Reds and Oranges

You need to make up your mind which price category you will use. Most professional artists use cadmiums but not “in bulk”. They can be used selectively to accentuate the less expensive reds and oranges, and the most noticeable example is Cadmium Orange which is much brighter than other oranges. Transparent Perinone Orange is an interesting colour for tinting and glazing. We have made it as a medium strength colour, because of its clarity and pinkish undertone. Fra Angelico would have loved it.

Quinacridone Magenta and Alizarine Crimson. One of these will most likely become your standard cool red for mixing and glazing: Quinacridone magenta is a 20th century pigment and is the brighter and cleaner of the two. For students lists you are more likely to see Quinacridone Magenta on acrylic lists rather than oil paint lists, because acrylic painters have been less traditional and faster to adjust than oil painters, or maybe the paint companies thought so.

There is a complication with Alizarine, which is the “traditional” cool red: the traditional anthraquinone pigment failed badly when light fastness tests were done by A.S.T.M and most companies have replaced it with a mixture of more reliable pigments to imitate the old colour. We are using a single pigment that is not an exact replica because the mass tone is not quite as deep, but the transparency and undertone work really well.

We also have Permanent Alizerine (Mixture) in Series 4 and Crimson in Series 1. Quinacridone Red Violet is a colour with a moody feel to it which Rothko liked using. Permanent Brown Madder is hidden away in mass tone and is not brown: it is a beautiful mixing red, or glazing red. Graduating towards purple are Brilliant Violet then Dioxazine Violet which is so dark and strong it appears black unless tinted with white or greatly diluted for glazing. When a less dominant purple is needed, the mixed purple in series 1 is fine.