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There are two very popular choices for the cool red acrylic paint colours on your palette, and I’m going to do a quick comparison of the two to see a few of the colours you can mix. I’m testing out alizarin crimson hue and quinacridone magenta. I’ve used both a fair amount, and I probably lean towards using the magenta hue more often because I love the intensity of the colour. I’ve been using alizarin crimson more often lately because I’ve been learning to reduce intensity in my paintings recently. I thought I’d test these two to get a better feel for how they compare.
Watch me compare the two colours in my video on mixing cool reds on my YouTube channel.
Colours used for mixing
- Ultramarine blue
- Phthalo blue (green shade)
- Cadmium lemon
- Cadmium yellow medium hue
- Burnt sienna
- Titanium white
Lightfastness issues with alizarin crimson
An important note to keep in mind. You may come across alizarin crimson, permanent alizarin crimson or alizarin crimson hue – choose the permanent or hue version. The original pigments are fugitive, which means they are not lightfast. If you use alizarin crimson, not the permanent or hue version, you run the risk of your painting fading.
The results
In the end, I’m still inclined to keep using both colours on my palette. Quinacridone magenta really mixes to provide some intense, contemporary colours. Alizarin crimson hue does a great job to mix less intense colours. Both are useful to me, depending on what I’m painting. Both also mix some really incredible darks, when mixed with blue. The price for both colours is generally about the same, so if you’re just choosing one, I’d make my choice based on whether I want more colour intensity or prefer more muted colours.
Learn more
Check out a listing of all my colour mixing blog posts and videos on my colour mixing roundup article.
Get your own
Pick up your favourite cool red acrylic paint at your local art supply store or on Amazon:
US
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