Today I'm going to continue sharing with you information about the pigments used in artists colors. Please check out my last two blogs if you want to be brought up to speed on what I already covered. This morning I'm going to go over the bright red pigments.

  Just like the yellows I talked about on Monday, the Cadmium pigments rain supreme. Cadmium Red Light (PR 108) is used by most artists for their warm red which took the place of the expensive genuine Vermilion Red (PR 106). Both of these colors are totally lightfast and reliable. There are both Cadmium Red Medium and Cadmium Red Dark available but most artists don't use these colors because they tend to lean to violet when white is added as opposed to staying warm and "orange" like Cadmium. Red Light. Artists like me that want to have a more "primary" red out of the tube use Grumbacher Red (PR 112). Again if I went to the art store and they didn't have Grumbacher Red, I would just look for a tube made from (PR 112) and know that I'll be fine. PR 112 is Napthol Red pigment and is really the only reliable Napthol pigment out there.
 
  As for the unreliable red pigments out there the other Napthol pigments top the list. (PR 2), (PR 12), (PR 23), and (PR 31) are no-no's and will fade over time on you. Other bad red pigments are (PR 3) and (PR 4) which is called "Permanent Red" but it is not. These are the major ones you will run into when you go to the art store, but their are so many more that it would be monotonous if I listed them all. If you would like a complete list , feel free to e-mail me at pat@patquinncustomfineart.com or leave me a post here, and I'll be happy to e-mail you the entire list on reds or any of the color familys if you want. I just want other artists to have the same confidence selecting new colors to try that I do for working on my framed oil paintings. As always leave me a post on your thoughts and questions and on Friday I'll go over the blue and green pigments, see you then!