Readers Respond: What is Your Favorite Red Paint or Pigment?

Responses: 23

By Marion Boddy-Evans, About.com Guide

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I couldn't live without cadmium med red hue, you can make so many colours out of it -- add yellow makes a loverly orange, add phalo blue makes a nice purple, add a little alizarine crimson hue makes a nice burgundy.
—Dianeleckenby

Magenta is my favorite. It lends it's self to so many mixtures... it is a dramatic color to me.
—Guest Kitty Mcgee

Is my favorite - can't do without, a most friendly red - use for skin tones a must and also for that spot of red that brings life to the party! I simply don't get along with Aizarin even though I have to use it for purples it's so overpowering and needs careful handling when I do. I have the same tube for years and no end in sight.
—papaya

Well, think I have them all in any medium I happen to be using! My favourite is from Schminke and it's a very dark maroon acrylic paint that Schminke claims only they make. It's called "madder dark" (Krapp dunkel) and is at is most glorious and translucent in the expensive liquid acrylic series called Primacryl, but nice (though not translucent) in some of the cheaper mixes, too. The (single) pigment is PR 179 and there is nothing to compare with the Primacryl version! The same series does a glowing cadmium red light (classed as PO 20 which is strictly speaking orange), which I also love to use. I keep a look out for single pigment paints. It isn't always possible, but if a paint is only made "light" with the addition of white, I buy the darker version and lighten it as needed. Only this morning I had to go to the art store because my cadmium red medium (oil paint) had to be replaced. I can't wait to use it, but the canvas needs to be a little drier.
—faith1110

Quinacridone Rose. I paint in watercolors and this mixes well with Cobalt Blue and Aureolin to give me a full range of colors and values.
—Guest Beth W

My go to red is usually cadmium red medium but alizarin crimson is a verrrrry close second!
—Ingeborganita

My all-time favorite red is cadmium red, both the "regular" and the "deep". It's an extremely opaque pigment, so a little goes a long way when mixing. By itself it's rich and deep, glowing on a canvas. (Obviously you need to be careful with getting it on your skin etc. as cadmiums are poisonous pigments.)
—Marion BE

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