Here we are again on a Friday looking forward to the weekend and I'm wrapping up my posts on the importance of pigments in artists paints. Today, the blues and greens to be aware of when choosing tube colors.

  Blues are pretty much straightforward when it comes to the colors available to the artist. Cerulean Blue (PB 35), Cobalt Blue (PB 28), Ultramarine Blue (PB 29), and Phthalo Blue ( PB 15). Most artists regardless of medium rely on these four, including me for most of my framed oil paintings. Here you have all the cool and warm blue options available in all painting situations but there are other options as well such as Indanthrone Blue (PB 60) which is a grayed down, less transparent version of the Ultramarine Blue. The big pigments to avoid in the blues would be any tube with (PB 1), (PB 24) and (PB 66).

  The green family is another one where the artist needs to be really careful. For the most part, Viridian Green (PG 18), and Phalo Green (PG 7) are the two most used and with good reason, they have proven the test of time and are totally reliable. I use both of these in my framed oil paintings, plus some more colors using this information to make sure that all my selections are proven to be trustworthy. A god bit of artists still prefer to mix their own greens but still the knowledgeable pros still choose from proven yellows ands blues such as the ones I mentioned. And for the bad green pigments, the main thing to watch out for is how some manufacturers slip in bad pigments under the name "Permanent Green" when the pigments used are not. The big ones to watch for are (PG 1), (PG 2), (PG 8), and (PG 12). If you steer away from these, you should be able to experiment with new greens with confidence.
 
  Thats it, my short little series on good color selections that any artist in any medium can use to choose colors with confidence knowing that the pigment, not what the color is called on the front of the tube is the key. Please leave me a post on your thoughts as always and enjoy the weekend, see you Monday.