15 colours from Jane Blundell's workshop

A few months ago, I attended one of Jane Blundell's watercolour workshop.

This is the set of 15 Daniel Smith watercolours that was given out that day in half pans. I finally created the colour chart for the mixture and it sure took quite some time to mix all the 15 colours.

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Here's the list of colours from top to bottom:

• Buff Titanium
• Hansa Yellow Medium
• Quinacridone Gold
• Transparent Pyrrol Orange
• Pyrrol Crimson
• Quinacridone Rose
• Ultramarine Blue
• Phthalo Blue (RS)
• Cerulean Blue Chromium
• Phthalo Green (BS)
• Goethite-Brown Ochre
• Burnt Sienna
• Indian Red
• Raw Umber
• Neutral Tint

Buff Titanium
The pigment is PW6:1, semi transparent, granulating, non-staining with excellent lightfast rating.

This works well as a tinting colour. It's off-white, more like plain white eggshell. When added to other colours, it reduces their saturation as compared to adding water which reduces the value. It is granulating so it adds that property to the colour it mixes with. It's an interesting colour but not essential.

Hansa Yellow Medium
The pigment is PY97, semi-transparent, non-granulating, low staining with excellent lightfast rating.

This is a great yellow to have as a primary yellow. It a yellow that many artist uses. It is bright with high tinting strength, very good for mixing with other colours. Personally I use Lemon Yellow but I would switch to this yellow in the future.

Quinacridone Gold
The pigment is PO49, transparent, granulating, low staining with excellent lightfast rating.

According to Daniel Smith, this colour replaces Raw Sienna. But it's not quite Raw Sienna because it doesn't mix to a dry grey with Ultramarine. When you mix Q Gold with Ultramarine and other blues, you get warm green and Sap Green lookalikes. With reds, you get nice subdued oranges and peach colours.

Transparent Pyrrol Orange
The pigment is PO71, transparent, non-granulating, low staining with excellent lightfast rating.

This is much more red than Pyrrol Orange (PO73). It's a strong and warm red. Transparent too which can be more useful than Cadmium Red. It produce strong oranges with yellows, peach pink with earth colours and maurve with blues. With Phthalo green, it can go into a dark warm brown.

Pyrrol Crimson
The pigment is PR264, semi-transparent, non-granulating, medium staining with excellent lightfast rating.

This is the cool red between magenta and fuchsia, a good alternative for Daniel Smith's Permanent Alizarin Crimson (PR177 PV19 PR149) which is a three-pigment colour. It mixes to a lighter orange with yellows. With blues, it can mix to either dark purples or maurve. With Phthalo Green, it can almost mix to a black. The shades of red that it can mix with earth colours are also very attractive.

Quinacridone Rose
The pigment is PV19, transparent, non-granulating, medium staining with excellent lightfast rating.

This is a cool bright violent-red-pinkish colour. It can produce nice shades of pink and purples.

Ultramarine Blue
The pigment is PB29, transparent, granulating, mediumg staining with excellent lightfast rating.

It's the same pigment as French Ultramarine but is slightly cooler. Both Ultramarine are extremely useful and a staple in many artists' palettes. When mixed with yellows, it produces warm green. I like it best when it's mixed with earth colours to produce greys, especially with Burnt Sienna. When mixed with red, it produces more greyish purples, maurve.

Phthalo Blue (RS)
The pigment is PB15, transparent, granulating, staining with excellent lightfast rating.

As with most Phthalo colours, this is staining and has high tinting strength. Just a bit of pigment produces intense blue. It has a red undertone. It provides nice variation to the mixtures that Ultramarine can mix.

Cerulean Blue Chromium
The pigment is PB36, semi-transparent, granulating, low staining with excellent lightfast rating.

Its cousin Cerulean Blue is PB35 which is cleaner, brighter and slighter warmer. This is a wonderful blue that creates beautiful washes.

Goethite - Brown Ochre
The pigment is PY43, semi-transparent, granulating, low staining with excellent lightfast rating.

I find it quite difficult to wet and coax the pigment onto the brush. This warm earth color closer to Raw Sienna so it can mix a nice grey with Ultramarine.

Burnt Sienna
The pigment is PBr7, semi-transparent, granulating, non-staining with excellent lightfast rating.

It's a nice semi-transparent warm earth colour that's one of my favourite because it's very useful. It can be used to tone down all other colours to make them warmer. Favourite mixtures with this would be with Ultramarine to form dark greys for clouds and you can still still the individual characteristics of each pigment when mixed.

Indian Red
The pigment is PR101, opaque, granulating, medium staining with excellent lightfast rating.

It's a very warm red and when mixed produces warmed toned down colours.

Raw Umber
The pigment is PBr7, semi-transparent, granulating, low staining with excellent lightfast rating.

This is a more cooler earth colour compared to Burnt Sienna and has its own nice

Neutral Tint
The pigment is PBk6, PV19, PB15, semi-transparent, non-granulating, low staining with excellent lightfast rating.

While it's said to produce darker values of colours it mixes with, I find that it's not that neutral after all. The hue from the original colours do shift. Daniel Smith created this to make it easier to mix darker clean colours instead of mud. To that effect, it does succeed. The are resulting dark hues are quite pleasing.