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Went to a Cheap Joe’s “Customer Appreciation Day” yesterday, which was great. Met up with a guy (from Cincinnati, Ohio, I think!) who does demos and stuff for W/Newton. They now offer a quinacridone violet much more vibrant than dioxazine (Winsor violet), and they have a whole range of replacements for cadmium colors–same handling characteristics (such as opacity), and not distinguishable in color from the cadmium versions.
The violet is not yet widely in stock… hope to pick it up in their main store when I visit Boone, North Carolina later this fall.
[FONT=Times New Roman]Audacity allows you to be at ease with your inadequacy, safe in the knowledge that while things may not be perfect, they are at least under way.
Robert Genn[/I]
these color came out a few months ago… not really new in general… it appears that alot of people dont like the new cadmium hue because they are hiding the pigment information..
The fellow I spoke to said they were trying to keep a trade secret related to something (the medium or an additive?) re the cadmium replacements. Perhaps that was translated into hiding “pigment” information?
The colors are not available widely yet, perhaps they have been in English or continental stores for a few months? In the U.S., it is still hard to get them.
[FONT=Times New Roman]Audacity allows you to be at ease with your inadequacy, safe in the knowledge that while things may not be perfect, they are at least under way.
Robert Genn[/I]
I haven’t tried the violet yet (I have the same pigment from Daniel Smith and don’t reach for it much, for me a dioxazine violet is much more useful), but I’m smitten with their new orange. Totally transparent and the perfect mid-orange hue, not too red or too yellow. Just perfect.
So far the only other new color I’ve bought is smalt, just out of curiosity, but I haven’t quite figured out what to use it for and it’s a bit neglected in my palette.The fellow I spoke to said they were trying to keep a trade secret related to something (the medium or an additive?) re the cadmium replacements. Perhaps that was translated into hiding “pigment” information?
People want to know what combination of pigments they used to make the hues and W&N has refused to tell. Normally I’d be right there with them, but I personally don’t see why it matters here. The point of knowing pigment information is to understand the behavior of the pigments in your paint, but in this case, that’s already spelled out in the concept as they’ve been designed to mimic the behavior of cadmiums. I think if someone is still doubtful of a brand’s claims re: things like lightfastness, etc., all a person can do is test the product themselves or choose not to buy it.
I’d be surprised if they weren’t made from multiple pigments, but I just don’t see what difference it makes where the cadmium-free colors are concerned….
… But the point of these hues is to match cadmiums as closely as possible, so they’ve ostensibly been tested to mix and perform the same and you should theoretically know what to expect from them if you’re familiar with cadmium pigments. No other brand of watercolors has approximated the unique properties of cadmium in their hues, only the color, so if W&N really has managed to accomplish that like they claim then I understand why they’d want to keep that innovation to themselves, even though the lack of pigment information will be a dealbreaker for a lot of people.As far as who they’re for, I’ve read that the primary audience for these is in the art education arena as schools are supposedly becoming more concerned about toxicity.
The man I saw representing the new colors had painted two watercolors, still life fruits, one with the cadmium colors and one with the replacements. He didn’t know which was which–W/N sent them to him in tubes labelled “A” “B” or “C”. The quality (opacity especially) was the same. The colors were identical except for the lemon, which was a little more “lemony” (more towards green, though not green). He said he just hadn’t matched the colors precisely (running out of time).
I don’t have an orange, just mix New Gamboge and Quinacridone Red as I need them. But it was a nice-looking orange.
I have two cadmium colors on my palettes (I’m not sure I’ve ever actually used them!), just in case I should want opacity someday. I won’t be buying their replacements, but it’s great that schoolchildren will have these safer colors.
[FONT=Times New Roman]Audacity allows you to be at ease with your inadequacy, safe in the knowledge that while things may not be perfect, they are at least under way.
Robert Genn[/I]
but it’s great that schoolchildren will have these safer colors.
Pretty sure schoolchildren are getting more exposure to “bad things” from drinking PFAS in their water, breathing carbon monoxide and exhaust fumes from running engines during school pickup/dropoff and from lead/heavy metals in the soil/sand in their playgrounds.
Cadmium in watercolors paint is very very very far down the list… unless you are eating it directly from the tube. :clear:
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