PR202), Cobalt Blue #2 (PB28) - this is Genuine cobalt blue, Cobalt Blue #1 (PB29 +PB15:3) - this is a hue that doesn't resemble cobalt blue in any way. Why? Once again, it's not helpful.

Then there are two versions of Ultramarine: Ultramarine Light which is a regular PB29, and a slightly warmer version with PV15 added called Ultramarine Deep. They are not different enough to need both though I prefered the single pigment version.

I've also tried the Lemon Yellow PY3, Vermilion PR112 + PO73, Permanent Magenta PR122 and these all painted out beautifully. The last of this set, Cerulean Blue PB15:3 is a standard phthalo blue and should be called Phthalo Blue - it's nothing like a Cerulean.

Permanent Red Deep is a gorgeous deep red - almost a crimson - that also painted out beautifully.

Looking at the colour chart, there are very few earth colours that are not a mixture of pigments. Once again I don't understand this. Earth pigments are wonderful and not expensive - why fiddle with them?

What I found interesting though is that these paints claim to have a small drying shift, and they do dry very bright. It makes me wonder exactly what binder is being used as there is normally quite a large drying shift in watercolours.

Update April 2016 - I now have samples of all the 105 colours so will update this blog here and my website soon.







See more watercolour ranges here:

Art Spectrum watercolours here
Blockx full range of Watercolours here
Daler Rowney Artists' Watercolours here
Daniel Smith new colours 2017 here
Daniel Smith full range here
Da Vinci range here
Dr PH Hydrus Watercolours here
Lukas watercolours here
M.Graham watercolours here
MaimeriBlu full range here
Mission Blue full range here
Old Holland full range here
QoR watercolours here
Rembrandt Watercolours here
Schmincke new colours 2017 here
Schmincke full range here
Sennelier watercolours here
St Petersburg Watercolours here
Wallace Seymour Artists Watercolours here
White Nights watercolours here
Winsor & Newton Full range here

Only Holbein to go...