Spotlight on a Discontinued Pigment – Genuine Manganese Blue (PB33)

I collect rare & discontinued pigments and Genuine Manganese Blue (PB33) has been at the top of my “To Find” list. According to Handprint, this pigment was discontinued in the 1990s due to the tightening of environmental regulations. As such, all major watercolor manufacturers phased out production of the paint when their pigment supply ran out. Many manufacturers then started offering less-toxic formulations that approximate the original color.

After some hunting, I discovered a company on Etsy called Prodigal Sons Pigments that sells small, handmade batches of genuine manganese blue using PB33. It is pricey: $19 for a half pan and $30 for a full pan. They also sell pure pigment powder if you are interested in making your own paint.

Below are swatches of genuine manganese blue compared with some replacements, including Da Vinci’s version that is a combination of PB15 and PB33.

Without further ado, here are my observations…

The Prodigal Sons Pigments half pan of PB33 is loaded with pigment. Even a tiny dab on the end of your brush goes a long way. The color is what I would consider a perfect cyan and would likely be my go-to blue if it weren’t so precious (and toxic). It’s highly granulating, which is apparent in my swatches below (all done on Arches Cold Press).

The pan was securely packaged with a wax paper inner wrapper and a hand-painted outer wrapper.

Prodigal Sons Pigments filled the pan all the way to the top! This will probably last me a long time because I’ve been using it very sparingly.

This wet-on-wet test is a good demonstration of the color range. You can achieve a very light baby blue or the deep cyan of a vivid fall sky. This swatch showcases the beautiful granulating texture.

Below is a swatch of the Da Vinci Manganese Blue mixture that contains PB33 and PB15. It’s probable that the primary pigment is PB15 due to the mild granulation. It reminds me more of cerulean blue – both in color and granulation – than the genuine single-pigment Manganese Blue shown above.

This is a comparison of genuine Manganese Blue (top) and the Da Vinci Manganese Blue Mixture (bottom). The difference in the color and amount of granulation is quite apparent. While DaVinci’s is still a beautiful color, it is duller than the vivid genuine pigment and is far less granulating.

Many brands offer Manganese Blue substitutes, generally using PB15. Some brands add PW4 or PW6 to achieve a lighter cyan, but I didn’t swatch any of those. I stuck to single-pigment versions only.

The closest match to the genuine paint is Daniel Smith’s Manganese Blue Hue (PB15), although you can’t achieve the same color range as the original. However, it is the only version I tested that granulates. This paint has a permanent place in my palette because it is an excellent choice for a primary cyan.

Turner Watercolor also uses PB15, however it doesn’t granulate. It’s a very pretty color with a good range of light to dark. In that sense, I think it’s a good substitute if you prefer non-granulating paints.

The Winsor and Newton version also uses PB15 and it isn’t granulating. I found the color to be a bit weak and I couldn’t achieve a good range of light to dark. Out of the substitutes that I’ve tried, this is the least similar to the original.

Verdict: As much as I love the genuine Manganese Blue, I consider it a novelty because I use it so infrequently. Not only is it expensive, but it’s also highly toxic. The safer phthalo-based substitutes capture the essence of the original, especially the Daniel Smith version. If you aren’t a rare pigment hunter, PB33 isn’t a necessary addition to your palette.

Side note: I’m going to make the “discontinued and rare pigment” series a regular feature on my blog, so stay tuned for other interesting colors!

Roman Szmal Aquarius Swatches

Roman Szmal is a relatively new brand of watercolors from Poland. I read many glowing reviews, so of course I had to try them myself. I can confirm: the hype is well-deserved.

Here are some reasons to add this brand to your collection:

The paints are made with a gum arabic and linden honey binder, which makes them smooth and creamy to work with.
They are some of the cleanest, most vibrant watercolors I’ve ever worked with.
Most paints in the collection are single-pigment, so there are endless mixing possibilities.
They offer pigments that are unique to their brand, such as PY168 (Aquarius Yellow), PBk32 (Perelyne Green Deep).
In addition to the unique pigments, they use other hard-to-find pigments that are only available from one or two different brands, such as Azo Red (PR144).
Each batch is made by hand and tested for quality and consistency.
The paints are very affordable, with most full pans costing around $5.

Below are sample swatches of a selection of colors I bought. I could fill up another page with the others! I chose these because they were the ones I was most excited to try.

They are available at Jackson’s Art Supplies in sets and open stock full pans. Unfortunately, the do not come in tubes.

* In February 2022, they added 12 new colors to their already impressive range of products. I will post swatches after I complete them but, I must say, the ones I’ve tried are exquisite! *

Introducing…Schmincke’s YInMn Blue!

Schmincke just released a limited-edition YInMn Blue watercolor. The only drawback? A very hefty price tag. A 5ml tube will set you back $33 (or $23, if you are able to order from Jackson’s). In the US, there are seemingly only two retailers from which you can purchase: St. Louis Art Supply and Jackson’s. However, at the time I wrote this, Jackson’s was out of stock and only UK customers were permitted to reserve a tube.

This is a quick post to share my first impressions and compare it to the QoR version that was available in 2020 to early 2021. QoR has since run out of their limited supply but, according to their website, they will offer it again when they get more pigment from the manufacturer.

YInMn blue has been described as being in the middle of cobalt and ultramarine. Schmincke’s leans more toward cobalt. It’s granulating, but the pigment particles are smaller than QoR’s. In a pan, it dries a bit gummy and it’s not as easy to reactivate as other Schmincke watercolors.

Schmincke’s YInMn Blue swatched on Arches cold press.

QoR’s YInMn Blue leans more toward ultramarine than cobalt. It is heavily granulating and has a higher pigment load than the Schmincke version.

QoR’s YInMn Blue swatched on Arches cold press.

A side-by-side comparison highlights the differences between the two versions.

Wet-on-wet swatched on Arches cold press.

The difference in color is also apparent when dried in pans.

As a side note, YInMn Blue has been assigned a pigment number: PB86.

Stay tuned for a more detailed post. I’m planning to swatch this next to cobalts and ultramarines to see how it compares.

Spotlight on a Discontinued Pigment — PB17, Paul Rubens Peacock Blue

I recently bought a set of Paul Rubens Artist Watercolors and, as I was browsing the pigment list, I got a very pleasant surprise. Their Peacock Blue is made with PB17, a pigment reported to have been discontinued years ago.

Here is a screenshot from the Handprint entry on PB17.

I got out my brush and swatched it immediately.

*Paul Rubens Peacock Blue (Product Number A194)*

This semi-transparent, non-granulating blue is a perfect cyan reminiscent of single-pigment versions of manganese blue hue but it’s much less saturated than the high-chroma phthalo blues. As noted in the Handprint entry, the tinting strength is rather weak. Paul Rubens assigned it a lightfast rating of 5 on the Blue Wool scale, so it’s significantly less permanent than its phthalo cousins, which are generally rated as 1 on the ASTM scale.

As I was looking through my collection of blues, I found another surprise: the Mijello Mission White Class Cerulean Blue is a mix of PB17:1 and PB15:3. (Note that Mijello does not use an actual cerulean pigment in their “cerulean blue,” but that’s another story for another day.) You can read my review of Mission White Class here if you are interested.

I compared PB17 to some of its green-leaning neighbors to see how it relates to other phthalo blue pigments. I also included a swatch of Holbein’s new formulation of Peacock Blue since it used to be made with PB17. I wanted to see how close their mix is to the original pigment.

*Full page of swatches. The long strokes at the bottom and top are Paul Rubens Peacock Blue*.

My swatch abbreviations are as follows:

H = Holbein
DS = Daniel Smith
W+N = Winsor and Newton
PR = Paul Rubens
S = Sennelier
MG = M. Graham

I swatched Holbein’s Peacock Blue because I wanted to see how the new formulation of PB15 and PG7 compares to the original pigment. It’s a pretty close match, although it doesn’t have as much depth as the single-pigment Paul Rubens paint.

Mijello Cerulean Blue is slightly more saturated than Paul Rubens Peacock Blue, owing to the addition of PB15:3. Since Mission White Class paints are billed as bright paints for illustrators, I’m guessing they didn’t opt for a single-pigment PB17:1 paint since the tinting strength of PB17 alone is a bit weaker than PB15:3.

The other swatches are various of green-leaning phthalos and two examples of PB16. The paints using PB16 aren’t a very close match since they lean more teal than cyan.

Overall, PB17 is closer in color to manganese blue than paints using PB15:3. It is also a pretty good match to Sennelier’s Phthalocyanine Blue.

I’m not sure why this pigment was discontinued so I feel lucky to have found this gem. It’s not as practical as a PB15 or PB16 due to its relatively low lightfast rating but I will use it often because I like the color. It’s weaker than phthalo blue green shade but stronger than manganese blue hue. For that reason, I think it would be a good choice for cyan in a CMY palette.

Perhaps PB17 will start to make a comeback! I would love adding a another cyan to my palette.

Handmade Bookmark with Colored Pencil Swatches

I explained how I made these bookmarks in my previous post. As a testament of how easy they are to make with the right tools, I made another one in the same night!

I used colored pencil swatches for this one. The top swatch is Faber-Castell Polychromos; the middle swatch is Prismacolor Premier Soft Core; and the bottom swatch is Caran d’Ache Luminance .

Handmade Swatch Bookmark

I recently made some Caran d’Ache Neocolor II swatches and wrote about them in a previous post. I used Color Combo stamps from Waffle Flower to print the layouts and spent about 2 hours coloring them in.

If you aren’t familiar with Neocolor II, they are highly-pigmented water-soluble crayons. You can use them dry or activate them with water.

I love making things with my manual die cutter and I have a steel rule die from Waffle Flower (obviously one of my favorite suppliers) that I use to make tags. I decided to use some of these swatches to create a bookmark.

First, I cut out the swatches I wanted to use. Then I glued them to the tag. As a finishing touch, I added a tassel.

I was so pleased with it that I decided to start on another one! It was an easy project when using the right tools.

*Prismacolor Premier colored pencil swatch on Canson XL paper.*

I’m going to use Caran d’Ache Luminance and Faber-Castell Polychromos to do the other two swatches.

Stay tuned for my second bookmark!

Schmincke 140-Color Dot Card

I’ve been putting my feelers out, trying to get an idea of what I want for my birthday this year. I like getting gifts that I normally wouldn’t buy on my own but I like to do research to make sure that it will have a perfect home in my collection of supplies.

I’ve been hearing outstanding reviews of Schmincke Horadam watercolors, but I’ve never tried them out. As it so often does, Amazon pulled through for me by offering a 140-color Schmincke dot card.

The packaging is absolutely lovely.

One thing that was slightly disappointing was the small amount of paint they give you in each dot. I am used to the generous blobs of paint Daniel Smith offers on their dot cards. Even though the dots are smaller, I think that I will have enough to test the colors and have some left for accents in paintings.

I can tell just by the deepness of the dried paint that these are highly pigmented. I’m so excited to start discovering new colors!

Caran d’Ache Neocolor II Swatches

Caran d’Ache products are the crème de la crème of art supplies. Any item they manufacture – whether it be colored pencils, water-soluble pencils, graphite sticks, etc. – is a shining jewel in an art supply collector’s studio.

I was introduced to the brand while meandering through my local art store and stumbling upon a giant open-stock display of Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels. At the time, I had no idea how to use them, but the vibrant colors beckoned to me. I picked up a tin and went to my studio.

There was a bit of a learning curve. Actually, I’m still learning different techniques. Today, though, I just felt like coloring, so I did some swatches.

I used Arches Rough Watercolor Paper which turned out to be an excellent choice. Because the paper is so toothy, I only needed to make a light pass to get adequate coverage for filling in the squares.

Eventually, I’m going to cut these out and put them in my scrapbook.

Search for the Best Colored Pencil Paper: Part 3 – Legion Stonehenge Aqua Cold Press

Full disclosure: I love every single Stonehenge paper product I’ve tried. They are perfection, plain and simple. The Aqua Cold Press is no exception.

*Available in pads, blocks, and sheets.*

In Part 1 of my search for the best colored pencil paper, I described the differences between the 4 brands of colored pencil I’m using in my test: Caran d’Ache Luminance, Caran d’Ache Pablo, Faber-Castell Polychromos, and Prismacolor Premier Soft Core. The differences between the properties of pencils affect the way they will perform on the paper, so it’s worth a quick read if you aren’t familiar with the pencils.

Before I did a more methodical test, I just wanted to play a bit with gradients of my two favorite pencils: Luminance (wax-based) and Polychromos (oil-based). They both preformed exceptionally well, however Luminance applied more smoothly. It’s worth noting that the scraps I used were trimmed from the edges of a watercolor I was working on and, despite being banged up, they still easily accepted thick layers of color.

*Left: Caran d’Ache Luminance; Right: Polychromo*s

Then I moved on to test all four of the brands I mentioned above. From left to right, the colors I used are as follows:

Polychromos – Rose Madder Lake
Polychromos – Skyblue
Prismacolor – Lilac
Luminance – Spring Green
Pablo – Orange *
Luminance –Anthraquinoid Pink
Luminance – Light Malachite Green
Pablo – Lemon Yellow
Prismacolor – Non-Photo Blue
Polychromos – Dark Cadmium Yellow

*I snagged the paper with a sharp pencil point on the 5th square. Despite it looking like a total mess right after it happened, I was able to use some Gamsol mineral spirits to smooth out the color.

The Verdict

Stonehenge Aqua Cold Press is an excellent choice for both oil and wax based colored pencils. I slightly preferred the wax-based pencils to the oil-based pencils, because they allowed a couple more layers of coverage. The application is velvety-smooth even after several layers of color have been added. There was virtually no wax bloom to speak of. This paper is at the top of my list for both watercolor AND colored pencil projects.

Here is a 🟢 BONUS DOT 🟢 showing 1) light, 2) medium, 3) heavy, and 4) burnished Polychromos application.

Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens Chart

I did a line chart of an 8-pack of black Pitt Artist Pens so I can quickly choose the pen I need. This little set is well-rounded and will suit your needs if you are traveling lightly.

Sorry about the fuzziness on the left hand side. My scanner wasn’t cooperating with me. I also blurred out my last name in case you are wondering about the the triangles and such.