Getting My Pink On, Part II or Vicky's Basic Primer On Reds

So, as Valentine's Day is coming up next month, I am plumbing the depths of the color pink, or red, or scarlet, or vermillion. In this blog post I will attempt to address the technical issues of how they interact and work with different colors and the differences between the various red-pink-brown hues. The following is your basic list, some of which you may be familiar with, some you may want to add to your repertoire and others you can just delete and not even notice.

Allizerin Crimson

Rose Madder Genuine

Cadmium Red, medium, light, etc.

Permanent Rose

Quinacridone Rose, Red, Magenta-esques

Scarlet

Vermillion

English Red

Venetian Red

Indian Red

Terra Rosa

Red Ochre

There is a range in the chemical make up of these hues and as I am not a chemist, I will not go there. There is likely much information elsewhere on the internet if you are interested. As an artist, what you need to pay attention to is the temperature of the red and if you are a watercolorist you need to be aware of the staining properties also.

This first picture is of the watercolors. Pay particular attention to look of Rose Madder Genuine and Permanent Rose. They are in the middle of the color gamut between the orange and blue tones. To get a fire engine red you will need to do some mixing.

This chart is of the Oil Paints. Many of the same hues are here.

Alizarin Crimson got a bad rap years ago because it was deemed “non permanent”, so be sure to look for a permanence rating on the tube when you buy it. Modern formulations are much more permanent than the older ones. This color used to be the mainstay of every artist's palette, especially in portraiture. It is rich, dark, and treads the edges of magentas while still retaining its red identity. I got out of the habit of using it during the years in which its permanence was suspect and have been slow to reintroduce it to my palette.

Rose Madder Genuine. This color is used exclusively in watercolor. It is non-staining, so you can re-wet and remove it if you make a boo-boo you want to “erase”. It is used with Aureolin (a lemon yellow) which is also non-staining and Cobalt Blue, non-staining, to create a range of useful greys, browns, oranges, etc. The other non-staining color in this palette is Viridian. For a watercolorist these hues are a must. They are also transparent which retains its luminosity and gives watercolor some of its sparkle.

When mixing rose madder genuine with aureolin and cobalt blue the ability to create that intermediate grey successfully is a clue that the red being used is a middle hue in the gamut between warm and cool shades of red. If it were more purpley or orangey it would be much more difficult to do a true neutral grey.

Cadmium Reds. This category should include the vermillions and scarlets, but I would have to check the chemical content to be sure. The only cadmium red I use is cadmium red light which varies tremendously from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some of the cadmium's are very orangey. I use quantities of it in portraiture with yellow ochre to mix a reasonable flesh tone for Caucasian skin tones. I don't typically mix it with green, saving the red-brown hues for those jobs. The darker shades of cadmium red, the med and dark, do not play well with other colors, so you shouldn't substitute a dark cadmium for an alizarin crimson, hence the popularity of alizarin crimson. They tend to produce muddy or off shades and are cooler in tone. The cadmium red light that I use does not have this problem, but then I typically only use it in portraiture. The medium and dark shades may have some broader uses in landscape painting, but I don't tend to use them there, either.

In watercolor, it is opaque as well as staining. It is bright, but due to the opacity, it can make color flat or chalky rather than luminous.

Permanent Rose. This hue is used in bother watercolor and oil. In watercolor it is transparent, but staining, so beware. You cannot “erase” or lift it from the paper as it will sink right into the very depths of the paper very quickly and stain the fibers there. Like chocolate (or red wine, or spagetti sauce). In oils it is a valuable and I used it frequently in an impressionist workshop for the underpainting in a sky. I think it sits a little to the cool side, but many say it is dead center. You be the judge. At any rate it is cooler than rose madder genuine, but somewhat “chemically” and looks a little unnatural. This is a color I should use more often as it mixes so well with other colors. We all get into set habits, our “go to” mixtures, and challenging those mixtures is a great way to freshen up your work and challenge yourself to go further. Having a “dead center” hue is invaluable in color mixing in any media – again the yellow, blue, red mixing to grey allows you to move easily from cool to warm to brown to blue without having to mix two different hues together and risk making an unpleasant mud (different from a pleasant brown). When mixed with Thalo Green it makes a dark cool grey-green which is nice for shadowy foliage in floral painting or landscape subjects. It is a cooler mix than just adding one of the red-browns which would make a much warmer dark forresty green.

Quinacridone Rose, Coral, Red, and other. I use the Coral in portraiture, but it does claim another spot on your palette so it is a little expendable. When mixed with yellow ochre, the flesh tones are a little fresher than those mixed with cadmium red light. This red, when mixed with other colors, does not create quite as muddy a hue as cadmium red medium/darks.

The Red-Browns. This category includes English Red, Venetian Red, Indian Red, Terra Rosa and others. Some are cooler or warmer and some portraitists use them in tandem for the light or shadow side of the face. I find this a little irksome/unwieldy, as I tend to use other hues for flesh tones, but they are useful and a good thing to keep in your color vocabulary. I understand that John Singer Sargeant used something called Red Ochre (Old Holland has a version) and I must have ordered about a thousand tubes of the stuff when I was doing portraits. I never use it. In landscape painting the English and Venetian Red are great for chimneys and accents that sit on top of other hues, but I tend to use burnt sienna (or my favorite substitute of Lazur-Oxide-Rot, transparent red oxide by Mussini Schminke) more frequently. I use this substitute most of the time as it is brighter or fresher in some way, or maybe the formulation just has more oil in it. Who knows. It mixes well with greens. It is not available in watercolor, so I use burnt sienna when in an H2O mood.

You likely have other favorite reds or additions to this list. I'd love to hear from you.

The first step in exploring the reds is to do that thing that they always tell you to do – make a color chart by mixing every hue with every other hue. More on Vicky's easy method of color charting in another post!