Watercolour Comparisons 6 - Reds

I have previously written about choosing a primary red - one that can stand alone in a primary triad of red, yellow and blue. In a limited palette of up to 7 colours I would choose Carmine, by Daniel Smith, as it will mix to make oranges and purples.

But I like to have a few different reds in my palette. I have added all these red swatches, and more, to my website here.

If I had two reds in a larger palette of perhaps 12 colours I would use Pyrrol Scarlet as a warm and Carmine as a cool. The Pyrrol Scarlet could mix with a blue to create an indian red hue.

If I had three reds in a palette of 15 or 16 colours, I would add Indian Red, and I would switch the warm red to Transparent Pyrrol Orange, though Pyrrol Scarlet is a wonderful colour, and is my recommended warm red option.

My four reds in a 20 colour palette would be Pyrrol Crimson and Quinacridone Rose instead of Carmine, along with Transparent Pyrrol Orange and Indian red. So the reds I choose depend on how many colours I have and how much each individual colour has to do in the palette.

So how do you choose your reds?  Generally, one warm and one cool red are useful in the palette, though some like to have a mid 'fire engine' red as well. The warm red will mix to make wonderful bright oranges. The cool red will mix to create purples. If you choose to have an orange in your palette you may choose a mid red to spread your colours over the spectrum further. All the colours in your palette need to work together, so if you make a choice about one colour, it dictates other choices to a large degree. I generally like to have a warm red (or orange red), a crimson AND a rose red for mixing purples. With those 3 reds I can intermix with yellows and blues to make a huge range of oranges, mid reds and purples.

Now I'd like to look a little more at reds in general and show some comparisons.

Warm and mid reds

Here is a comparison of a range of warm (or orange-biased) reds and mid reds. Sadly it is difficult to reproduce reds and oranges accurately so a more useful idea of the actual colour might be found on individual manufacturer's websites. Most of the samples are single pigment colours, which is my preference, but some are a mixture. There are a huge number to choose from, and generally the key is do you want a transparent or opaque red? Do you want warm with a definite orange bias or mid red? Do you want a particular brand? do you want a staining red?

I don't have a problem mixing one brand with another, it's really about what brand you can get hold of most easily and most affordably. Make sure you look at the tube size when buying to compare the price per gram or ounce, but keep in mind that artist quality watercolour lasts a very long time so while a colour you love may cost a bit when you buy it, you may still be using the same tube 15 years later! Unless you are doing a lot of flower painting, you may find you get through your warm reds fairly slowly too, so a smaller tube is fine.

I tend to favour the Pyrrol reds for transparent colours and have Pyrrol Scarlet DS or Transparent Pyrrol Orange DS as my warm red options. If I want a true bright mid red I have a pan of Pyrrol Red in my studio, but I could equally mix this as a hue. MG Naphthol red and DV Naphthol red, though made from different pigments, also both work well as a mid red that mixes beautiful oranges. If I want an opaque red I'd go with Cadmium Scarlet or Cadmium Medium and most brands are fine. Cadmiums are expensive though, so only buy them if you really want the creamy opaque characteristics. Do note that Cadmiums are more toxic than many other pigments so don't let your cat drink your paint water!

You can see some degree of granulation in some of the samples below and they all painted out fairly well except the Mayan Orange, which I didn't like. I painted it from a very small dry sample, but as I always squeeze out my paints into a palette and let them dry, it didn't work for me. (Winsor Red is another popular option if you are looking at W&N watercolours - pictured in the cool reds section below, along with the lovely DS Permanent Red. Whoops!)

Spectrum Red AS, Cadmium Red Pale DR, Cadmium Red W&N, Mayan Orange DS, Vermilion Extra OH, Flesh Ochre, OH, Anthraquinoid Scarlet DS, Coral AS
Permanent Red RR, Golden Barok Red OH, Transparent Pyrrol Orange DS, Perylene Scarlet DS, Cadmium Red Hue DS, Scheveningen Red Medium OH, Cadmium Red Hue DR, Cadmium Red Light MG.

Pyrrol Red DS, Naphthol Red DV, Pyrrol Scarlet DS, Cadmium Red Scarlet DS, Naphthol Red MG, Organic Vermilion DS, Bright Red OH, Scheveningen Red Light OH.

Cool Reds

The many cool reds, or purple biased reds, are often variations of an Alizarin Crimson hue, since Alizarin Crimson PR83 is fugitive and certainly not recommended. Carmine by DS, mentioned above, is one of my favourites for a primary or single pigment red. W&N Permanent Alizarin also works well for this purpose. I also like the DS Permanent Alizarin as a deeper crimson but it is a mixture of three pigments, so I use DS Pyrrol Crimson.

The deep Perylene Maroons are an interesting and popular option too. Some use Perylene maroon + Quin Rose to create a more permanent alizarin crimson hue of their own. I tend to add a touch of phthalo green PG7 to my Pyrrol crimson to create these deeper maroons but they can be convenient for shadow colours.

While the traditional purpose of a cool red is to make purples, I generally find a rose or magenta makes clearer and more beautiful purples so I use crimson as a convenience colour and add a rose to my palette for making purples and pinks.

These painted out very well so the thing to watch is how many pigments are in the colour and how permanent they are. I love the colour of DS Permanent Red Deep but closer inspection of the pigment eliminated it from my palette as the light-fast of that specific version of PR170 is not good enough. It's a shame as it is another great primary red colour, but only if it is in a sketchbook or for reproduction, not for framing or sale.

Permanent Alizarin DS, Carmine DS, Anthraquinoid Red DS, Pyrrol Crimson DS, Perylene Red DS, Winsor Red W&N (a warm red), Permanent Red DS (a mid red)
Permanent Alizarin Crimson W&N, Alizarine Crimson (Quinacridone) DV, Permanent Red Deep DS, Alizarin Crimson DS, Alizarin Crimson W&N, Perylene Red DR, Napthalmide Maroon DS, Perylene Maroon DS.

Pinks and Roses

If you are adding a pink or rose to your palette there are a number of options. I'd steer clear of the fugitive Rose Madder and Opera Rose/Pink though. I'd also keep away from DS Rhodonite as it changed colour in my light fastness tests.

For general use is it hard to go past PV19 - Quinacridone Rose/Permanent Rose. This pigment is ASTM II rated and makes lovely purples with almost any blue. PV19 seems to be a very versatile pigment. It comes in a rose version and a violet version and will be found in Alizarin Crimson hues, permanent rose, quinacridone rose, quinacridone red (not to be confused with the W&N Quinacridone Red made with PR209), quinacridone violet, red rose deep and so on. It covers a range from a gorgeous rose pink to a rose crimson to a violet. Choose one that you like on its own first, and then make sure you also like the way it mixes. A rose colour is lovely in florals and sunsets and is useful for portraiture as well.

I like DS Quinacridone Rose, DV Permanent Rose Quinacridone, DV Red Rose Deep Quinacridone (which I have as a huge 37ml tube) and the MG Quinacridone Rose, except that this colour, like all in the MG range, is best for the studio as it doesn't 'set' or dry.

Potter's Pink PR233 is an interesting granulating dusty pink - lovely but of limited use. I have this as an occasional use pan just in case, but wouldn't recommend it as a 'must have' colour.

The other lovely option for a cool red for mixing purples is a magenta, which will be covered in a later post - Watercolour Comparisons 13 - Purples. Most of the samples painted out well except the Mayan Red. I tend to avoid the multi-pigment Holbein colours too - this one has white in the mix.

Quinacridone Red W&N, Quinacridone Coral DS, Mayan Red DS, Rose Dore W&N, Shell Pink Holbein, Rhodonite Genuine DS, Potter's Pink DS, Rose Madder Genuine DS
Quinacridone Red DS, Permanent Rose W&N, Permanent Rose (Quinacridone) DV, Quinacridone Rose MG, Quinacridone Pink DS, Rose Red Deep (Quinacridone), Opera Pink DS, Opera Rose W&N.

So there is a vast range of reds to consider. You can probably manage very well with 2, 3 or 4 of them depending on the size of your palette and what you paint, and perhaps a fun one for special effects. Remember to check the light fast rating of all you buy, and make sure your colours interact and mix nicely together.

I will compare earth reds in a separate post - Watercolour Comparisons 11 Earth Reds.

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

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