Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolor 15ml Paint Tube, Ultramarine Blue

For close to fifteen years now, I have been using the Daniel Smith line of extra fine watercolours. They are vibrant, stable, with all sorts of qualities that are needed -- varying transparencies, granulations, and in one remarkable trend, the creation of media using traditional minerals and gemstones.

I found out about Daniel Smith, a company based in Seattle, Washington while researching colour theory and assembling a palette of colours. They create paints for watercolours, acrylics and oils, along with printmakers' inks, grinding their own pigments and creating products that are wonderful to work with. And reasonably priced to boot.

With watercolours, there are several factors to think about. What is the lightfastness rating -- with I being very strong, to IV, which can becomes weak over time and exposure. Granulation refers to whether or not the pigment is smooth or will have small bits that appear as the paint dries. Staining runs from strong to medium to light -- it refers to how deeply the paint goes into the paper, and whether or not it will be easy to lift or scrub from the paper. Finally, there is transparency, as some pigments will produce very light washes all the way to near opaque shades.

Ultramarine Blue is one of the first hues that I learnt to work with. It's a rich blue, on the cool side and tending towards purple in some lights, achieving that glorious blue that arcs overhead on those perfect sunny days when there isn't a cloud in the sky. Needless to say, in landscapes, this is the one I reach for first when painting in a sky. That blue tends to be fairly opaque as well, and it does take a bit of work to get it down to a light wash. It's a shade that I am using almost constantly, whether on its own, or as part of a mix, with very satisfactory results. The staining factor is medium, meaning that it does take a bit of work and effort to lift when I need to do some scrubbing out.

Ultramarine Blue is rated at being extremely permanent, a lightfast rating of I, medium staining and completely transparent with some granulation.

A factor that I really do like Daniel Smith for is that they submit their products to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) for rating and testing. Many paint companies do not, and trying to figure out just what is in those tubes of paint can be a real challenge. There are products that are quite dangerous if they are ingested, especially those made in the Cobalt or Cadmium ranges. One thing that I always remember to do is never point up a brush by sticking it in my mouth (yes there are artists that do that), and to always wash my hands well after a painting session.

A final question is that of price and quantity. Most watercolours are marketed in 5 ml tubes, about the size of a couple joints of your pinkie finger. Daniel Smith however, markets their watercolour in 15 ml tubes, and has them ranged in price from about nine dollars to twenty five in cost. Ultramarine Blue costs 8.60 a tube (September 2013), which means that it's a great value. The nice thing about watercolour is that a little bit can go a long way.

This paint gets a five star rating from me. Daniel Smith has managed to keep the costs of their product down by selling directly to the consumer, and in my years of dealing with them, I've never had a problem with obtaining their products. They sell by catalog or by the web.

To contact the Daniel Smith company you can go to their website at www.danielsmith.com or call (800) 426-6740 in the US or for international orders call (206) 812-5877. Their catalogs are free and can be obtained from their website

Other Daniel Smith products that I have reviewed:
Alizarin Crimson, Extra Fine Watercolour
Amethyst Genuine, Extra Fine Watercolour
Carbazole Violet, Extra Fine Watercolour
Cascade Green, Extra Fine Watercolour
Cobalt Blue, Extra Fine Watercolour
Hematite Genuine, Extra Fine Watercolour
Payne's Gray, Exta Fine Watercolour
Perylene Green, Extra Fine Watercolour
Prussian Blue, Extra Fine Watercolour
Quinacridone Deep Gold, Extra Fine Watercolour
Quinacridone Magenta, Extra Fine Watercolour
Quinacridone Rose, Extra Fine Watercolour
Quinacridone Sienna, Extra Fine Watercolour
Quinacridone Violet, Extra Fine Watercolour
Rose of Ultramarine, Extra Fine Watercolour
Sepentine Genuine, Extra Fine Watercolour
Viridian, Extra Fine Watercolour

Recommend this product? Yes