Quinacridone Gold Hues

Quinacridone Gold could be considered a non-essential colour, but it very quickly became one of my personal go-to favourites when I first tried the Daniel Smith PO49 version back in about 1995. I think it was the first company to produce the colour, and I loved not only the way it mixed, but also the gorgeous glow it could add to a painting. I've also tried a PO49 version from Winsor & Newton, but otherwise only hues from other manufactures.

It is brighter than most earth yellows, but more neutralised that most warm yellows so is a neutralised warm yellow. It's perfect for making the gorgeous dull greens of the Australian landscape.

This year saw the end of the world's PO49 supply that Daniel Smith bought up about 17 years ago, when the car industry lost interest in the beautiful pigment and production ceased. The last batch was produced in September. Though I did see some available in dry pigment form in New York...(see edit below)

Since PO49 has run out, I thought I'd post up a sample of different versions for comparison.

The first has the yellower Nickel Quinacridone Gold from M.Graham, followed by the new (2017) Schmincke Quinacridone Gold Hue and the QoR Quinacridone Gold. PY150 is a perfect base for this colour hue and it appears in all versions.

M.Graham Nickel Quinacridone Gold, Schmincke Quinacridone Gold Hue, QoR Quinacridone Gold.

Next are Quinacridone Gold Hue from Daniel Smith introduced in 2015 for 5ml tubes and sticks, and now used in 15ml tubes. This hue was used in the mixes (including Sap green and Undersea green) from that time instead of PO49. Next shown are the genuine PO49 from Daniel Smith and the genuine PO49 from Winsor & Newton (also no longer available).

Daneil Smith Quinacridone Gold, Daniel smith Quinacridone Gold (PO49), Winsor & Newton Quinacridone Gold (PO49)

And finally the Winsor & Newton three pigment hue which looks ok in this sample but is often very dull, the three pigment Sennelier hue and the deeper and more orange Da Vinci hue.

Winsor & Newton Quinacridone Gold, Sennelier Quinacridone gold, Da Vinci Quinacridone Gold.

They are all very similar, though the W&N is less bright due to the PV19 and the Da Vinci is deeper - almost like a PO48 Quin Gold deep. As always, it's hard to show on the screen.

My favourite mix is PY150 plus PR101 (DS transparent red oxide, DS Burnt Sienna Light or W&N burnt sienna) that Schmincke uses, though PR206, PO48 and also work.

The world hasn't ended, and just as we survived the end of PY153 and other gorgeous pigments, we'll survive the end of this one (though I admit I started hoarding tubes of PO49 a while ago....)

I'll also show these pictures on Instagram (Janeblundellart) where they may look slightly different.

Edit January 2018 - The dry samples I had noticed (mentioned above) were from Guerra Pigments in New York. Thanks to RiverdaleWatercolor who commented below, here is a sample of the Guerra PO49 pigment compared with Daniel Smith PO49. Apparently this took some hours to mull to get smooth enough for watercolour, but there is also a dispersion available which may be more suitable for home made watercolours. It certainly looks beautiful on the screen if you click on the link.

Daniel Smith PO49 (left) compared with Guerra Pigments PO49 (right).

As far as mixing is concerned, the Guerra pigment behaved more like a raw sienna.




Edit March 2018 - Riverdale watercolours sent me a sample of her hand made Quinacridone Gold made with the Guerra dry pigment and it's quite something! Not what I expect for PO49, but very beautiful with extreme granulation. It is almost a burnt sienna colour.

If you are using my ultimate mixing set, you can also create a very nice Quin Gold hue by mixing hansa yellow medium with burnt Sienna. However I think the DS hue is close enough to still be a useful colour in the palette - it will still mix gorgeous greens and provide a beautiful warm glow.

Happy painting!

A Question of Hues - Jane's Gold

I recently found an old pan of Winsor and Newton genuine Quinacridone Gold watercolour. PO49. (I had already stocked up on old supplies of the W&N acrylic version :-) Needless to say I snatched it up as I was curious to see how their version compared with the Daniel Smith colour I know and love. Daniel Smith bought up the last supplies of this pigment many years ago and are the only ones still making the genuine version. On the screen they look very alike, though in real life the DS is a little warmer. It is interesting to note that a number of the DS colours that used to have PO49 are now using PO48 or other pigments.

What I have always tried to understand is why Winsor & Newton make such a complex and ugly hue of this colour. They use PY150 - a lovely slightly acid transparent yellow that is an excellent base colour, and is available in W&N as Transparent Yellow or M.Graham and Daniel Smith as Nickel Azo Yellow; PR206 a burnt red, available in W&N as Brown Mader, Daniel Smith as Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet and Daler Rowney as Transparent Red Brown; and PV19 - a rose to violet pigment. W&N Quin Gold (hue) ends up being a very dirty colour, with too much violet-red though once again that is difficult to see on the screen. If they simply mixed the PY150 with their own Burnt Sienna PR101 they would have a cleaner colour that exactly matches genuine Quinacridone Gold. Other companies make the hue with PY150 + PO48 or other variations. Once again, the simplest solution is the best? Anyway, my quin gold hue - Jane's Gold - is PY150 (DS Nickel Azo Yellow) + PR101 (W&N Burnt Sienna) :-)

So how much of each? Making Jane's Gold :-)

 I have used with a half pan and added a decent blob of Nickel Azo Yellow PY150, but left room to mix. Then a much smaller blob of W&N Burnt Sienna PR101. It really depends on the brands you are using how much you need. I mixed these thoroughly with a very fine quill (or use a metal skewer of needle) and came up with a colour that is still too yellow.

 Here is the first mix - not enough PR101

So I added another small blob using the tip of a palette knife - you can see the small blob in the corner of the palette

 The second mix is warmer, but not deep enough and still too much yellow in a wash.

So I added the third small blob amount again, stirred it well, and came out with a very close match, pictured on the left.

Here is my mix compared with the actual PO49 paint. I estimate it is 5 parts PY150:1 part PR101, but the different brands will be different thicknesses so there is no magic formula.

Here is my testing page. You can see Quin gold mixed with Ultramarine on the top left, Jane's gold with Ultramarine below it. It could still have a little more PR101 but is very close. The thing about making your own custom mixes is you can decide exactly what warmth to take it to.

Other good Quin gold hue mixes are PY150 + PO48, PY129 + PBr7 and even PY97 as a base yellow colour.

And here are the pigments in their pure form.

Happy custom mixing :-)

To see my Jane's Grey custom mix, click here
For Jane's Black and other custom mixes click here
For more custom mixes (Jane's golden Earth, Jane's Sienna and Jane's Earth Rose) click here.

Just 6 Colours - a lovely limited palette.

I recently put together a set of 6 colours to get someone started in watercolour. 

This page shows just some of the possible two colour mixes you can make with this set.

Amazing mixes with just 6 colours.

Add a third colour to each mix and increase the possibilities further.

There are many possible 'just 6' combinations. I have chosen a mid yellow and a primary red that will each mix clean secondary colours, added a warm blue as this will make cleaner purples and more realistic greens. I have then added a phthalo green as this increases the green mixes but also makes black with crimson and turquoise with Ultramarine. Burnt Sienna makes wonderful dark browns, deep blues and greys with Ultramarine and deep earthy greens with phthalo green. The final colour could be an earth yellow such as yellow Ochre or raw sienna but I have chosen Quinacridone Gold as this warm and slightly neutral yellow makes wonderful realistic greens and will  mix with Burnt sienna to make other yellow earths. There isn't much this palette can't do. 

These are all Daniel Smith colours but Da Vinci's Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone or W&N Permanent Alizarin or Carmin make alternative primary crimson reds; Ultramarine in most brands is an option, Phthalo Green BS is also available in most brands (called Winsor Green by W&N); Schmincke make a Pure Yellow that is a lovely primary yellow as is Winsor Yellow. Burnt Sienna is available in most brands but I prefer the versions made with PBr7. Quinacridone Gold genuine is only available from Daniel Smith but Yellow Ochre is an alternative, or use a Hansa Yellow Deep or New Gamboge.

The next page shows my suggested next 6 colour additions to increase the colour range. These are Pyrrol crimson - a warm red, a Quinacridone Rose, an opaque Cerulean, a phthalo blue, a granulating earth yellow and a lovely deep raw Umber. With this set of 12 colours I would switch from Carmine to Pyrrol Crimson as the Quinacridone Rose covers the making purples role, or leave out Quinacridone Rose and keep Carmine.

I would then add Indian Red, so I can use an earth triad, and then perhaps a lovely light Buff Titanium and a dark.

Next are a whole lot of other wonderful Daniel Smith colours that are available to increase the palette. They are convenience mixtures to save time or special granulating colours that add and extra dimension to your work. I like to have some convenience colours so I don't spend all my time mixing while painting. Also I like to use only two or a maximum of three pigments in a mix if I can. Using a single pigment green, purple or orange can help with this. The mixtures are marked with an asterisk. All the others are single pigment colours.

 For more mixing charts see my website here.