Spinel Pigments in ENL Line

In watercolour painting, colour alone is not everything. Other important characteristics must also be considered, including lightfastness, transparency, staining strength, and granulation.

For generations, cadmium and cobalt pigments have been valued for their natural granulation and exceptional lightfastness. However, concerns about the potential toxicity of cadmium pigments have led many artists to seek alternatives. After extensive research, I selected several fascinating—though relatively expensive—pigments for the ENL Mineral and Rare Pigments line. All of them belong to the spinel family, offering remarkable permanence, stability, and unique visual qualities.

Zirconia Silica Orange (018B, S4, PR232)
A semi-transparent, granulating pigment with a deep, warm orange hue, subtle rose undertones, and a rich, saturated masstone. Unlike many high-chroma organic oranges, Zirconia Silica Orange has a distinctly mineral character.

In use, it produces a refined and elegant orange that is ideal for florals, portraiture, and atmospheric glazing in both landscape and figurative work. This zircon-based pigment is chemically inert and highly resistant to acids and alkalis. It offers a subtle yet distinctive mineral warmth that serves as an excellent alternative to intense organic oranges, making it particularly suitable for artists who favour nuanced, atmospheric, and tonally controlled palettes.

Spinel Blue (063, S4, PB72)
A semi-transparent, granulating blue with excellent opacity to ultraviolet and visible light. Chemically inert and highly stable, it demonstrates outstanding resistance to UV exposure and weathering.

Its chroma is remarkably close to that of traditional Cobalt Blue Medium. Although it contains cobalt, its spinel structure provides significantly greater lightfastness and durability than conventional cobalt pigments, making it an exceptional long-term choice for artists seeking permanence without sacrificing colour quality.

Cobalt Titanate Green (077, S4, PG50)
A semi-transparent, granulating pigment with a unique soft yellow-green hue and delicate granulation. Its colour closely resembles the historic Paris Green, a shade once highly prized by artists but absent from palettes for more than a century.

The pigment’s clean, luminous tone, rich colour, and pastel softness create a wide range of fresh, subtle mixtures with nearly every colour on the palette. Its gentle granulation helps convey atmosphere, depth, and spatial effects with ease, making it particularly valuable for plein air landscapes, foliage, floral subjects, backgrounds, and abstract compositions.

Spinel Yellow (100, S4, PY119)
A semi-transparent, granulating yellow that recalls both Yellow Ochre and Chrome Titanate Yellow while maintaining a unique character of its own. It is a rich, deep yellow with subtle reddish undertones and excellent covering power.

Spinel Yellow offers exceptional lightfastness with outstanding resistance to UV fading, while its highly durable spinel structure withstands acids, alkalis, weathering, and extremely high temperatures. Considered non-toxic and environmentally friendly, it provides a modern, safer alternative to traditional lead- and cadmium-based yellow pigments without compromising permanence or performance.

Spinel Black (164, S3, PBk28)

A transparent, granulating black pigment often referred to as the only “true” black due to its remarkably even absorption of light across the visible spectrum. Unlike many black watercolours, which are formulated from mixtures of several pigments to achieve a neutral appearance, Spinel Black is a genuine single-pigment black.

This unique characteristic gives it a clean, achromatic quality without the colour bias often found in mixed blacks. The result is a deep, neutral black that performs consistently in washes, glazes, and mixtures, making it particularly valuable for artists seeking precise tonal control.

All four pigments combine the unique visual qualities of mineral colours with exceptional permanence and durability. They are available in both half-pan and full-pan formats.