DANIEL SMITH Luminescent Watercolors - 15ml Tubes

Color Mixing with Luminescent Watercolor

Introducing luminescent pigments to your watercolor palette brings more to your painting than shimmer and shine. What many artists have discovered is that while these pigments do possess reflective qualities, they also add dimension, brightness, tone and texture to your paintings when mixed with standard watercolors.

Explore the mixing possibilities of these colors. Each luminescent pigment has its own hue and properties that create an expansive range of color choices for painters. In addition to pigment hue, or color, luminescent paint can also be described by four pigment types—iridescent, interference, duochrome and pearlescent.

• Iridescent colors reflect light directly, like a mirror reflection, resulting in intense color and sheen.
• Interference colors refract and scatter light; they take on different hues depending on where the light is striking and the viewer’s point of view.
• Duochromes bounce between two different colors depending on the reflective light.
• Pearlescent colors add an opalescent sheen.

Adding Light with Interference and Pearlescent Pigments

Normally painters use the white of their paper in a wash to lighten colors. By mixing a standard pigment with an interference color you’ll lighten your color, add brightness and add an additional reflective hue.

For example, mixing Hooker’s Green (a saturated green color) with Interference Gold transforms the green in three ways. The most distinctive change is a lighter value of green. Additional brightness is a result of the reflected light coming from the mixture.

Finally, Interference Gold changes the overall hue in this mixture, adding gold tones and shifting the color to a slightly warmer green shade. The effect is subtle but unforgettable.

Changing Hue with Iridescent Watercolor

Each of the luminescent pigments shines with reflected light, adding instant brightness to mixtures. When mixing with iridescent pigments it is important to account for this added light as well as the hue of your mixing color.

For example, a mixture of gold or ochre and red in standard watercolor results in orange. When Iridescent Gold is mixed with Quinacridone Red the result is a shimmering coral shade.

Two transformations are at play in this mixture—the red is warmed by the gold creating red-orange and, at the same time, we’re seeing reflected gold light that brightens the entire mixture.

Color Shifting Mixtures with Duochrome Pigments

Mixing with Duochrome pigments is equally challenging and rewarding. These mysterious pigments shift hue as you view them from different angels.

For example, Duochrome Oceanic is a vibrant blue-green from one angle and a reflective gold from the other. Mixed with a standard pigment, like Cerulean Blue, it produces an entirely new blue hue. When you tilt your paper, the gold color shift is still visible but only about half as intense. Imagine painting sunlit ocean waves with this color combo.

Maximizing Texture with Luminescent Paint

Luminescent pigments tend to travel in wet washes on the paper. Some of the most intriguing mixtures result when mixing iridescents with PrimaTek watercolor or other granulating pigments.

In a mixture of Iridescent Garnet and Mayan Blue, the heavier Mayan Blue pigment settles into the paper first, creating a base layer of granulated deep blue. As the mixture dries, the lighter Iridescent Garnet pigment settles over the top creating a textural, sparkling gray-violet.

Adding luminescent watercolor to your palette opens a new dimension in color mixing. If you are looking for a non-conventional way to explore color, or simply want to add a little shine to your work, experiment with a new mixture and see what discoveries await you.

See our tutorial, "The Magic of Daniel Smith Interference Watercolors", for great ways to add shimmer, sparkle, and luster to your next painting.