Sennelier Watercolour S1 Neutral Tint (931)

Neutral Tint (931) Sennelier l’Aquarelle Neutral tints are a mixture of Indanthrene Blue, Lamp Black, and Quinacridone Red, creating grey hues with no dominant shade. The neutral grey won't push other colours warm or cool. The tint is designed to make a darker colour but not to alter it when you paint a wash over the previous colour. A neutral tint will make a colour a deeper shade but will not shift the tone.

Indanthrene Blue is a clear, clean, deep blue organic pigment. It has moderate to high tinting strength and is less overpowering than Phthalo Blue. Hansa Yellow Deep, Benzimidazolone Orange, and Raw Umber are its best mixing complements.

Lamp black is an opaque, heavily staining 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.

Quinacridone Red is a bright, clean red pigment. Quinacridone pigments have relatively low tinting strength in general.

Pigment Name: PB60—Indanthrene Blue

Indanthrene Blue is a clear, clean, deep blue organic pigment. It has moderate to high tinting strength and is less overpowering than Phthalo Blue. Hansa Yellow Deep, Benzimidazolone Orange, and Raw Umber are its best mixing complements.

Chemical Name: complex, insoluble anthraquinone.

Permanence: Indanthrene Blue is permanent with excellent lightfastness in both masstone and tints.

Toxicity: Indanthrene Blue varies in its acute toxicity, though toxicity is generally slight.

History: Indanthrene Blue is the oldest vat dye, discovered and patented in 1901 by Rene Bohn. It is considered the first anthraquinone vat dye, a group of dyes characterized by excellent lightfastness. The pigment originates from this dye.

Alternate Names: Indanthrone.

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 has not been 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: PR209—Quinacridone Red

Quinacridone Red is a bright, clean red pigment with an average drying time. Quinacridone pigments have relatively low tinting strength in general. For this reason, quinacridone colours are often expensive because more pigment is required in the formulation.

Permanence: Quinacridone Red has excellent permanence and lightfastness.

Toxicity: Quinacridone Red has no known acute hazards. However, overexposure to quinacridone pigments may cause skin irritation. Quinacridone pigments contain a compound that is 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: n/a.