Why does Anthraquinone Blue look so much like Indanthrone Blue? And what's in Undersea Green?
Paint manufacturers offer a bewildering selection of colors, all with different names. This makes it difficult to compare colors between manufacturers, or to identify what colors are contained in a mixture.
If you look closely on your tubes of artist quality paints, you'll see an alpha-numeric designation, usually two letters (and usually beginning with "P"), and two or three numbers. This refers to a system developed by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) for identifying the basic colors. Knowing a little about this system helps solve some of the mysteries surrounding paint colors.
Each color family is designated by a 2 or 3 letter abbreviation. For example, blues all carry the designation "PB" (Pigment Blue); yellows, "PY" (Pigment Yellow), and so on.
That Indanthrone Blue, for example, is PB60. If you look on a tube of Maimeri Blu's Faience Blue, you will see it described as "Anthraquinone Blue", with the designation PB60. So Indanthrone Blue, Anthraquinone Blue, and Faience Blue are essentially all the same color. Of course, some variation between manufacturers is always to be expected.
Undersea Green, a popular mixed dark green from Daniel Smith, turns out to be a mixture of Ultramarine Blue (PB29) and Quinacridone Deep Gold (PO49). So if you were so inclined you could mix this color up yourself.
Checking the ASTM designation on your paints will help you understand what's really in that paint tube with the exciting name.
A complete listing of the color designations is contained in The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques: Fifth Edition, Revised and Updated (Reference)
, an indispensable volume for all artists.
Good morning, You are so right. When ever I teach a workshop this is something I explain to the students. It's a very important fact in color choosing while painting. Too many often new watercolor artist forget about this fact and choose a color by name.
ReplyDeleteHilary Page has a wonderful book on that matter it's called: Guide to watercolor paints. She has done a study and compared colors between many manufacturers. You can actually see the colors side by side. It's a wonderful guide to have on hand.
Thank you for sharing this information it's really valuable.
I shared your article in a decorating group that I belong to because so many members ask about colors for their projects.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this information!