Winsor & Newton Watercolours - full range

My first watercolours over 35 years ago was a small Winsor & Newton Cotman sketching kit that I still had until my car was broken into and it was taken about 10 years ago. I'd changed the colours over to professional colours by then but I rather liked that palette and it had been all over the world with me...

Winsor & Newton started in England in 1832, and is one of the most famous watercolour brands, usually available throughout the world. They are available in whole and half pans as well as in tubes of various sizes. Some even come in extra large 37ml tubes :-)

Here is the full range of 96 current colours. There are also swatches of some of the limited edition watercolours that have been released from time to time, and some that have been discontinued.

The swatches have been photographed and colour matches are ok but not perfect. I'll note in my comments where they are way out. The most difficult to match are the warm yellows and orange-reds.


PY53 is not a powerful pigment so generally looks quite soft. I prefer the other stronger cool or lemon yellows such as Winsor Lemon or Winsor Yellow as a cool to mid yellow on the palette.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Lemon Yellow, Bismuth Yellow, Cadmium Lemon, Winsor Lemon, Winsor Yellow.

I rather like the Transparent Yellow of this row, and PY150 is a lovely mid-yellow pigment that is absolutely transparent. Turner's Yellow in interesting - it has more of a slight yellow ochre pastel look to it than it appears here - picture the look of a cad deep mixed with a little white.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Lemon Yellow Deep, Aureolin, Transparent Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Turner's Yellow.

These yellow are all much more orange-yellow than they appear - I just can't adjust to make them look right. Winsor Yellow Deep is made with an excellent warm yellow pigment and is a great choice for a warm yellow in the palette.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - New Gamboge (now made with PY150 + PR209), Cadmium Yellow, Winsor Yellow Deep, Indian Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Deep.

Here is a sample of the new formula for New Gamboge. It doesn't have the magic of the beautiful but discontinued PY153. If you find an older version, do pick it up. It's a beautiful pigment.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - New Gamboge updated version.

Cadmium Orange and Winsor Orange are more orange then they look here and Winsor Orange Red Shade is more or a warm red. Transparent Orange is one of the most beautiful single pigment oranges I think - along with Schmincke Transparent Orange and Da Vinci Benzimida Orange Deep and Daniel Smith Transparent Pyrrol Orange.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Cadmium Orange, Winsor Orange, Winsor Orange Red Shade, Transparent Orange (Limited Edition Colour), Bright Red (discontinued).

 Scarlet Lake is probably the best warm red option in a W&N palette.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Cadmium Scarlet, Scarlet Lake, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Red Deep, Winsor Red.

 I like Winsor Red Deep for a good strong crimson. These swatches are closer to reality. I never use Alizarin Crimson but I do think it is helpful that is is still manufactured, as long as it is clearly marked as fugitive.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Rose Dore, Quinacridone Red, Winsor Red Deep, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Alizarin Crimson.

Permanent Rose is great as a mixing rose or even as a primary red. W&N are the only manufacturer to still make genuine Rose Madder, and I'm glad it is still available to see what it looks like though it is fugitive so should be protected from light.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Sanguine Red (discontinued), Permanent Carmine, Permanent Rose, Rose Madder Genuine, Opera Rose.

 Quinacridone Magenta is a perfect choice for a CYM palette.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Quinacridone Magenta, Permanent Magenta, Cobalt Violet, Permanent Mauve, Quinacridone Violet.

I like the granulation of PV15 Ultramarine, though it is not a strong mixer. I was really surprised to see this pigment in the rather amazing Smalt Blue limited edition colour.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Ultramarine Violet, Winsor Violet (Dioxazine), Smalt Blue (limited edition), Indanthrene blue, cobalt Blue Deep.

French Ultramarine is a palette staple. Winsor Blue Red shade and Phthalo Sapphire are very similar - both phthalo blue red shade colours.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - French Ultramarine, Ultramarine (Green Shade), Cobalt blue, Phthalo Sapphire, Winsor Blue Red Shade.

Winsor Blue Green Shade is often known as phthalo blue green shade - a lovely choice as a cool blue in a palette.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Antwerp blue, Prussian blue, Winsor Blue (Green Shade), Cerulean Blue Red Shade, Cerulean Blue.

Cobalt colours are expensive, but add so much lovely texture. I particularly love Cobalt Turquoise. (Note as of 2018 Cobalt Turquoise is a two pigment mix of PB36 and PB28. )

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Manganese Blue Hue, Phthalo Turquoise, Cobalt Turquoise Light, Cobalt Turquoise (now made with PB36+PB28), Cobalt Green.

Winsor Green and Winsor Green Blue Shade are the same thing if they are made with PG7. Also known as phthalo green blue shade. Viridian is a similar colour but more gentle and not staining.

Winsor Green (Blue Shade), Winsor Green, Viridian, Winsor Green (Yellow Shade), Terre Verte.

I love Perylene Green for the shadows in foliage and am rather fascinated by the granulation and opacity of PG17 though I've never really explore this pigment.

Perylene Green, Oxide or Chromium, Hooker's Green, Permanent Sap Green, Olive Green.

Green gold is useful for the look of sunlight shining through foliage.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Terre Verte (Yellow Shade), Green Gold, Naples Yellow, Naples Yellow Deep,
Yellow Ochre Light .

The Raw Sienna is a mix which is a shame as raw sienna PBr7 is a a lovely pigment. I like the yellow ochre and the lovely granulating Yellow Titanate.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Yellow Titanate, Gold Ochre, Quinacridone Gold (genuine - discontinued)

Magnesium Brown is rather fun. Schmincke has just released a colour using this pigment too. Burnt Sienna is a gorgeous burnt orange colour. I prefer PBr7 burnt siennas but this will mix in a similar way to make greys with ultramarine.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Quinacridone Gold, Gold Brown (limited edition), Brown Ochre, Magnesium Brown, Burnt Sienna.

W&N Indian red is a fairly well behaved version of this colour. It can be rather wild and a little crazy, (which can be fun, but more difficult to control). Indian Red Deep is an interesting red-brown pigment made by a few other manufacturers. 

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Light Red, Venetian Red, Indian Red (limited edition), Brown Madder.

Raw Umber one of the colours which is produced as either this mid-toned colour or a dark cool brown colour depending on the manufacturer. I prefer the deeper version as a dark cool brown is not easy to mix.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Potter's Pink, Perylene Maroon, Perylene Violet, Caput Mortuum Violet, Raw Umber.

The very chocolate-coloured Dark Brown was a limited edition colour.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Burnt Umber, Vandyke Brown, Dark Brown (special limited edition), Sepia, Indigo.

W&N Mars Black can be seen here - it is the most granulating black, made with PBk11. 

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Payne's Grey, Neutral tint, Ivory Black, Lamp Black, Mars Black

I don't tend to use black or white watercolours much but they are important, as are some greys for convenience.

Winsor & Newton Watercolours - Charcoal Grey, Davy's Grey, Chinese White, Titanium White.

This post was updated in June 2017. I am very grateful to Winsor & Newton Australia who presented each member of the Australian Watercolour Institute with a gift package including a paint dot card with the full W&N range. I was finally able to add the missing 5 colours :-)

As always, please let me know if I have made any errors.

Happy painting :-)

Schmincke Watercolours 2017 - full range

It is the 125th Anniversary of Schmincke Horadam watercolours, and they have been building up to a big release as part of an overhaul of their watercolour range. I've looked at the websites, dot cards, old and new colour charts to try to figure out the exact changes. Some colours have been removed, a number renamed and 35 new or replacements introduced to increase their range from 110 to 139 colours. (Though I did read that it was 140 colours and couldn't work out the maths - I counted them and there are 139 in the new catalogue. It's been pointed out that the 140th is Oxgall.)

I posted the 35 new colours here. Here is the full range, with thanks to Schmincke Germany and Art Scene Sydney. Where I had them I have also shown the replaced and discontinued colours in the range. The full 6 that have been removed (as in the paint numbers are not shown on the new brochure) are shown at the bottom.  Only two of these have not been replaced with a new pigment or a new version of the same pigment - the Gamboge Modern and Pozzuoli Earth. I have noted where there has been a change in colour but the number has stayed the same. Here is the link to the new Schmincke brochure.

These swatches have been photographed under 'sunlight' lamps, but some colours are still difficult to show - especially the warm yellows and oranges. Schmincke has a number of beautiful orange-yellows and bright oranges so it's a shame not to be able to show them better :-(

There are some excellent new colours but still a large number of two-pigment colours remain that are not strictly necessary as there are excellent single pigment versions available. It's great to see some more granulating pigments, and a G has been added to the brochure information to highlight the more granulating colours in the range.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Titanium Opaque White (was Titanium White Opaque), Permanent Chinese White,
Titanium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Lemon,
Chromium Yellow Hue Lemon (was Chrome Yellow lemon, no lead).

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Vanadium Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Light, Pure Yellow, Aureolin Hue (was Aureolin Modern), Cadmium Yellow Medium, Chromium Yellow Hue Light (was Chrome Yellow light, no lead).

These swatches are more orange than shown. The new Turner's Yellow is a rich almost pastel yellow, like a Yellow Naples. The last two are definitely more orange than they appear here.

Transparent Yellow (was Translucent Yellow), New Gamboge (was also called Gamboge Gum Modern -
discontinued 2017, no direct replacement), Turner's Yellow (new 2017), Quinacridone Gold Hue (new 2017),
Chromium Yellow Hue Deep (was Chrome Yellow Deep, no lead), Cadmium Yellow Deep. 

These are also a richer orange than they appear. The new Yellow Orange is a definite orange yellow as PY110 tends to be. It's a lovely addition.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Indian Yellow, Yellow Orange (new 2017), Cadmium Orange Light,
Chromium Orange Hue (was Chrome Orange, no lead), Cadmium Orange Deep, Transparent Orange
(was Translucent Orange) 

These are all brighter orange reds.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Saturn Red (new 2017), Cadmium Red Orange, Permanent Red Orange,
Permanent Red, Cadmium Red Light, Geranium Red (new 2017).

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Vermilion, Vermilion Light (new 2017), Scarlet Red, Cadmium Red Medium,
Quinacridone Red Light (new 2017), Transparent Red Deep (new 2017).

Ruby Red Deep is a great addition as this is my favourite crimson pigment.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Cadmium Red Deep, Perylene Maroon (was Deep Red), Perylene Dark Red
(new 2017, replaces 345 Dark Red discontinued 2017 not shown here - see below) ), Alizarin Crimson,
Ruby Red Deep (new 2017), Madder Red Dark. 

 Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Madder Lake Deep, Bordeaux (new 2017), Rose Madder, Permanent Carmine,
Ruby Red, Magenta. 

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Purple Magenta, Quinacridone Magenta (new 2017), Quinacridone Violet,
Potter's Pink (new 2017 - deeper than the W&N or D.S. versions), Perylene Violet (new 2017),
Quinacridone Purple (new 2017).

Purples and violets are easy to mix, but sometimes a single pigment version is lovely for certain characteristics, such as granulation or staining power.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Manganese Violet, Schmincke Violet (was Mauve), Cobalt Violet Hue
(new 2017 - no pigments given, but apparently it is an apatite), Ultramarine Violet, Delft Blue, Indigo.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Dark Blue (was Dark Blue Indigo), Phthalo Sapphire Blue (new 2017
Replaces Helio blue Reddish 478 discontinued 2017 not shown here - see below), Cobalt Blue Deep,
French Ultramarine (new 2017), Ultramarine Finest, Ultramarine Blue.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Cobalt Blue LIght, Cobalt Blue Hue, Mountain Blue, Cobalt Azure (new 2017),
Prussian Blue, Paris Blue. 

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Phthalo blue, Cerulean Blue Hue (was Cerulean Blue Tone), Helio Cerulean,
Cobalt Cerulean, Helio Turquoise, Cobalt Turquoise.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Cobalt Green Turquoise, Prussian Green, Viridian (new 2017),
Chromium Oxide Green Brilliant, Phthalo Green, Helio Green.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Permanent Green Olive, Sap Green, Permanent Green, May Green,
Cobalt Green Pure, Cobalt Green Dark

The new Transparent Green Gold is not the usual single pigment PY129 sadly, but another two pigment hue - PY154 and PBr7.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Hooker's Green, Olive Green, Chromium Oxide Green, Olive Green Yellowish, Transparent Green Gold (New 2017. Replaces 536 Green Yellow which was discontinued 2017. Not shown here - see below).

I'd prefer the Raw Sienna was a single pigment PBr7. The Yellow ochre is lovely - better than this swatch shows, though I do prefer PY43 for yellow ochre. I really like the Titanium Gold Ochre - not a new colour but one I'd like to explore.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Rutile Yellow (new 2017), Jaune Brilliant Dark, Naples Yellow, Raw Sienna,
Yellow Raw Ochre, Titanium Gold Ochre.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Yellow Ochre, Transparent Ochre (new 2017), Raw Umber,
(new version 2017 is two pigments), Raw Umber (old version), Naples Yellow Reddish, Spinel Brown
(new 2017 - a really interesting colour)

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Gold Brown, Transparent Sienna (new 2017), Maroon Brown
(new 2017 - listed as NBr - but I think it is PBr 7 - I love this as a great natural Burnt Sienna colour),
Burnt Sienna, English Venetian Red, Madder Brown.

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Transparent Brown (was Translucent Brown), Mahogany Brown (new 2017 - using the PBr33 that was in the discontinued Walnut Brown shown below), Indian Red, Pozzuoli Earth (discontinued 2017 - no replacement), Mars Brown (new 2017), Transparent Umber (new 2017)

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Burnt Umber, Green Umber (new 2017), Vandyke Brown, Sepia Brown,
Sepia Brown Reddish (was Sepia Brown Tone), Neutral Tint.
(Not Shown 652 Walnut Brown, discontinued 2017 - see below)

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Neutral Grey, Payne's Grey Bluish, Perylene Green (new 2017),
Schmincke Payne's Grey, Lamp Black, Ivory Black

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Hematite Black (new 2017), Charcoal Grey (replaced with Anthracite, 2017),
Anthracite (new 2017), Graphite Grey (new 2017), Mars Black (new 2017)

Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - Silver, Gold, Brilliant Opera Rose (new 2017), Brilliant Purple,
Brilliant Red Violet, Brilliant Blue Violet.

Here are the discontinued colours. In most cases they have been replaced with a different pigment (and a different colour number) or a different version of the same pigment. If you love any of these, stock up! I really like the Walnut brown, but this version of PBr33 is not longer available - the Mahogany Brown that replaces it is also a wonderfully granulating though much warmer brown.

Discontinued Schmincke Horadam Watercolours - 210 New Gamboge (or Gamboge Gum Modern) no replacement, 345 Dark Red (replaced with a better pigment - Perylene Dark Red), 478 Helio blue Reddish (replaced with Phthalo Sapphire), 536 Green Yellow (replaced with Transparent Green Gold), 666 Pozzuoli Earth (not replaced), 652 Walnut Brown (the same pigment is used in the new but warmer Mahogany Brown - wonderful granulation).

Schmincke also introduced a metal palette with a porcelain insert - really clever - with two different 12-colour palette options.

2021 update - new colours from Schmincke.

Happy painting!

A Rose by any other name...Rose Madder and Potter's Pink.

Rose Madder is a natural colour from the roots of the common madder plant called Rubia Tinctorum. It is a soft granulating rose colour, but it is not lightfast so should not be used for exhibition purposes or outside of a sketchbook or reproduction work.

As far I know only DS and W&N have the genuine NR9 pigment. I am rather glad they do - even though I don't choose to use fugitive paints, it's nice to be able to test them out to see what the hues are trying to replicate! The genuine versions in W&N and DS are the first two swatches below.

There are a number of hues available to replicate this delicate colour and I have shown three of them - Schmincke has a Rose Madder, Daniel Smith has just released a Rose Madder Permanent, Art Spectrum has a Rose Madder (Permanent Hue).

I thought I'd show them all together.

When you see the range of hue in the genuine NR9 between W&N and DS, it's easy to see why the hues also vary.  Rose madder was used for portraiture and as a cool red, often with the also fugitive aureolin and alizarin crimson pigments (one of which is included in the Schmincke hue)! These days quinacridone rose does a better job, but sometimes a softer colour is desired, and Quinacridone Rose doesn't granulate.

Another granulating soft pink is Potter's Pink or Pinkcolor made with a very reliable PR233. I've included the W&N, DS and Schmincke versions as well as some handmade watercolours to show the range of hues in this pigment too. 

I'd make a Rose Madder hue with the softly granulating Potter's Pink mixed with the more powerful Quinacridone Rose - I just might explore that mix some time. The PV19 pigment might float to the surface too much of course. It would be interesting to try with DS Rhodonite too. I do mix Potter's Pink with Indian Red to deepen it, and have shown that mix (Jane's Earth Rose) here. Sharlie's Pinkcolor Deep is similar.

A few more interesting rose pigments are the very deep Piemontite genuine, that can paint out to a soft rose colour, and some of the pipestone pigments.

Apparently the W&N Rose Madder smells lovely - a rose by any other name?

New Daniel Smith Watercolours

New Daniel Smith colours. Photo from Daniel Smith (http://www.danielsmith.com/content--id-871)

It takes a little while for new colours to arrive in Australia but here they are - the new Daniel Smith colours released in 2017.

Daniel Smith Aussie Red Gold, Rose Madder Permanent (note this also has PR202), Quinacridone Lilac and Wisteria.

I've photographed my painted swatches but getting accurate colour reproduction is not easy. The Aussie Red Gold is more orange than it looks here - rather like a PY110 yellow - you can see it better in the photograph above. It's a lovely 3-pigment mixed orange-yellow that really glows. It uses the same pigments as the Art Spectrum Australian Red Gold. It creates extraordinary greens when mixed with blues - I've shown some mixes in little videos on Instagram (Janeblundellart)

The Rose Madder Permanent, Quinacridone Lilac and Wisteria are more accurate in this photo. Genuine Rose Madder NR9 is a lovely gentle granulating rose colour, but it fades. The DS hue mimics the soft value range of the original colour, using a mix of three pigments - PR209, PV19 and PR202 (I've labelled it incorrectly on my swatch).

Quinacridone Lilac PR122 is known as Quinacridone Magenta in many brands, Purple Magenta in Schmincke, as is a very welcome DS colour by all those who like to work with a CYM palette is PR122 is a fabulous primary red. It painted out beautifully. While I prefer to use Quinacridone Rose for the job of mixing gorgeous purples, I am really glad to see this pigment in the DS range.

Wisteria is made with PR122 and white.

Daniel Smith Lavender, Raw Sienna Light, Burnt Sienna LIght and Payne's Blue Grey.

Lavender is a popular mix available from other ranges. Some use cobalt, DS uses ultramarine, along with a violet pigment and white.

Raw Sienna Light is a single pigment PY42 yellow earth. It looks a little warmer in the flesh than this painted sample. (See photo above again)

Burnt Sienna Light is a mix of PR101 and PO48 - transparent red oxide and quinacridone burnt orange. It was released as part of the Alvaro set in 5ml tubes but is now available in the larger 15ml tubes.  It looks a little more earthy in real life than this photo.

Payne's Blue Grey is fairly accurate in hue. It uses the same mix of pigments as DS Indigo - Indanthrone Blue and black. Many Payne's greys are made with Phthalo blue and a black pigment.

New colours are always fun to explore. Happy painting :-)