A J Ludlow Ultramarine Blue Professional Watercolour

Ultramarine Blue is just one of the bright and exquisite Professional Watercolours from A J Ludlow. Being based on a single pigment with excellent permanence and light fastness, ensures that this watercolour’s properties are exceptional. As with all our fine-art materials, Ultramarine Blue watercolour is lovingly handmade in the UK by a skilled artisan from the best ingredients and finest pigments.

Ultramarine Blue professional quality watercolour is supplied in a 15ml glass jar, because:

• The watercolour’s wet mass tone can be seen through the walls of the jar;
• The colour can be easily transferred from the jar to the palette with a palette knife.

But more importantly, there is no need for unnecessary additives or formulation changes to make processing in our colour manufacturing workshop easier, allowing the Ultramarine Blue watercolour made by A J Ludlow to be at the highest pigment concentration and the pigment’s unique properties to be uncompromised. Anything less would be at odds with the brilliance and performance demanded of a professional quality watercolour range.

This Professional Watercolour is prepared using the synthetic mineral, based on an aluminosilicate-sodalite crystal structure. This pigment has been selected for its bright and red-shade blue colour, excellent light fastness and transparency. It therefore affords a transparent watercolour (as can be seen in the figure 1a below).

Figure 1: Assessment of (a) the opacity/transparency and (b) staining power of A J Ludlow Ultramarine Blue Professional Watercolour*.

The staining power of Ultramarine Blue is on the low side and so the watercolour is easily lifted out (see figure 1b above).

This watercolour has a fluid consistency and is easily transferred to the watercolour palette using a clean spatula or palette knife.

The Ultramarine Blue’s red shade allows this Professional watercolour to be used on the artist’s palette as a warm primary blue. The watercolour’s tendency to granulate and high colour strength can be used to full effect when painting wet-in-wet or in dilute washes.

It is interesting to note that the pigment (C.I. pigment blue 29) used in this watercolour, can refer to either the natural mineral, Lapis Lazuli or the synthetic form. The pigment derived from lapis lazuli is expensive and now, frequently derived from mineral deposits containing high levels of silicate, which if not removed will dilute the blue lazurite, causing the pigment's hue to be less intense and dull. Synthetic ultramarine on the other hand is a much more vivid blue, since the particles are smaller and more uniform, making this pigment the best choice for Ultramarine Blue in the A J Ludlow Professional Watercolour range.

Pigment Details: Sulphur containing Sodium Aluminosilicate / Colour Index Pigment Blue 29 ( C.I. PB29)

Footnote:

*Details of how each watercolour is tested are given in the May 2021 ARTicle “Testing and Assessing the Properties of Watercolours – Part 1 ” (see also Part 2 of the ARTicle, which was published in June 2021).