New colours from new pigments

Winsow and Newton have published an article about the new pigments which they have introduced in recent years in Why are new pigments so important?.  This succinctly describes the origins, pigments used for and performance of the new colours.

By the 1990s there were so many new organic pigments available that Winsor and Newton embarked on some far reaching reviews to ensure artists would be able to enjoy everything from entirely new colours to greater brilliance and permanence. Almost 200 new colours were introduced over the following 15 years and this process is still continuing today.

1996 Winsor and Newton embarked on the most significant change to the Artists' Water Colour range in 164 years. The availability of so many new pigments meant that 35 new colours were introduced into the range, offering artists the widest and most balanced spectrum with the greatest permanence.

They key issue has always been about how to balance transparency with lightfastness.  Older pigments frequently had one but not the other and the challenge has been to develop new pigments which provide quality performance across the spectrum and over time.

Winsor & Newton Watercolour Chart 2010 - see Catalogue 2010

The new colours covered in the article (click the link at the top to read it) are listed below.  The new pigments which are most prominent in the ones listed below are the quinacridones and the perylenes.  I was pleased to note that there is now a permanent carmine based on Quinacridone pyrrolidone.  Apparently it's still so new that it does not have a colour index number as yet!

The acronyms after their names are for Artists watercolours (AWC) Artists Oil Colours (AOC) and artists Acrylic Colours (AAC)

Yellows: 

• PY184 -  Bismuth Yellow (AWC*, AOC*, AAC*)
• PY150 -  Transparent Yellow (AWC), Indian Yellow Deep (AOC), Nickel Azo Yellow (AAC)  

Orange:

• P073 -  Winsor Orange (Red Shade) (AWC), Winsor Orange (AOC), Pyrrole Orange (AAC)

Reds:

• PR255 -  Scarlet Lake (AOC), Pyrrole Red Light (AAC)
• PR254 -  Winsor Red (AWC), Bright Red (AOC), Pyrrole Red (AAC)
• PR264 -  Winsor Red Deep (AWC)
• PR209 -  Quinacridone Red (AWC, AOC, AAC)
• Quinacridone pyrrolidone - Permanent Carmine (AWC, AOC)
• PR206 -  Brown Madder (AWC), Quinacridone Burnt Orange (AAC)
• PR233 -  Potter’s Pink (AWC, AAC)
• PR149 -  Winsor Red Deep (AOC), Perylene Red (AAC)
• PR179 -  Perylene Maroon (AWC, AAC)

Violets:

• PV29 -  Perylene Violet (AWC, AAC)
• PV15 -  Ultramarine Violet (AWC, AOC, AAC)
• PB74 -  Cobalt Blue Deep (AWC, AOC, AAC)
• PB60 -  Indanthrene Blue (AWC, AOC, AAC)

Greens:

• PG50 -  Cobalt Turquoise Light (AWC, AOC, AAC)
• PY129 -  Green Gold (AWC, AOC, AAC)

Earths:

• Mixture due to replacement -  Quinacridone Gold (AWC, AAC)
• PBr7 -  Brown Ochre (AWC, AOC)
• PR101 -  Caput Mortuum Violet (AWC), Mars Violet (AOC), Violet Iron Oxide(AAC)

Black:

• PBk31 -  Perylene Green (AWC, AAC), Perylene Black (AOC) - the first new permanent black for thousands of years!

Below are links to the various colour charts for artists colours which can be seen online

• Artists Oil Colour   
• Artists Acrylic Colour  
• Artists Water Colour