Reply To: "Mayan" watercolors: Daniel Smith / Greenleaf & Blueberry

[Tom Cunliffe]

Kate – when you think how much time and money the big companies put into sourcing pigments its bound to be difficult for smaller companies to keep up.  When you think of all the industrial use of pigments, even the big artists paint companies find it difficult to compete against car manufactures, building companies and so on.  The only way an independent can survive is by finding local or rare pigments that the bigger companies don’t bother with. Having said that , G&B seem to have found some great uses for well-known pigments which other companies have stopped using – eg PR102 (natural red iron oxide) which occurs in their Violet Hematite and Purple Ochre.  However, Daniel Smith use this pigment in Roasted French Ochre and Burgundy Red Ochre – which are both rather like the G&B colors.