{"id":1322816,"date":"2023-09-25T17:08:58","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T23:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/?p=1322816"},"modified":"2023-09-12T17:12:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T23:12:06","slug":"the-best-black-watercolor-paint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/art-mediums\/the-best-black-watercolor-paint\/","title":{"rendered":"McCracken Black: The Perfect Black Paint?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the Fall 2022 issue of Watercolor Artist Magazine<\/a>, we asked 5 great watercolor painters the question “What are the three tube colors that are always on your palette?” Here, we’ll focus on one of those artists, Laurin McCracken, whose upcoming Art Fest workshops will allow artists like you an opportunity to learn directly from him. Scroll down to read his comments on McCracken Black, a color created by Daniel Smith to his specifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t miss the opportunity to work and learn with Laurin McCracken himself! His Art Fest workshop\u2014The Art of the Still Life: Painting Silver & Crystal in Watercolor Realism<\/a>\u2014is filling up fast!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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McCracken Black<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Three of the colors that are always on my palette are Daniel Smith\u2019s phthalo blue (red shade), Aussie red gold and McCracken black. I find phthalo blue (red shade) to be the most versatile of all the blues. It\u2019s a very rich color that can be used full strength to create full-bodied blues or thinned out to be light\u2014as might be required in a midday sky, for example. It\u2019s also my go-to color when mixing greens, creating
a wide range of fabulous green mixtures when combined with cadmium yellow (dark, medium or light).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aussie gold is a relatively new color in the Daniel Smith line that\u2019s astonishingly rich. I use it often as an underpainting color for fruit to create a bit of punch. I also use this gold as a layer under dark colors such as quinacridone burnt orange, a combination that works especially well for subjects such as dark-brown antique bottles or on an old padlock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laurin McCracken added some zing to the yellow pear in Jars With Pears (watercolor on paper, 18×13) by using an underpainting of Aussie gold.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I worked directly with the color chemists at Daniel Smith to develop the color McCracken Black. It\u2019s a rich black that can be thinned out to a neutral gray. It\u2019s what I use to create the dark black backgrounds in my paintings. The color is a bit transparent, so an underpainting can still have an impact. I apply it quite thickly, scumbling it as I paint. It dries to a matte finish and\u2014in spite of its dark appearance\u2014is nonstaining. \u2014Laurin McCracken<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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DANIEL SMITH McCracken Black<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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DANIEL SMITH Phthalo Blue (Red Shade)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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DANIEL SMITH Aussie Red Gold<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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This article originally appeared in Watercolor Artist<\/em>. Subscribe now so you don’t miss any great art instruction, inspiration, and articles like this one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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SUBSCRIBE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laurin McCracken discusses the best black watercolor paint, McCracken Black, a color created by Daniel Smith to his specifications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9515,"featured_media":1322821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"page-templates\/new-article-page.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16768,277976,277673,37],"tags":[15920],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMcCracken Black: The Perfect Black Paint? | Artists Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Laurin McCracken discusses the best black watercolor paint, McCracken Black, a color created by Daniel Smith to his specifications.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/art-mediums\/the-best-black-watercolor-paint\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"McCracken Black: The Perfect Black Paint?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Laurin McCracken discusses the best black watercolor paint, McCracken Black, a color created by Daniel Smith to his specifications.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/art-mediums\/the-best-black-watercolor-paint\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Artists Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/artistsnetwork\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-25T23:08:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-12T23:12:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/McCracken_Black.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scott Maier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@artistsnetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@artistsnetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scott Maier\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/art-mediums\/the-best-black-watercolor-paint\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/art-mediums\/the-best-black-watercolor-paint\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Scott Maier\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d7b4c28571db7591494001eb63e40114\"},\"headline\":\"McCracken Black: The Perfect Black Paint?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-25T23:08:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-12T23:12:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/art-mediums\/the-best-black-watercolor-paint\/\"},\"wordCount\":433,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/art-mediums\/the-best-black-watercolor-paint\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/McCracken_Black.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Watercolor Artist\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Art Mediums\",\"Friday Find\",\"Product Recommendation\",\"Watercolor\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/art-mediums\/the-best-black-watercolor-paint\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/art-mediums\/the-best-black-watercolor-paint\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.artistsnetwork.com\/art-mediums\/the-best-black-watercolor-paint\/\",\"name\":\"McCracken Black: The Perfect Black Paint? 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