Daniel Smith’s Six New Grey Watercolours Made in Collaboration with Artists

Alvaro Castagnet’s Warm Caliente Grey and Alvaro’s Cool Fresco Grey

Alvaro’s two watercolour greys painted out

Greys can be bold or subtle if mixed with careful consideration and insightful colour theory. Premixed greys are incredibly important when working plein air as they allow you to keep up with changing light and weather conditions. Alvaro has chosen his greys to work with plein air painting and to allow fast colour mixing within your colour palette.

You can see two of his mixing grids below (taken from the Daniel Smith blog) which show you how both Alvaro greys can modify and create a beautiful array of neutrals when mixed with the Daniel Smith essential watercolour set, giving you a sense of their versatility.

Alvaro’s Caliente Warm Grey Mixing Grid

Alvaro’s Fresco Cool Grey Mixing Grid

Alvaro’s greys are about, in his own words:

‘…magnetism, fury, energy…power.  You know greys… create a feeling of danger, emotion, passion… mystery…evoke things that are unknown…darkness.  I use these greys to create a painting that has a magnetism…energy, mystery, passion…something to discover, entering the unknown, darkness.  Both of these colors have just this type of feel to me.’-Alvaro Castagnet

Alvaro Castagnet, Wed in NY, 56 x 75 cm, watercolour

Alvaro’s Caliente Warm Grey:

‘[A] terrific hue, very powerful, excellent to create strong and warm paintings.  In monochrome this wonderful Grey is perfect to achieve a powerful atmosphere with amazing glow. This color is also perfect to add dramatic highlights and shadows.’-Alvaro Castagnet

Alvaro Castagnet, Paris View, painted using Alvaro’s Caliente Grey

This is a smooth, warm sift grey that tones down colours in mixes and adds a subtle warmth to them. It is semi-transparent and non-granulating (making it perfect for mixed washes), is low staining (preventing haloing) and has an excellent lightfastness. Pigments include: PBr 7, PB 29, PBk 6

Alvaro’s Caliente Grey Watercolour

Alvaro’s Fresco Cool Grey:

“A very powerful and true hue, with no artificial look to it. Passionate and mysterious, great to evoke distant elements of any kind even the unknown…I love the hue.”

Alvaro Castagnet, Genoa, painted using Alvaro’s Fresco Grey

Fresco grey is a cool dark almost black in mass tone that can be drawn out to a cool misty wash . It mixes well, toning down and adding a coolness to certain colours. It is semi-transparent, granulating (allowing for dramatic effects), low staining and has an excellent lightfastness. The pigments include PB 29, PV 15, PW 6.

Alvaro’s Fresco Grey Watercolour

About Alvaro Castagnet

Alvaro with plein air watercolour piece

Alvaro was born in Montevideo, in Urguguay. He was encouraged from a young age by his father to pursue art, he studied first at the National School of Art in Montevideo under Professor Esteban Garino and then at the Fine Arts University under Miguel Angel Pareja. He lived in Australia for 20 years and has know returned to Montevideo. He has exhibited extensively over the last 30 years and has won several awards.
He has published several books: ‘Watercolor Painting with Passion’, ‘Painting with Passion – Beyond Technique’ and ‘Watercolour Masterclass’ books. He has also featured in innumerable art books, videos, DVDs and acclaimed international art publications. His main studio is located in Montevideo, Uruguay.

You can view all of our products that Alvaro has been involved in making here, including signature Escoda brush sets, Danial Smith watercolour colours and sets, DVDs and books.

Jane Blundell’s Non-staining , Non-dulling Grey

Jane Blundell, Looking across at Hunter’s Hill, Watercolour painted with Jane’s Grey

Artist and blogger Jane Blundell wanted to develop a grey that was non-staining (unlike those using Phthalo Blue) and that didn’t have the dulling effects of a grey which included a black pigment. It needed to be liftable and granulating to create stormy skies and soft shadows as well as being a neutral tint that could darken colours without changing their temperature.

Part of the importance of this is the desire by artists to use a grey that maintains the colour harmony within a palette and artwork – this is often done by mixing ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, however, it’s unusual to get this as a convenience colour. You can see the “recipe” in Jane’s swatches taken from her informative blog below.

Swatches for working out Jane’s Grey taken from her blog

Jane has been mixing in individual pans and palettes for years and a couple of years ago Jane also approached Daniel Smith to make available in tube form to meet the demands of her students and followers for this grey mix. It is semi-transparent, granulating, low staining and has excellent lightfastness. The pigments included are PB 29, PBr 7.

Jane’s Grey Watercolour

You can see the range of colours in can create in these mixing grids done by Jane (taken from her blog) below.

Mixing with Jane’s Grey by Jane Blundell

Mixing with Jane’s Grey by Jane Blundell

About Jane Blundell

Jane Blundell at work

Jane Blundell is a watercolour artist who is passionate about colour. She has been painting professionally for over 35 years and writes tutorials along with detailed paint descriptions on her website and blog. She teaches drawing and watercolour to artists online and at home in Australia. You can see her workshop listings here. She has written articles and pieces for several publications and has also published a book ‘The Ultimate Mixing Palette: a World of Colours’. She exhibits regularly and is a member of several art societies and institutions.

You can view Jane’s Grey here.

Joseph Zbukvic’s Neutral Grey, Warm Grey and Cool Grey

Joseph Zbukvic comparing his three greys

Joseph Zbukvic is known for his considerate use of greys in his watercolours:
‘I’m asked endlessly what grey I use..I actually make up my own using just about every colour on my palette….’ – Joseph Zbukvic

‘As my painting style progressed over the years, I eventually found myself using many shades of grey which I always mixed myself using numerous pigments on my palette. I was constantly asked by students and other artists, what they were and how to mix them. A question almost impossible to answer. This led me to develop the three greys in collaboration with Daniel Smith. I hope they bring success to everyone using them.’ – Joseph Zbukvic

Joseph Zbukvic comparing his three greys for different light effects

Joseph recommends having a range of greys to cover different light conditions. Since light can be neutral, cool or warm he has created with Daniel Smith three greys to match each type of light. This allows you to modify other colours quickly to produce the right temperature and atmosphere throughout the piece.

They can also be used by themselves to create expressive cityscapes.

Joseph Zbukvic’s Neutral Grey Watercolour

Joseph Zbukvic painting using Joseph Z’s Neutral Grey

‘…perfect for those strong, New York type cityscapes. When undiluted it is basically black and can provide powerful monolithic shapes without looking chalky.  It gives a look of charcoal drawing or old-fashioned photographs.’ – Joseph Zbukvic

Joseph Z’s Neutral Grey is a rich black, grey that is very dark in mass tone and has virtually no colour bias meaning you can tone down colours easily. It is semi transparent, granulating, low staining and has excellent lightfastness. It includes these pigments: PB 29, PBk 9, PBk 10.

Joseph Z’s Neutral Grey Watercolour

Joseph Zbukvic’s Warm Grey

Joseph Zbukvic painting using Joseph Z’s Warm Grey

‘…perfect for strong summer light when shadows have that rich warm glow. It’s particularly useful for painting late afternoon light effects with its pinkish glow when it’s diluted into lighter washes. It can capture that evening glow perfectly.’ – Joseph Zbukvic

Joseph Z’s Warm Grey is also very dark in mass tone but had a pinkish undertone in light washes, allowing it to tone down other colours while adding slight warmth. It is semi transparent, granulating, low staining and has excellent lightfastness. The pigments included are PY 43, PV 19, PBk 6.

Joseph Z’s Warm Grey Watercolour

Joseph Zbukvic’s Cool Grey

Joseph Zbukvic painting using Joseph Z’s Cool Grey

‘…I designed this grey to use for those frosty morning and rainy winter day paintings. It has a lovely greenish sediment which is perfect for low light, early morning light effects. I think this is a must for anyone painting winter scenes.’ – Joseph Zbukvic

Joseph Z’s Cool Grey while very dark in mass tone has an unusual green violet tone, it tones down nicely other colours while adding a lush coolness. It is semi transparent, granulating, low staining and has excellent lightfastness. The pigments included are  PB 36, PV 19, PBk 6.

Joseph Z’s Cool Grey Watercolour

Below are mixing grids to demonstrate the way each grey interacts with the Daniel Smith Essentials Watercolour Set and the range they can each produce.

Joseph Zs mixing grid with his Neutral Grey and Essential Daniel Smith Mixing set

Joseph Zs mixing grid with his Warm Grey and Essential Daniel Smith Mixing set

Joseph Zs mixing grid with his Cool Grey and Essential Daniel Smith Mixing set

About Joseph Zbukvic

Joseph Zbukvic with painting

Joseph Zbukvic works mainly plein air, painting on location. He is a famous watercolourist who is held in galleries and collections worldwide. His style is lyrical and while encompassing a broad range of subjects seeks to product atmospheric, sensitive paintings. His series of DVDs are informative and seek to show other artists how to achieve their own style through using Zbukvic’s methods and sensitivity to light and surroundings.

You can see Escoda brush sets Joseph Zbuknvic’s worked on, the Daniel Smith Grey Watercolours and a range of his DVDs here.