Daniel Smith Watercolours have been a firm favourite for many years amongst watercolourists, for good reason. Their two-hundred-strong (and growing) range consists of the highest quality pigments mixed with gum arabic, and their popular Primatek range is made with mineral earth pigments, creating some beautiful and unique textures. In this article, I test the six new additions to the range, which include three single pigment paints, and look at their individual qualities and mixing capabilities.
Six New Daniel Smith Watercolours for Your Palette
I remember going to the United States around ten years ago to pick up the coveted Shadow Violet and Moonglow and feeling so excited to see the whole range so readily available on shelves. Fortunately for me, they are now easily accessible in the UK via Jackson’s. Since then they have been a constant in my ever-growing arsenal of paint. I should mention that I am not exclusively a watercolour artist – I use watercolour in my mixed media practice amongst other paints and materials, so when I am referring to my own practice please bear that in mind. To test these colours I used Jackson’s Bockingford Watercolour Paper 300 gsm Rough as well as Cold Pressed, with a Da Vinci Colineo Brush.
Looking at the Individual New Daniel Smith Watercolours
Cobalt Green Deep (PG26)
The last of the new colours and another single pigment. Cobalt Green Deep is a semi-transparent granulating, slightly muted, and incredibly versatile colour that I would reach for a lot within my own work. For me, this colour is the depths of British woodland, on the edge of where the sun hits the trees, or in mass tone, the mossy floor. It is fractionally less transparent than the Manganese Violet, and to my eyes has the strongest granulation which appears with only a modest amount of water. It could add beautiful shadows within a more vibrant landscape painting, too.
Top: Cobalt Green Deep
Bottom: Jaune Brilliant No.1
Jaune Brilliant No.1 (PY65, PW6)
Jaune Brilliant No.1 is the first of the six new colours I tested. It somehow manages to be a soft yet bright yellow, which would be perfect for spring and early summer light. It brings to mind buttercups, or that early morning glow that comes through the window when you make your first cup of coffee.
I suspect the addition of Titanium White to the Arylide Yellow pigment has a lot to do with this soft quality. Before I looked at the pigment makeup, I thought it might be a very light transparent yellow that I would use as a base colour or wash, but it is in fact semi-opaque. Applied straight from the tube, it could work well as a highlight, and when combined with the new single pigment colours and diluted with water, you can achieve some lovely tints. There is no granulation, but that is often the case for any paint mixed with white. In mass tone, it is fairly opaque, and the pigment appears quite dense – you can use very little pigment and still get a good colour pay-off when mixed with a lot of water and is very strong for such a soft colour.
Jaune Brilliant No.2 (PO62, PW6)
As expected, Jaune Brilliant No.2 sits in the same family as Jaune Brilliant No.1 and behaves in a similar way. It is another semi-opaque colour, consisting of Benzimidazolone Orange and Titanium White and creating an orange shade that leads to peach. It doesn’t granulate either, but has a much more warm effect than Jaune Brilliant No.1. If No.1 is your early morning coffee, No.2 is your sunset beverage. It has a glow to it that I associate with the end of a long summer day, and brings warmth to any palette. It is worth noting that these Jaune Brilliant colours are not necessarily unique to Daniel Smith, and I was quite surprised that they weren’t already in the range, but I am personally very happy with these additions.
Earthy Red Light (PR290)
Earthy Red Light is the first of the single pigment colours that I tried, and I was surprised at how wonderfully dense the pigment was. In mass tone, it’s almost opaque in my opinion, despite being listed as semi-opaque. When diluted with water, the Red Iron Oxide pigment creates a wonderful granulation that would add a different texture to any environment. It’s a hugely versatile, low-staining paint, that is wonderful alone but can create wonderful mixes when combined with complementary colours.
Manganese Violet (PV16)
Manganese Violet was the first semi-transparent colour in the new selection, and I noticed the difference right away. Despite the richness of the pigment, I had to work to get the paint as dense as the warm tones. But once I embraced the paint for what it was meant to be, its merits really shone through. It’s a vibrant, rich, royal purple that could work beautifully against a warm yellow as a complementary in a landscape. I don’t personally own any other single pigment purples, as I don’t naturally gravitate to the colour, but on swatching this paint I may have to invest. It washes out to a beautiful soft tone, and like Earthy Red Light, it creates some unusual combinations when mixed with other colours. Adding this paint to others can add depth and, due to its granulating nature, an extra dimension to colours such as Jaune Brilliant No.1.
Coral Reef (PO73, PW6)
The name Coral Reef is definitely a giveaway for this paint. A bright peachy pink, semi-opaque officially but nearly opaque in mass tone, in my opinion, it is a summer holiday in a tube. As with Jaune Brilliant No.1 and No.2, Coral Reef doesn’t granulate on even rough paper due to the white pigment, but you need very little paint to achieve a vibrant wash. Outside of flamingos and coral reefs, this colour would also make a beautiful contrast colour to a darker, more muted palette, or a vibrant addition for florals. The Pyrrole Orange and Titanium White combination is not unique, and if you have these pigments at home you could create a similar effect, but there is something lovely about having this convenient and consistent mixture for a colour I would personally reach for a lot.
Mixing the New Colours
I spent a happy hour exploring and combining the six new colours. The three colours that are premixed with white (Jaune Brilliant No.1, No.2 and Coral Reef) are nice, but not unexpected when mixed with each other. Essentially, they create variants of each other – soft, peachy colours that could create warmth in any painting. What interested me the most was when I started to combine the single pigment colours with them.
Earthy Red Light mixed with Cobalt Green Deep made for a strong, almost olive leaning red when direct from the tube. When diluted, the contrasting colours created a beautiful muted granulating colour I could see myself using in many of the landscapes in my sketchbooks.
Despite being semi-transparent, Manganese Violet’s strength dominated every mix I created, except for Cobalt Green Deep which, of course, created yet another beautiful forest shade. If you’re looking for a warm lilac, I really enjoyed Manganese Violet combined with Jaune Brilliant No.2, especially when applied quite densely.
Cobalt Green Deep and Coral Reef made for an interesting mix, the two contrasting paints creating something unusual for me. It shouldn’t have worked in many ways, but I enjoyed it!
You could look at other complementary colours in Daniel Smith’s range too. Coral Reef or Jaune Brilliant No.2 could work beautifully with the heavily granulating Lunar Blue, which is one of my personal favourites. And Jaune Brilliant No.1 and Indigo feel like a tried and tested colour theory staple to me, and it works for a reason. Manganese Violet and Hansa Yellow could make for a beautiful and vibrant contrast, and the combination of the two mixed would make for some interesting shades. Earthy Red Light and Cobalt Teal Blue will feel vibrant and exciting, perfect for those early summer holidays or brighter days.
Overall, these new paints fill gaps in the Daniel Smith watercolour range that I hadn’t realised were there. It’s a good selection of dependable colours that can help create a timeless and well-thought-out palette for any artist using watercolour. With high standards of lightfastness and interesting textures, these new additions make for valuable and convenient additions to the range.
Further Reading
Arches Aquarelle: A Traditional Watercolour Paper
Review of Daniel Smith Extra Fine Gouache
Chromatic Black: Mixing Nuanced Dark Values
In Conversation With John Cogley, Daniel Smith
Shop Daniel Smith Watercolours on jacksonsart.com
