The Atelier Hue colours

We have used the term “hue” (meaning “the colour of”) for colours that closely imitate more expensive colours. Professionals, students and amateurs use these colours, and the “real” cobalts etc can be used judiciously where needed in overpainting.

The Cobalt Hues

These are Cobalt Blue Hue, Cerulean Blue Hue (Cerulean is made from Cobalt) Cobalt Turquoise Light Hue, and Cobalt Green Hue. The “real” cobalt based pigments are more translucent and do contribute something special to a top layer.

Cadmium Hues

Many companies produce cheaper imitations of Cadmium Yellows, Oranges, Reds and Cadmium colours appear on art students colour lists. Most students use these less expensive substitutes.

We show here the colours we suggest as substitutes for the cadmiums but we don’t call them cadmium hues, because it is misleading. They don’t have the opacity of real cadmiums and at the same time they have more tinting power and are better thought of as colours in their own right. Once again professional artists often use these colours and reserve cadmiums for use where they feel they are needed. We show the colours closest to their cadmium counterparts.

Note:
For oil painters only we have introduced a small range of chrome pigments, which are very bright and opaque and do duplicate the effects of similar cadmiums. Chrome pigments are toxic and need to be used carefully.