Sennelier Watercolour S1 Payne's Grey (703)

Payne's Grey (703) Lamp black is an opaque, heavily staining black pigment with little covering or tinting power. It is typically the opaquest black in watercolour form. Though a very pure black, it tends to muddy slightly in mixtures. Natural sources may be brownish or bluish in tone because of impurities. Phthalo Blue PB15:1 is a structural variant of Phthalo Blue PB15 that produces more reddish tones. Quinacridone Red is a high-performance, transparent pigment. Quinacridone pigments have relatively low tinting strength in general.

Pigment Name: PBk7—Lamp Black

Lamp Black is an opaque, heavily staining black pigment with little covering or tinting power. It is typically the opaquest black in watercolour form. Though a very pure black, it tends to muddy slightly in mixtures. Natural sources may be brownish or bluish in tone because of impurities. When used in oil paints, it is one of the slowest drying pigments and should not be used in underpainting or applied in layers underneath other colours.

Chemical Name: carbon

Permanence: Lamp Black is very lightfast and permanent. It is used in all techniques in permanent painting.

Toxicity: Carbon itself is not considered hazardous; however, other hazardous combustion products are often present as impurities when Lamp Black is produced from natural materials. For this reason, commercial preparations of the pigment should be considered slightly toxic. Avoid skin contact and inhalation. Where such impurities are present, Lamp Black is a possible human carcinogen.

History: Lamp Black is a carbon-based black traditionally produced by collecting soot (known as lampblack) from oil lamps. It has been used as a pigment since prehistoric times. Lamp black is found in Egyptian murals and tomb decorations and was the most popular black for fresco painting until the development of Mars Black.

Alternate Names: Carbon Black, Channel Black, Furnace Black, Oil Black, Vegetable Black. Flame Black is an impure version of Lamp Black. An alternate spelling is Lampblack, in which the first syllable is stressed, and the two words are elided to form a closed compound.

Pigment Name: Phthalo Blue PB15:1 

Phthalo Blue is a structural variant of Phthalo Blue PB15 that produces more reddish tones.

Chemical Name: alpha copper phthalocyanine

Permanence: Phthalo Blues are lightfast, stable, and permanent for all paint uses. Due to their stability, they are currently used in inks, coatings, and many plastics and are considered a standard pigment in printing ink and the packaging industry.

Toxicity: Phthalo Blues have no significant hazards, although those made before 1982 contained some PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).

History: Developed by chemists using the trade name Monastral Blue, the organic blue dyestuff, now known as Phthalo Blue, was presented as a pigment in November 1935 in London. Its discovery was accidental. The dark colour was observed in a kettle where a dye was made from a British dyestuff plant. The demand for such a pigment came from commercial printers who wanted a cyan to replace Prussian Blue.

Alternate Names: Phthalo Blue Red Shade, Winsor Blue Red Shade

Pigment Name: PV19—Quinacridone Violet

Quinacridone Red is a high-performance, transparent pigment with an average drying time and uneven dispersal. It is another name for Quinacridone Violet (PV19) and Quinacridone Red (PR192). Quinacridone pigments generally have relatively low tinting strength. For this reason, quinacridone colours are often expensive because more pigment is required in the formulation.

Permanence: Quinacridone Violet has excellent lightfastness and is considered the most lightfast organic pigment in this shade range.

Toxicity: Quinacridone Violet has no known acute hazards. Overexposure to quinacridone pigments may cause skin irritation. Quinacridone pigments contain a compound found to be a skin, eye, and respiratory irritant.

History: Although quinacridone compounds became known in the late 19th century, manufacturing methods to make them practical for use as commercial pigments began in the 1950s. Quinacridone pigments were first developed as coatings for the automotive industry but were quickly adopted by artists.

Alternate Names: Quinacridone Red (PR192), Quinacridone Red (PR19).