[Aquanet] a question of scarlet

[pbrand]

Pat, I stand by my choices. The reds I recommended are in my experience less
opaque than the cadmiums and handle well. As you noted to me off the net,
the brown you were referring to is for Perylene scarlet not Perylene red. I
haven't tried Perylene scarlet.

Hilary Page wrote an exhaustive study of watercolor pigments and paints,
with detailed lists by brand name (Hilary Page's Guide to Watercolor Paints
by Hilary Page - Dec 1996 available from Amazon). She ranks all the reds I
mentioned as 3 star (her highest rating) and either very good or excellent
light fast. She says that Pyrrol scarlet is "semi opaque" at full strength.

As far as genuine alizarin crimson (PR83 dihydroxyanthroquinone) is
concerned, Page says it is not as light fast as more modern pigments. I
grant you Quinacridone rose is not the same color, but it makes beautiful
violets or purples with ultramarine blue and its tendency toward bluish pink
should be useful for sunsets and flowers.

Pat, why "never mind Vermillion?" The Old Holland Vermillion extra is a
bright gorgeous red tending to orange with great tinting strength. I don't
use it as much as the other reds I listed, but it's nice to have if you
don't mind the expense. 

You can see these reds in action in the watercolors on my website:
www.dadandrenee.com

As usual, the bottom line is make your own decision. Artists are (hopefully)
all individualists and one person's red may be another person's brown.

Paul Brand
pbrand at bex.net
www.dadandrenee.com

-----Original Message-----
From: patchapin at mindspring.com [mailto:patchapin at mindspring.com] 
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 6:55 PM
To: pbrand; 'pat davis'; 'aquanet'
Subject: Re: [Aquanet] a question of scarlet

Paul Brand wrote:
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "pbrand" <pbrand at buckeye-express.com>
To: "'pat davis'" <peedee at nucleus.com>; "'aquanet'" 
<aquanet at thedigitalbraintrust.net>
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 2:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Aquanet] a question of scarlet


> Consider Old Holland Vermillion Extra..........Daniel Smith Pyrrol
> Scarlet.............
>
> In fact these three reds from Daniel Smith may be all you need:
> Pyrrol Scarlet similar to cadmium red light or medium
> Perylene Red similar to cadmium red deep
> Quinacridone Rose bluer like Alizarin Crimson (in fact some of the tubes
> labeled Alizarin Crimson are now a quinacridone color).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Boy, would I argue with this one.  Quinacridone Rose/Permanent Rose is a 
cold rose pink, not at all like true Alizarin Crimson, which is a deep, 
dark, cold red. Both of them are transparent, and in my mind, you need both.

Perylene Red and Pyrrol Scarlet, never mind Vermillion -- are not at all 
transparent, and wouldn't be my choices at all, since one of them veers 
toward an orange, one to a brown, and one is a different chemical tone of 
Cad Red without the handling response.

That's just me, of course.  As I said earlier, probably everyone on this 
list could come up with a different 'necessary' list of reds.
pat chapin
www.patchapin.com