New Colours from Schmincke

Granulation is one of the characteristics of some pigments that is best seen in watercolour. You may not notice it in oils or acrylics, and certainly not in pastels and pencils. However in watercolour, granulation is a fabulous characteristic to explore. It is also very important since watercolour is basically a 2-dimensional or flat medium, so granulation is a way of adding texture to the wash.

Granulating pigments show their true nature best on damp cold pressed or rough paper though they will tend to granulate to some degree on any paper. For those new to watercolour, it may look as though something is wrong!

Some of the most granulating pigments have been used to create the Super Granulating colours from Schmincke - some released in 2020, some in 2021 and then another 15 later. They are available in boxed sets or individual tubes or half pans.

The full initial range of 25 were made from quite a limited number of granulating pigments. You can see all the colours used to create them in my blog post here - it may be useful to have that open side-by side on your computer screen. The 15 colours added later use some different pigments and are are shown below.

There are five colours in the 'Forest' set. The most useful and realistic greens are often created using two or three pigments so these might be useful colours in foliage paintings. 

Forest Olive contains Viridian, a PBr7, in this case probably Green Umber, and Yellow Ochre, which is interesting as there isn't a PY43 Yellow Ochre in the Schmincke range. 

Forest Green contains Cobalt Green and the brown pigment used in the colour Mahogany Brown (It was also used in the old colour Walnut Brown, which was darker.) 

Forest Blue contains Cobalt Green Turquoise (or possibly Cobalt Cerulean) and the Mars Black pigment. Forest Brown contents Cobalt Green Dark, Cobalt Turquoise and Yellow Ochre.

Forest Brown is not as brown as Forest Olive, and contains the stronger tinting Cobalt Green Dark, a PBr7 earth pigment and Yellow Ochre. 

Forest Grey contains a brown earth pigment along with Cobalt Turquoise and Mars Black.

Schmincke Watercolours - Forest Olive, Forest Green, Forest Blue, Forest Brown and Forest Grey

There are five colours in the 'Deep Sea' set. 

Deep Sea Violet is made from French Ultramarine and PBr33, which is used in Mahogany Brown and the Daniel Smith colour Lunar Earth. It is a fantastic pigment that creates gorgeous texture. 

Deep Sea Blue is made using Cobalt Green pigment, Manganese Violet and French Ultramarine. 

Deep Sea Indigo is made from Viridian and PV62, which I haven't seen as a colour though it makes a lovely granulating violet-blue here. The greens and violet don't show up much in my little dot sample. 

Deep Sea Green uses Viridian and French Ultramarine to create this granulating turquoise. 

Deep Sea Black uses the incredibly granulating PBk11 (used in Schmincke Mars Black and Daniel Smith Lunar Black amongst others) with Cobalt Blue Deep and Cerulean pigments (used in Cobalt Azure), to create this deep blue-grey with spots of black.

Schmincke Watercolours - Deep Sea Violet, Deep Sea Indigo, Deep Sea Blue, Deep Sea Green, 

Deep Sea Black.

The 'Glacier' set of 5 evokes the cool depths of frozen water. 

Glacier Blue is made with the same pigments as Galaxy Blue, but the other way around - more blue this time. It isn't obvious that the PG50 is doing anything as it is very like French Ultramarine. 

Glacier Turquoise has an intriguing mix of cobalt green and Manganese Violet. A green and a violet can make a blue - as you can see. 

Glacier Green has particles of Potter's Pink floating in a sea of Cobalt Green. 

Glacier Brown has particles of Cobalt Green Dark mixed into the granulating brown oxide. 

Glacer Black has cerulean (Cobalt Azure) mixed into the Mars Black this time for a cooler black.

Schmincke Watercolours - Glacier Blue, Glacier Turquoise, Glacier Green, Glacier Brown, Glacier Black.

The set of 5 'Galaxy' colours includes 

Galaxy Violet made from Potter's Pink and French Ultramarine, creating a rich granulating red-purple.

Galaxy Pink is made with Manganese Violet and the mahogany brown pigment. 

Galaxy Blue is more subtle - like Deep Sea Blue without the violet. 

Galaxy Brown has specks of violet in the granulating oxide brown. 

Galaxy Black is a mix of French Ultramarine and Mars Black.

Schmincke Watercolours - Galaxy Pink, Galaxy Violet, Galaxy Blue, Galaxy Brown, Galaxy Black.

The set of 5 'Tundra' colours have some interesting mixes. However I do rather wonder how useful many of these are.

Tundra Orange contains Yellow Ochre, Potter's Pink and an earth brown - possibly burnt Sienna this time.

Tundra Pink is a granulating violet made with Ultramarine and Potter's Pink. 

Tundra Violet is a dark grey-violet due to the reddish Mars Brown pigment mixed with Ultramarine.

Tundra Blue has a small amount of a brown earth mixed with Ultramarine.

Tundra Green is the Mars Brown mixed with Cobalt Green.

Schmincke Watercolours - Tundra Orange, Tundra Pink, Tundra Violet, Tundra blue and Tundra Green

Often, when making colours, manufacturers are producing 'hues' and blending the pigments into new compounds that effectively behave like a single pigment. Mixtures like these are intended to keep the different pigments in the mix separate, so they can each contribute to the liveliness of the colour. What is interesting is that the mixtures in tubes may behave differently from the mixtures of the same pigments then mixed in your palette in your own studio.

I certainly wouldn't suggest this whole range is necessary, but some granulating watercolour mixtures can be really lovely to explore in watercolour painting. 

The Volcano set, Shire set and Desert set were added tot he range later. These are based around some rarely seen pigments - PY159 ( Zirconium Praesodymium Silicate Yellow), ad granulating yellow which is only used in W&N Lemon Yellow Deep and Kremer Intensive Yellow as far as I know; and PV62 (Strontium Phosphate Violet) which I have only seen in Aquarius Strontium Violet. The cadmium red used is a very granulating version.

There are five colours in the 'Volcano' set, including

Volcano Yellow which is the pure gently granulating PY159. This is one I would purchase if I want to create more granulating mix myself.

Volcano Orange which has PY159 mixed with a gently granulating cadmium red

Volcano Red which is just the very granulating cadmium red

Volcano Violet which uses the cadmium red mixed with PV62

Volcano Brown which is a mixture of the cadmium red and Mars Black

Schmincke Watercolours - Volcano Yellow, Volcano Orange, Volcano Red, Volcano Violet, Volcano Brown.

The five 'Shire' colours are all based around PY159. They are pretty, but simple to mix.

Shire Yellow is made with the PY159 yellow and the PV62 Violet

Shire Olive is a very soft granulating yellow-green made with the PY159 and cerulean.

Shire Green is another gentle granulating green made with PY159 and Cobalt Green Deep

Shire Blue is a very greenish blue made with ultramarine, cobalt green deep and PY159

Shire Grey is made with Mars Black, Cobalt Blue Deep and PY159.

Schmincke Watercolours - Shire Yellow, Shire Olive, Shire Green, Shire Blue, Shire Grey.

The five 'Desert' colours are softly granulating earth colours, also mostly including PY159. 

Desert Yellow contains the PY159 and an earth brown - an umber or Sienna.

Desert Orange contains PY159 and Zinc Iron Chromite Brown (used in Schmincke's Mahogany Brown and Daniel Smith Lunar Earth)

Desert Brown contains the PY159 yellow, Cadmium Red and Mars Black

Desert Green contains Cadmium Red and Cobalt Green Deep

Desert Grey contains PY159 and Mars Black/

Schmincke Watercolours Desert Yellow, Desert Orange, Desert Brown, Desert Green Desert Grey.

You can see them all at Jacksonsart (affiliate link).

2024 update.

Two new super-granulating series have been added - the Urban set and the Haze Set, taking the range to 50.

I haven't tried these out, and really can't get enthusiastic about them to be very honest. You can create these mixes yourself with a basic set of granulating pigments. This just feels like marketing gone a little mad. However, if I come across anyone with samples to share I'll add them to keep up to date.

Urban set

These all have PY159, an interesting granulating mid-yellow. Most also have PR108, a cadmium red. 

Urban Yellow - PV16, PY159

Urban Red - PR108, PB35, PBr6, PY159

Urban Green - PB36, PBk11, PY159

Urban Brown - PR108, PBk11, PY159

Urban Grey - PR108, PB35, PBk11, PY159

Haze Set

Haze Pink - PB36, PR233

Haze Blue - PB29, PBr7, PY43

Haze Brown - PBk11, PBr7

Haze Indigo - PB29, PG26, PBr33

Haze Black - PB36, PBk11, PBr33

Marie's Masters Watercolours

While I have known about Marie's Chinese Watercolours for many years (they have a hundred year history) I wasn't aware until recently that there was also a Masters range. Thanks to one of my kind readers and workshop students Garnet, here they are.

They are made in Shanghai, China.

The naming is not completely consistent. The Cadmium hues are labelled as such but the Cobalt, Vermilion, Viridian and many of the earth hues are not.

I painted these from dried dot samples from tube colours. Apparently they shrink quite a bit as they dry. Mostly they re-wet well though some were a little more difficult to get a strong wash. There are some excellent pigments and some great colours in the set, but also some less interesting mixes. There are 43 colours, excluding iridescent and interference colours.

The stars represent lightfast ratings where I am guessing 4 is the best. The letters A, B or C refer to the series where I am assumed A is the most expensive. I did not find a website to check. Tubes are 9ml and are very affordable - find them in Australia here for only AU$4.35 per tube regardless of series.

As usual, the oranges and crimsons are hard to scan accurately so I've taken photos of some swatches and will note colour differences below.


These yellows look fairly close to the originals. The Cadmium Orange (Hue) is actually just a little more yellow than it looks on my screen.

Marie's Masters Watercolours - Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Light (Hue), Cadmium Yellow (Hue), Gamboge (Hue), Cadmium Orange (Hue)

I had to take a photograph to try to replicate these colours. Most are pretty close but the Crimson is just a bit more 'crimson-looking' than it appears here.

Marie's Masters Watercolours - Transparent Red, Crimson, Prose Permanent Crimson, Permanent Rose.

This is another photograph and is also better than the scan but the colours are a little brighter than they look here. The pigment used in Cadmium Red (Hue) is my favourite for a lovely warm red.

Marie's Masters Watercolours - Vermilion Red, Cadmium Red Pale (Hue), Cadmium Red Hue), Cadmium Red Deep (Hue).

The colours in this scan are fairly close - only the Alizarin Crimson (should be called a hue, as it is not made with PR83) looks a little less crimson in this image.

Marie's Masters Watercolours - Alizarin Crimson, Purple Lake, Purple Red, Brilliant Purple, Ultramarine.

Cobalt blue should be called a hue since it doesn't contain PB28. Prussian Blue was difficult to activate.

Marie's Masters Watercolours - Cobalt Blue, Sky Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Prussian Blue.

Viridian should also be called a hue, or be called Phthalo Green Blue Shade, which is what it is.

Marie's Masters Watercolours - Peacock Blue, Viridian, Phthalo Green, Emerald Green.

Yellow Ochre was quite lovely to paint out.

Marie's Masters Watercolours - Sap Green, Hooker's Green Light, Hooker's Green Dark, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna.

Burnt Sienna, like many of the earth colours, should be called a hue - it doesn't contain PBr7 at all. Deep Umber and Light red were very nice to paint out.

Marie's Masters Watercolours - Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Deep Umber, Light Red.

I love Indian Red, though it can be overpowering. This version was nice and rich, but easily controlled. While I am not a big pan of greys made with black pigments, the Payne's Grey was a nice version as it uses ultramarine rather than phthalo blue so is not as cold as Payne's Grey often can be.

Marie's Masters Watercolours - Indian Red, Vandyke Brown, Payne's Gray, Indigo.

I couldn't get the Lamp Black any darker than this but perhaps it is stronger from the tube.

Marie's Masters Watercolours - Ivory Black, Lamp Black, White.

I wish everyone all the best of health in these challenging and difficult times. Like so many, I have cancelled my trips, classes and workshops for the foreseeable future and will be working from home. I plan to get a lot done on my online classes and set up video classes for my regular students. I am also thinking of setting up a Q&A sessions once a week via Facebook, Instagram, Zoom or other - suggestions welcome.

kind regards.
Jane