A colour name is the beginning of the question

Two paints called the same colour may contain different pigments. Two paints using the same pigment can also feel different because formulation and processing matter. The name helps you find the tube; the pigment code gives you another way to understand it. Neither replaces a wash on your own paper. Paint manufacturers have excellent naming departments, but none of them has painted tomorrow’s sky for you.

Look for the Colour Index code: PY for a yellow pigment, PR for red, PB for blue, and so on. The number identifies the pigment, rather than its quality or strength. Mark’s palette includes PB29 French Ultramarine, PB60 Indanthrone Blue and PB15:3 Phthalo Blue Green Shade. They all occupy blue territory, but they earn different jobs.

Strength and transparency are separate questions

A strong paint needs relatively little material to influence a mixture. A transparent paint allows the underlying paper or layer to remain visible in a thin application. Those properties are not the same thing. A heavily loaded transparent wash can look very dark; a paint rated semi-opaque can still be used thinly. Check a dried wash across a waterproof dark line, alongside an unlined patch.

This matters in Mark’s own box. ROSA lists its Azo Yellow PY151 as semi-opaque. The pigment code matches the planned Daniel Smith replacement, but that does not promise identical handling. Make the comparison on paper rather than treating a same-code replacement as an invisible change. Transparency is a painting decision, not a badge that makes every other paint unwelcome.

A schematic separating strength, transparency, granulation and staining, with a test for each.
Read four different properties. Original studio schematic. Open larger →

Granulation and staining do different work

Granulation is the visible settling or textural separation of pigment in a wash. Staining describes how readily colour remains in the paper when you try to lift it. A paint can have one property without the other. Daniel Smith’s current chart lists French Ultramarine as granulating and medium staining, while Indanthrone Blue is non-granulating and medium staining. Look at the individual colour, not a general reputation that an entire brand is grainy.

Try a generous wash and let it dry without constant brushing. Then test lifting on a separate dry area with a clean damp brush. Your paper affects both results. A texture you enjoy in a stone wall may be distracting in a quiet sky; a staining colour may be useful beneath a glaze but awkward when you want to recover a light.

Single pigments make some questions easier

With one pigment in each well, it is easier to track what enters a mixture. That is one reason Mark has organised a core of twelve single-pigment choices. It does not make mixtures morally superior or convenience colours suspect. A ready-made mixture can save time, especially when it reliably makes a colour you use often.

The word hue usually indicates an alternative formulation intended to resemble another colour. Read the pigment listing to see what the alternative is. It may offer a useful cost or handling choice. Mark also owns a ROSA Turquoise Hue whose composition has not been recorded in his palette notes; it stays distinct from the known PB16 paint rather than being treated as the same thing.

Pans, tubes and a palette you can work from

Pans are compact and convenient to carry. Tubes make it straightforward to put out enough paint for a generous mixture. How readily a dried paint rewets depends on the formulation and pigment, so avoid turning either format into a universal winner. Pre-wet a stubborn pan, give it a moment, and load a mixture rather than digging at it with the point of your best brush.

Prepare enough of a key wash before you start. Leave mixing room between strong colours, especially the phthalos, which can dominate with very little encouragement. Compare the dried result with the wet puddle before adding another layer. Paper, dilution and neighbouring colours all affect how a mixture appears.

Permanence belongs to the individual colour

Consult the manufacturer’s lightfastness and permanence information for each paint. These ratings concern colour stability under specified conditions; they do not rank how attractive the paint is or guarantee that a picture can live indefinitely in direct sun. Keep the pigment identity and rating with your swatch record.

Start with a small, understandable set. Learn which colour makes a useful pale wash, which pulls a mixture towards itself, and which leaves a trace you cannot easily lift. A working palette is a collection of behaviours. Once you know those, the impressive number of names in a catalogue becomes much less urgent.

Try it · 25 minutes · Editorial exercise

One colour, four useful questions

  1. Choose one familiar paint. Record its exact product name, pigment code and manufacturer’s ratings.
  2. Make a strong-to-pale strip, including a section across a fully dry waterproof ink line.
  3. Let it dry completely; observe transparency and texture, then gently test lifting in one corner.
  4. Mix it with one other known pigment in three proportions. Label the result and repeat on your usual painting paper.

Make this a study of your own subject. These are our practice prompts, not a claim to reproduce an artist’s exact method.

Take a practice sheet →

Keep looking

Sources support the factual context; looking notes and exercises are Watercolourist editorial interpretation.

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One useful observation beats “lovely work”. Show a study, ask about a decision, or tell us where you disagree.

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