Spotlight on Da Vinci Phthalo Blue
Whether you paint with watercolor, oil, acrylic, gouache, or all of the above, you’ve likely heard of Phthalo Blue, an abbreviated name for paints made with the pigment Phthalocyanine Blue, or Pigment Blue 15 (PB15*). Also referred to as Thalo Blue, this extremely popular blue likely ranks next to Ultramarine Blue as a top pick for an artist palette, and you probably have some form of it in your own palette, either as a single-pigment blue or in a convenience color.
Da Vinci Phthalo Blue is an intense color that is highly staining and beautifully transparent and is prized for its luminous appearance in glazes and washes. These unique attributes make Phthalo Blue perfect for painting water and skies along with delicate florals and snowy landscapes.
In watercolor, Phthalo Blue has an excellent flow rate, and in all mediums it will tint and shade into an excellent range of colors from baby blue to a cool black. Da Vinci Phthalo Blue is a ready mixer, and although it can quickly overpower other colors, it’s able to mix among the clearest, brightest hues that artists use.
Below, we share more information regarding the different Phthalo blues that Da Vinci Paints offers and compare the difference between Phthalo blues in watercolor.
*If you’re not familiar with the color index, this post may help.
Da Vinci Phthalo Blue Artist Watercolor
In watercolor, Da Vinci Paints offers two, slightly different Phthalo blues that are distinguished by their undertones. Da Vinci Phthalo Blue has calm green undertones and is often considered a “true blue” by artists because of its ability to act as a primary cyan. As its name describes, Da Vinci Phthalo Blue (Red Shade) has warm red undertones and is a good, non-granulating option for Ultramarine Blue.
Although both Phthalo blues are richly dark in masstone, Da Vinci Phthalo Blue will flow boldly and easily across a page and becomes much brighter and even more transparent in dilution. Both blues will create deep shadows along with luminous washes and can be used to create exciting effects.
No matter which Phthalo Blue one chooses, a beautiful range of mixes is easily possible, and results aren't so varied that choosing one blue over the other will make or break a painting. The different undertones in these two blues are much more visible in masstone, so most artists gravitate toward the blue that works the best for their own, unique painting preferences.
Da Vinci Phthalo Blue Artist Watercolor is offered 8mL, 15mL, and 37mL tube sizes. Visit our website to explore and shop our complete range of professional colors, download color charts, and much more.
Da Vinci Phthalo Blue Artist Oil
Da Vinci Phthalo Blue Artist Oil is a rich, dark blue in masstone but will smoothly glaze into a mid-range blue and can be tinted and shaded into nearly every value of blue imaginable. Da Vinci Phthalo Blue is excellent for maintaining or even enhancing transparency in mixes and when painting, and its strong tinting strength means that a little bit of this color will go a long way. This makes Phthalo Blue an economical color choice for a palette, as well.
Phthalo Blue’s strong coloration can easily be mixed to produce a range of shades from light turquoise to deep navy along with a wide assortment of violets, greens, and darks. When Phthalo Blue is placed alongside warm colors in a painting like orange or yellow, its cool undertone imparts a balanced color palette that's wonderfully vibrant yet pleasing to the eye. Additionally, mixing it with other blues can yield a variety of hues which can enrich the complexity and/or depth of a painting.
Da Vinci Phthalo Blue Artist Paint
For the sake of brevity, we won’t dive into acrylic or gouache in this post, but because these are often painted with and mixed similarly to oil paint, much of the information on Da Vinci Phthalo Blue oil may also be applied to these artist paint mediums. Just keep in mind that there is often a slight color shift as acrylic paint dries, so that’s something to consider when painting or mixing with Da Vinci Phthalo Blue in fluid or heavy-body acrylics. And although artists often paint with gouache in a similar fashion to oil or acrylic, Da Vinci Artist Gouache also has the beautiful ability to be thinned with water and used like watercolor for a variety of applications.
In conclusion, Da Vinci Phthalo Blue’s vibrant hue, glowing transparency, dependable lightfastness, wide versatility, and excellent mixing capabilities make this color an essential blue in many artists’ palettes, and its striking visual presence can be found in wide range of artwork from traditional to abstract.
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