Daniel Smith have spent eighteen years developing the finest and most complete line of watercolour paint so you can create your own unique vision. Daniel Smith Watercolour paint sets are specially selected for flexible mixing, and can be used either to build a new palette or to expand an existing collection.
“Whether the aim is to paint botanicals, landscapes, urban scenes, animals, portraits – or any other subject – this set of fifteen colours will enable you to mix all the colours that you need. The fifteen colours used in this palette showcase the many characteristics of watercolour; some are transparent, some are opaque, some semi-transparent, some staining and some granulating. Some have two or even three of these characteristics. They are also largely single pigment colours, and they are carefully chosen to intermix, creating a world of colours. Importantly, they are all reliable pigments with a lightfast rating of I or II for watercolour.” – Jane Blundell.
Jane’s Grey is a unique colour in the market. Most grays, whether Payne’s Gray, Neutral Tint or others, are made with a black pigment, and often phthalo blue is included. Artist Jane Blundell wanted a gray without the often-dulling effect of a black pigment, and without the staining effects of phthalo blue. She wanted a gray that was liftable and granulating to create the lovely look of stormy skies and softened shadows. It will also work as a neutral tint, darkening colours without changing them. Many artists mix ultramarine blue and burnt sienna as they work, but no one was making this gorgeous mix as a convenience colour, so she did. Initially she mixed it in individual pans and palettes but the demand from her students meant she started to make it in tubes.
Using a gray that is made with palette colours maintains colour harmony in an artwork. Having it available ready made makes it easy to create rich darks with ease.
The DANIEL SMITH Watercolours in Half Pans Set includes: (* indicates colour unique to DANIEL SMITH)
- Buff Titanium*
- Hansa Yellow Medium
- Quinacridone Gold*
- Pyrrol Scarlet
- Permanent Alizarin Crimson
- Quinacridone Rose
- Ultramarine Blue
- Cerulean Blue, Chromium
- Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
- Phthalo Green (Blue Shade)
- Goethite (Brown Ochre)*
- Burnt Sienna
- Indian Red
- Raw Umber
- Jane’s Grey* [New Colour]
Ultimate Mixing Hand Poured Watercolour Half Pan Set
Buff Titanium*: Spatter or drop a brush load of Buff Titanium into a moist wash and enjoy the pigment displacement, it is especially effectively used that way to make clouds in the sky. Unique to DANIEL SMITH, Buff Titanium resembles the ecru shades of sand and antique lace and simulates the porous texture of an eggshell. It is a most welcome neutral, with its’ semi-transparent to opaque, non-staining properties. Pre-mix Buff Titanium with Quinacridone Rose or Perinone Orange for subtle hues and matte surfaces ideal for the velvety petals of your favourite flowers. Mix with Indigo or Van Dyck Brown to create slate-coloured shadows and soft feathers. Glaze a dried landscape with a misty, atmospheric mood.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Semi-Transparent
- Granulation: Granulating
- Staining: 1-Non-Staining
- Pigment: PW 6:1
Hansa Yellow Medium: Hansa Yellow Medium is a high-tinting, organic pigment. Considered the ‘perfect yellow’, Hansa Yellow Medium offers more control when mixing. Painters admire the purity of this primary pigment and adjust its temperature while avoiding a gray from a hidden complement. Think of a yellow pepper.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Semi-Transparent
- Granulation: Non-Granulating
- Staining: 2-Low Staining
- Pigment: PY 97
Quinacridone Gold*: Everyone’s favourite, Quinacridone Gold replaces Raw Sienna and adds versatility with its glazing and mixing capabilities. It is an excellent low-staining golden yellow pigment that can enhance any mixture. Highly durable and extremely transparent, all the DANIEL SMITH Quinacridone colours excel in vivid clarity and intensity.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Transparent
- Granulation: Granulating
- Staining: 2-Low Staining
- Pigments: PO 48 PY 150
Pyrrol Scarlet: Permanent, semi-transparent to semi-opaque and medium staining, this fire engine red is cleaner than Cadmium or Permanent Red. It is a modern synthetic-organic pigment. While close in value to its Perylene cousin, it disperses more evenly and is less granular.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Semi-Transparent
- Granulation: Non-Granulating
- Staining: 3-Medium Staining
- Pigment: PR 255
Permanent Alizarin Crimson: Permanent Alizarin Crimson, developed with our customers, blends pigments to produce an exceptionally lightfast red with true Alizarin Crimson character and versatility. Like classic Alizarin, it is vibrant, medium staining and very transparent, with the undeniable advantage of permanence. Try a rich and bold application or a blush of crimson colour in a light wash, we know you’ll love this beautiful shade.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Transparent
- Granulation: Non-Granulating
- Staining: 3-Medium Staining
- Pigments: PR 177, PV 19, PR 149
Quinacridone Rose: Quinacridone Rose, with its red-violet colour, lends itself to fabulous purples. Try with Indigo for deep dusty purples, or Indanthrone Blue for rich, clear purples. Quinacridone Rose can be mixed with Quinacridone Sienna or Burnt Orange in dilute wash states to create flesh tones or convincing sunsets. Highly durable and extremely transparent, all the DANIEL SMITH Quinacridone colours excel in vivid clarity and intensity.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Transparent
- Granulation: Non-Granulating
- Staining: 3-Medium Staining
- Pigment: PV 19
Ultramarine Blue: Ultramarine Blue plots cooler and bluer than the more saturated French Ultramarine. Temperature aside, both blues have equal permanence, lightfastness and transparency. Ultramarine Blue is slightly less granular in concentrated washes. For less saturation, sedimentation and cost, use Ultramarine Blue straight, for vibrant crayon-like colour or mixed with a cool red for dark, effective neutrals.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Transparent
- Granulation: Granulating
- Staining: 3-Medium Staining
- Pigment: PB 29
Cerulean Blue, Chromium: Beautiful on its own, and especially so when mixed with a transparent pigment, this sky-blue inorganic pigment is granular and medium-light in value. Highly permanent and extremely low-staining, Cerulean Blue creates exciting granulation and settling washes. A drop of Cerulean Blue into a damp wash such as Burnt Sienna creates a halo effect around the denser Cerulean. This is especially effective when Quinacridone Gold or Quinacridone Burnt Orange are used in the moist underpainting. This technique is great for rendering lichen and Spanish Moss. Add Buff Titanium, Undersea Green and touches of Lunar Black – each a DANIEL SMITH exclusive – and the creative fun truly begins! For a misty landscape or that dusky quality on eggplant, grapes and plums, think Cerulean as a mixer.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Semi-Transparent
- Granulation: Granulating
- Staining: 2-Low Staining
- Pigment: PB 36
Phthalo Blue (Green Shade): For cool, clean staining shadows and reflected light on windows, super staining, super transparent Phthalo Blue is a popular pure chroma organic pigment. Mix with Hansa Yellow for luminous greens.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Transparent
- Granulation: Non-Granulating
- Staining: 4-High Staining
- Pigment: PB 15:3
Phthalo Green (Blue Shade): Phthalo Green Blue Shade is a black-green. Concentrated to diluted states, it is a transparent and super staining green. Organic and absolutely lightfast, most artists find this colour indispensable. The slightly bluish shade can be readily modified with yellows and reds. Creates luminous, effective darks or clean glazes.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Transparent
- Granulation: Non-Granulating
- Staining: 4-High Staining
- Pigment: PG 7
Goethite (Brown Ochre)*: Found in iron deposits nearly worldwide, Goethite (Brown Ochre) is named after Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the German philosopher, poet and mineralogist. Our unusually pure pigment is mined in Russia, south of Moscow. Rich and warm, DANIEL SMITH Goethite is a dark tea colour in masstone and washes out to a rich, warm tan. In washes, it displays intriguing granulation, with pools of light and dark in every brushstroke. Like all colours derived from the earth, it is lightfast and permanent – a lasting connection to the planet and the creative forces of nature.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Semi-Transparent
- Granulation: Granulating
- Staining: 2-Low Staining
- Pigment: PY 43
Burnt Sienna: This transparent to semi-transparent, rich earth pigment is a traditional palette staple for many landscape painters. Our Burnt Sienna combines with other hues without a loss of intensity or transparency. Subsequent layers (or glazes) do not sully or stain the other pigments these glazes contact.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Semi-Transparent
- Granulation: Granulating
- Staining: 1-Non-Staining
- Pigment: PBr 7
Indian Red: Artists choose Indian Red for architectural renderings, old brick and other subjects where a flat (matte) granular surface is desired. The opacity and density intrinsic to Indian Red make this grayed earth brown a useful asset. One coat of this low-intensity pigment covers even a highly saturated passage. Yellow Ochre, Cerulean Blue and Indian Red form an opaque triad, producing grayed, earth-like mixtures common to landscapes. Handling tip: Hit it once and walk away.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Opaque
- Granulation: Granulating
- Staining: 3-Medium Staining
- Pigment: PR 101
Raw Umber: This familiar rich dark brown earth pigment is semi-transparent with medium tinting strength. An extremely permanent inorganic colour, it mixes well with sedimentary Cobalt Blue or Cobalt Violet for granular middle-value grays that evoke mood, lend depth of field and create form or spaces.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Semi-Transparent
- Granulation: Granulating
- Staining: 2-Low Staining
- Pigment: PBr 7
Jane’s Grey* [New Colour!]: Jane’s Grey is a unique colour in the market. Most grays, whether Payne’s Gray, Neutral Tint or others, are made with a black pigment, and often phthalo blue is included. Artist Jane Blundell wanted a gray without the often-dulling effect of a black pigment, and without the staining effects of phthalo blue. She wanted a gray that was liftable and granulating to create the lovely look of stormy skies and softened shadows. It will also work as a neutral tint, darkening colours without changing them. Many artists mix ultramarine blue and burnt sienna as they work, but no one was making this gorgeous mix as a convenience colour, so she did. Initially she mixed it in individual pans and palettes but the demand from her students meant she started to make it in tubes.
Now it is available from DANIEL SMITH as a half pan in the Hand Poured Ultimate Mixing Watercolour Set. Using a gray that is made with palette colours maintains colour harmony in an artwork. Having it available ready made makes it easy to create rich darks with ease.
Ready made Jane’s Grey makes it easy to create rich darks with ease while maintaining colour harmony in an artwork.
- Lightfastness: I – Excellent
- Transparency: Semi-Transparent
- Granulation: Granulating
- Staining: 2 – Low Staining
- Pigments: PB 29, PBr 7
