The Schmincke Horadam Supergranulation Watercolour range, which was launched two years ago, has been very successful and much in demand. Briefly about this range: it is professional watercolour Horadam series, where all of the colours are based on at least two pigments that have been used in Schmincke watercolour paints before. But in this series these pigments are specially selected and combined to give supergranulation and incredible textures. All colours are very lightfast (4 and 5 stars), they are mostly semi-transparent or semi-opaque. They are available in sets and separately, in half pans and tubes.
Please note: This set has now been discontinued. The other Schmincke Supergranulation Watercolour can be found here. All links to the Urban Set in this article have been updated.
New Colours in the Schmincke Supergranulation Urban Watercolour Set
There are currently 40 colours in the whole line and eight permanent series with nature inspired names, all of which have been reviewed on Jackson’s blog: Galaxy, Glacier, Deep Sea, Tundra and Forest, Volcano, Desert, Shire. In addition to these basic series (which, by the way, are also represented in the separate dot-card), a limited edition Haze series was released – its difference not only in the limited edition, but also in the fact that it is only available in a set and only in 5 ml tubes.
The new Schmincke Horadam series, Urban, consists of five colours. Like Haze, it will be limited edition, and will only be available in sets and only in tubes. However, its main highlight and difference from all other series is that it is the first “non-natural” series, and the colours were carefully selected and produced for painting urban landscapes. These colours are really handy and perfect for creating different city textures, from asphalt and building walls to the restrained greenery of city parks and polished stone.
Overall, all the colours in the Urban line are noble, discreet and versatile. Each of the five shades are exactly natural colours, any can be easily used in pure form, and mixes, despite the relatively large amount of pigments, do not get muddy. All colours are 5 star maximum lightfastness. An interesting feature of the new series – all colours contain pigment PY159 – at the same time, in two of the five colours, the presence of granules of this pigment is not visually noticeable – in red and in grey. Let’s take a closer look at each colour.
Urban Yellow
PY159 PV16
This is the fourth yellow in the Supergranulation series. It is a shade of neutral yellow that does not lean toward to the warm or cold part of the spectrum, the colour is closest in hue to very light mustard. In the pigment composition – not only yellow, but also purple pigment, which granules are visually noticeable: this combination of opposite colours looks advantageous. The
perfect colour for painting the walls of buildings, as well as the unchanging attributes of almost any city – yellow cabs.
Schminke Horadam Supergranulation Urban Yellow
Urban Red
PY159 PR108 PB35 PBr6
Urban Red is the colour of tiled roofs and masonry, allowing you to quickly and easily create similar textures with a single brush stroke. The colour is semi-transparent, the shade tends to be a cool red-brown, if you look closely, you can see mostly red and some blue pigment in the paint layer.
Schminke Horadam Supergranulation Urban Red
Urban Green
PY159 PB36 PBk11
A very well green that can be used pure without a doubt – it’s natural, muted, dark enough (semi-opaque). Curiously, this green paint does not contain any green pigments, and the shade is formed through a combination of yellow and blue pigments with the addition of black to darken the paint. This colour is delicate and noble in hue and tone, really suitable for painting greenery in the city – tree crowns, masses of leaves and lawns.
Urban Brown
PY159 PR108 PBk11.
A neutral brown suitable for painting literally everything from the ground and walls of buildings to the sky, tree branches and asphalt. The granulation here is very interesting to look at – the paint itself creates an incredible texture in which the red and black granules are clearly visible.
Schminke Horadam Supergranulation Urban Brown
Urban Grey
PY159 PR108 PB35 PBk11
The most neutral grey of all the Supergranulation series (Desert, Shire, Forest series also have greys). The shade goes neither into the warm nor cold spectrum, spreads out into individual pigments – reddish, blue, and black. No yellow granules are visible. The perfect colour for urban overcast skies, asphalt, buildings. Interestingly, Urban Grey uses the “triad” principle to create grey – grey, as we know, can be stirred on a combination of red, yellow and blue. And this grey is very beautiful.
Schminke Horadam Supergranulation Urban Grey
To sum up – the new series of Schmincke Horadam Supergranulation watercolours is called Urban. It consists of five colours (yellow, red, green, brown and grey), specifically selected for painting urban landscapes. It will be on sale in a limited edition set of 5 ml tubes.
Further Reading
Schmincke Supergranulation Watercolours – Desert, Volcano and Shire
In Conversation With Markus Baumgart of Schmincke
Art Terms Explained: Watercolour Painting
New Schmincke Supergranulation Watercolours: Haze
Shop Schmincke Supergranulation Watercolour Sets on jacksonsart.com
