White Nights 2019 full range, with 2020 and 2021 updates

White Nights, also known as St Petersburg, has been one of the many generous sponsors of the Urban Sketchers Symposium for the last few years now. They have been expanding their range, moving from just full pans to the addition of 10ml tubes for many colours, and expanding their range with 9 extra colours in 2017 and another 9 new colours in 2019. They have also added 7 metallics. I am grateful that they have given me samples to try to keep up, though somehow Venetian Red slipped through the cracks.


The colours that were added increased the range to 75 colours and the new colours are mostly lightfast and largely single pigment additions. I've updated my previous post but decided to create a new post of the full range here, this time with most colours scanned rather than photographed, where possible.


These are very reasonably priced watercolours that perform well. Setting up with full pans is simple and gives easy brush access so they suit beginners, though of course many professional artist use them as well. They are made with genuine pigments though some feel to have some sort of filler? And some of the pigments are not lightfast, such as PY1, PV3, PR2, PR4, PO13, PG8 and others. As far as I know the colours with less lightfast ratings have remained in the range so do check pigment numbers if you are working on paintings for sale or exhibition. In a sketchbook, watercolours are protected from light.


I'll add the full 2019 range below.


March 2021 update - many more colours were added, and some changes so the full range now consists of 108 colours, including 18 pastel shades and 7 metallic. Many of the previous colours have been updated with more lightfast pigments, which is fantastic. With the addition of new colours to close the gaps and better pigments for greater light-fastness, this range has really improved dramatically over the last few years. While I haven't painted the new colours or the new versions, I'll update the information for each colour. Eventually I'll do a new blog post if I get new samples. 

November 2022 update - The range is now 120 colours so I am a long way out of date. You can see the latest Colour Chart here.  There are 80 'classic' colours, 59 of which are single pigment; 18 pastel colours, 7 metallic colours and a new range of 15 granulating colours that can be seen in action here.

As always, yellows, oranges and reds are difficult to represent accurately. I've scanned all the swatches but I needed to use a couple of photos for better accuracy for the oranges. As I haven't yet found an updated colour chart, I've used my own system to arrange the colour swatches.

The new Aureolin gives an even better primary yellow option. 211 - Yellow (PY154) and has been added to the range, possibly replacing the fugitive 215 Hansa Yellow (PY1) which isn't on the new colour chart, but is still shown here.

White Nights Watercolour - Zinc White, Lemon, Cadmium Lemon,
Aureolin (new 2019), Hansa Yellow.

PY216 used in the new Naples Yellow Light and Naples Orange is also known as Turner's Yellow. I haven't seen the orange version before. Both are more opaque colours. I like the Indian Gold as a warm yellow option as it will mix interesting greens. Indian yellow is a very transparent mid yellow option. 206 - Ochre Light (PY43) has been added but is not shown here.

White Nights Watercolour - Indian Yellow (new 2017), Cadmium Yellow Medium,
Naples Yellow Light (new 2019), Indian Gold (new 2017), Naples Orange (new 2019).

It is difficult to capture the true colour of oranges and yellow-oranges.

White Nights Watercolour -Golden, Golden Deep, Cadmium Orange, Orange Lake,
Orange (new 2019)

Geranium Red is interesting as it looks like a warm red but has a rose undertone in a wash so I suspect it might mix purples too - I'll check that out.

White Nights Watercolour - Titan Red, Cadmium Red Light, Vermilion (Hue)
(Old version - now made with PR188 & PY154), Geranium Red (new 2019),
Scarlet (Old version - now called Scarlet Light and made with PR 188). 

368 Neon Pink (PR122, PV10) has been added but is not shown here.

White Nights Watercolour -Ruby, Madder Lake Red Light, Venice Purple (new 2019),
Claret, Carmine (Old version - now made with PV19, though this is referred to as PR19).

368 - Neon Pink (PR122& BV10) has been added but is not shown here. 627 - Perylene Violet (PV29) has also been added but is not shown here.

White Nights Watercolour - Quinacridone Red (new 2017),
Quinacridone Violet Rose (new 2017), Quinacridone Rose, Rose, Quinacridone Lilac. 

There are still some of the lovely but fugitive pigments in the range - PV2, PV3, PB1 seen here. Use with caution.

White Nights Watercolour -Violet-Rose, Quinacridone Violet (new 2017),
Ultramarine Violet (new 2017), Violet, Blue Lake.

521 - Ultramarine Deep (PB29) has been added but is not shown.

White Nights Watercolour - Indanthrone Blue, Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, Azure,
Blue (New 2017).

PB36 used in Cobalt Azure Blue is my favourite choice for a cerulean pigment. A good addition to the range.

White Nights Watercolour - Bright Blue (Brilliant),
Indigo (Old version - now made with PBk7, PB15 & PV23), Prussian Blue,
Ceruleum Blue, Cobalt Azure Blue (new 2019). 

Cobalt Turquoise is an incredibly popular watercolour. 533- Cobalt Chrome Turquoise (PB36) has been added - often known as cobalt turquoise or cobalt turquoise deep.

White Nights Watercolour -Azure Blue, Cobalt Turquoise (new 2019),
Turquoise Blue, Green Light, Emerald Green.

White Nights Watercolour - Green Original, Yellowish Green, Sap Green (new 2017),
Green Earth, Olive Green.

I love yellow ochre as a colour but shy away from this mix with PY1. 257 Irgazin Yellow (PY129) has been added but is not shown here, along with 206 Ochre Light (PY43).

White Nights Watercolour - Chromium Oxide, Green (Russian), May Green (new 2019),
Yellow Ochre (old version - now made with PY43 & PY154), Naples Yellow.

White Nights Watercolour - Raw Sienna (Old version - now made with PY43) , Red Ochre,
Burnt Sienna, Shakhnazarskaya Red, English Red.

604 Caput Mortuum (PR101) has been added, but is not shown here. 401 Van Dyck Brown (PR102&PBk8) has also been added.

White Nights Watercolour - Venetian Red (New 2017, not shown), Burnt Umber,
 Mars Red, Umber, Sepia. 

Two new blacks are 801 Lamp Black (PBk7) and Ivory Black (Hue) P(R102 & PBk7)

White Nights Watercolour - Voronezhkaya Black (old version - now made with PBk8),
Payne's Grey (Old version - now made til PBk7, PB15 & PV55) Neutral Black. 

The 7 new metallic colours...

White Nights Watercolour - Silver Light, Inca Gold, Bronze, Aztec Gold. 

White Nights Watercolour - Antique Gold, Silver Deep, Copper. 

I haven't tried any of the 18 new pastel colours.

With all these new colours, my suggestions for a White Nights 12-colour plein air sketching palette has changed.


I'd look at Aureolin, Indian yellow, the new Scarlet Light or Geranium Red (I need to test that in mixes), Quinacridone Red, Ultramarine or the new French Ultramarine, Cobalt Azure Blue, Emerald Green (for mixing only), Sap Green, Raw Sienna or perhaps the new Ochre light, Burnt Sienna, English Red (or possibly Venetian Red - I haven't tried that one) and Payne's Grey. That would now be a lightfast set :-)







To match my Ultimate Mixing Set, the closest options are Aureolin, Indian Yellow, the new Scarlet Light, the new Carmine (not a perfect match), Quinacridone Red, Ultramarine, Cobalt Azure Blue, Bright Blue, Emerald Green, Raw Sienna (not a perfect match), Burnt Sienna, English Red (or possibly Venetian Red - not perfect matches), Umber (not very strong) and Paynes Grey (also not a perfect match)






If you would like to send samples of any of the missing colours, please get in touch :-)

Happy painting :-)

White Nights Watercolours

I've written about this range before. It is known by a number of different names - White Nights is more common in Europe, St Petersburg in the US, but they are made by Nevskaya Palitra in Russia.

The full range was shown in this post here.

They have now added a number of new colours and changed the names of a couple. They have also added tubes to their range for all 66 colours apart from the silver and gold.

I was given the new colours that have recently been added while at the Urban Sketchers Symposium in July and have finally had a chance to paint out the rest of the swatches. Thank you to Tatiana.

The tube colours paint out very nicely fresh from the tubes and allow more options in setting up custom palettes - whether half pans or into the wells of other palettes. They also make it easier to paint larger washes of course. I normally work from dried paint in a palette but will use tube colours in my studio for larger works.

These are a very affordable range to use to get started in watercolour as they use real pigments rather than hues for most colours. Just be wary of a few fugitive pigments or only use in a sketchbook where they are protected from light.

White Nights Watercolours - Zinc White, Lemon, Cadmium Lemon, Hansa Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Medium.

Indian yellow and Indian Gold are new - the Indian Gold is an excellent quinacridone gold hue. It would be a good option as a warm yellow in a small palette.

White Nights Watercolours - Indian Yellow (new), Indian Gold (new), Golden, Golden Deep, Cadmium Orange.

I love the PO36 Titan Red colour.

White Nights Watercolours - Orange Lake, Titan's Red, Cadmium Red Light, Vermilion (Hue), Scarlet.

The new Quinacridone Red is a lovely primary red option.

White Nights Watercolours - Ruby, Madder Lake Red Light, Claret, Carmine, Quinacridone Red (new).

As is Quinacridone Violet Rose - also new.

White Nights Watercolours - Quinacridone Violet Rose (new), Quinacridone Rose, Rose, Quinacridone Lilac, Violet-Rose.

Blue Lake is a beautiful blue but I am very wary of PB1.

White Nights Watercolours - Quinacridone Violet (new), Ultramarine Violet (new), Violet, Blue Lake, Indanthrone Blue.

White Nights Watercolours - Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, Azure, Blue, Bright Blue (Brilliant).

I'd prefer a stronger version of Cerulean blue - this is rather weak - but it is still a great pigment to use for sketching skies as it is not a staining pigment so clouds can be lifted out with ease.

White Nights Watercolours - Ceruleum Blue, Indigo, Prussian Blue, Azure Blue, Turquoise Blue.

White Nights Watercolours - Emerald Green, Light Green,  Green Original, Yellowing Green, Sap Green (old version).

White Nights Watercolours - Sap Green (new version), Green Earth, Olive Green, Chromium Oxide, Green (Russian).

White Nights Watercolours - Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow, Raw Sienna, Red Ochre, Shakhnazarskaya Red.

White Nights Watercolours - Burnt Sienna, English Red, Venetian Red (not shown), Burnt Umber, Mars Brown.

White Nights Watercolours - Umber, Sepia, Voronezhskaya Black, Payne's Grey, Neutral Black.

White Nights Watercolours - Antique Gold (not shown), Silver Deep (not shown).

Here is the 12-colour Plein Air palette I suggested back in 2015. This is intended as a starter watercolour set for plein air and/or sketchbook work. There are some colours that are not lightfast.

And here is is open. Full pans are great for brush access!



With the new colours that have beed added to the range it is possible to create a set that is more lightfast. I'd now switch the orange-yellow Golden to the new quinacridone gold hue Indian Gold. I'd switch Carmine to the new Quinacridone Red and I'd switch Green to the new Sap Green. I'd also switch the Cerulean to the new Cobalt Azure Blue launched in 2019 - see below.

Update August 2019

At the Amsterdam Urban Sketching Symposium, Tatiana gave me some more new colours, launched in Spring 2019. I've created a new blog post with the full range that can be found here. I scanned the swatches for that blog but will also update the colours here.

It's great to see a PY151 mid or primary yellow. The Naples Yellows are quite accurate but the Orange is a true bright mid orange. The Geranium Red is very aptly named - it is a bright warm red geranium colour with a slightly pink undertone.

White Nights Watercolours - Aureolin, Naples Yellow Light, Naples Orange, Orange, Geranium Red.

 It's also good to see a PB36 Cobalt Azure Blue.

White Nights Watercolours - Venice Purple, Cobalt Azure Blue, Cobalt Turquoise, May Green.

 Here are the 7 metallics.

White Nights Watercolours - Silver Light, Inca Gold, Bronze, Aztec Gold.

White Nights Watercolours - Antique Gold, Silver Deep, Copper.

Happy painting :-)

St Petersburg watercolours

Ultramarine
St Petersburg by Yarka label

Ultramarine
Nevskaya Palitra label.

White Nights watercolours in are made in Russia by Nevskaya Palitra, who also make a cheaper student range called 'Sonnet' and another range called 'Ladoga'.

The naming gets confusing though, as White Nights are called 'St Petersburg by Yarka' in the US where they are rebranded by Jack Richeson & Co Inc, but as far as I am aware, the colours and pigments of the different labels are the same. The full pans of both White Nights and St Petersburg are embossed with 'St Petersburg' so they would seem to be simply different names for the same range, with White Nights being the name in Russia and Europe and St Petersburg better known in the USA.

I received 24 of the White Nights colours in 2015 and wrote about them here.

Richeson & Co sent me the full range of St Petersburg colours and I painted out all those and will show them here. All are identical, except for Cerulean which looked and behaved differently in each range, but that could simply be a different batch. Another 9 colours were added to the White Nights range the Northern Spring this year, which I don't have, but have created a swatch card for each of them, including the pigment information.

These are the most affordable 'professional' watercolours available, priced in some markets all the same and in others in two series. In Australia they are just AU$4.95 each. However I do need to qualify that I would suggest caution if using these for works that will be framed and exhibited as there are many fugitive pigments in the lists that may fade on exposure to sunlight. While they use genuine pigments, some are not as strong as higher cost watercolours and they seem to contain some binders or fillers.

For those starting out, working in a sketchbook or just playing with a new medium, buying for children or class sets, they are a very simple and affordable way to start - better than using student grade colours - without having the problem of what to do with the tubes, or how to make up palettes or pans. And since they are all full pans, there is good brush access and plenty of colour to paint with.

Note - twelve of the colours are also available as tubes. The full information can be found here.

Here are the colours, colour matched as close as I can, but as always matching the yellow/oranges and oranges and some reds is a difficult job.


Most of the yellows look fine, and PY1 looks lovely - it's interesting to see PY1 and I don't think I know of any other versions of it in watercolour. I'd tend to suggest trying that or ASTM I Cadmium Yellow Medium in this range as it is not as opaque as it can be - not so opaque that they cover drawn lines completely -  or Lemon for a definite cool yellow hue.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Zinc White, Lemon, Cadmium Lemon, Hansa Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Medium.

It's always difficult to show yellow oranges and orange reds accurately. Indian Yellow and Indian Gold were released by White Nights in the Northern Spring 2017 so I am guessing they will also appear in St Petersburg. Made with PY150, Indian Yellow should be a very transparent mid yellow - a good primary yellow choice. Adding PR101 will make it warmer like a quinacridone gold hue. Golden and Golden Deep are really verging on orange rather than yellow.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Indian Yellow (not shown), Indian Gold (not shown), Golden, Golden Deep,
Cadmium Orange.

Orange Lake is very bright and Titian's Red (actaully just called Titian's on the packaging) is a lovely rich orange and the other warm reds are very clean and bright.  Cadmium Red Light is made with PR108 - a reliable warm red pigment. Scarlet is a mid fire engine red.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Orange Lake, Titian's Red, Cadmium Red Light, Vermilion (Hue), Scarlet.

I'd be interested to see the new PV19 colours as I suspect they will be excellent primary red and violet hues, with better lightfastness than the current crimson and rose colours.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Ruby, Madder Lake Red Light, Carmine (Hue), Quinacridone Red,
Quinacridone Violet Rose.

PR122 is most often called Quinacridone Magenta and is an excellent choice as a primary red in a limited palette. I've not seen PV2 anywhere else.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Quinacridone Rose, Rose, Quinacridone Lilac, Claret, Violet-Rose.

PV55 is the pigment used in Daniel Smith Quinacridone Purple and Ultramarine Violet is usually a gently granulating pigment. Hopefully I'll be able to add these samples at some stage. I've never seen PV3 (Violet) or PB1 (Blue Lake) in other ranges. Both are beautiful, but not very lightfast.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Quinacridone Violet (not shown), Ultramarine Violet (not shown), Violet,
Blue Lake, Indanthrone Blue.

It's a lovely version of ultramarine - an essential warm blue watercolour as far as I am concerned -  being useful for mixing, for skies and on its own. The new blue would probably look like a phthalo blue red shade.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, Blue (not shown), Blue (Russian), Indigo.

The Cerulean is not a strong as I'd like to see, and interestingly is slightly different from the White Nights Cerulean Blue, though the same pigment. I prefer PB36 Cerulean to the generally warmer  PB35, but it is still a useful non-staining cool blue for painting skies. Bright Blue is normally known as phthalo blue - this is the green shade - a useful cool blue.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Prussian Azure (Blue), Ceruleum Blue, Bright Blue (Brilliant), Asure Blue, Turquoise Blue.

Emerald Green is usually known as phthalo green - a very useful mixing green, though I'd very very rarely use it alone. Russian Green is a lovely colour, though not especially light-fast so best in the protection of a sketchbook. The new Sap Green is made from chrome green and a transparent mid yellow so I'd expect it to be granulating and rather olive.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Emerald Green, Green Original, Green Light, Green (Russian), Sap Green (not shown).

There are some interesting mixed greens in this range. Either Green Earth or Olive Green might be a good convenience foliage green. Green Light is better knows as phthalo green yellow shade and oxide of chromium is a rather fascinating granulating pigment.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Oxide of Chromium, Yellowish Green, Green Earth, Olive Green, Yellow Ochre.

I like the earth colours Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna best in this range as they are single pigment earth colours - always my preference if possible. The Red Ochre is interesting too, though not essential. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has managed to get a better colour from the Shakhnazarskaya Red?

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Naples Yellow, Raw Sienna, Red Ochre, Shakhnazarskaya Red, Burnt Sienna.

I like to see raw umber as a cool deep brown, but prefer it as a single pigment colour. Venetian Red is usually made with PR101.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - English Red, Venetian Red (not shown), Burnt Umber, Mars Brown, Umber (Raw)

And the darks. I prefer to pre-mix my own, but since these come in full pans in this range I'd tend to include Neutral Tint even though is has black pigment. The Sepia is a rich cool dark brown.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Sepia, Voronezhskaya Black, Payne's Gray, Neutral Tint.

Antique Gold and Silver Deep are also available, but I haven't tried them. If you have, or any of the others not shown here, please add comments below.

Yarka: St Petersburg watercolours - Antique Gold (not shown),  Silver Deep (not shown).

I think these are a remarkable range for the price, with some great colour choices for those who want nice large pans of colour for an excellent price.

Here is my suggested sketchbook set of 12. It is intended for plein air, travel or urban sketching in a sketchbook, where liftable blues are useful for the sky, and where lightfast ratings are less important. It includes Payne's Grey, which I don't usually recommend (since it is not possible to pre-make my usual Jane's Grey) as a convenience grey is really useful when sketching. It also has Sepia, which has black pigment, another I usually avoid - but this is a cool dark brown which is also useful for sketching. It has cadmiums, which I also usually avoid, but they are less opaque in this set and fill the spots nicely for a primary yellow and warm red.

White Nights Plein Air Set painted out clockwise from top left - Cadmium Yellow Medium, Golden, Cadmium Red Light, Carmine, Ultramarine, Cerulean, Emerald, Green (Russian), Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Sepia, Neutral Tint.

I suggested this set back in 2015 (before the new colours were added), and it has been put together as a Plein Air Set, available from Larrypost.com.au for less than AU$50, which is excellent for a watercolour set. The palette is white plastic with good mixing spaces. They are all full pans so plenty of paint to splash around!

Yarka White Nights St Petersburg watercolours - Plein Air Set.
(photo from Larrypost.com.au)

There are also 24 and 36 colour sets, in much larger studio palettes, or the full pans can be purchased individually.

Happy painting :-)