Quinacridone Red begins the domain of cool receding reds. The red colour that is observed when working with it as a wet saturated colour, is very different to the pale hues that have stained this paper, once it is dry. Winsor & Newton have not described it as a staining pigment but goodness it is! Have I mixed them up? It resembles Alizarin Crimson.

This observational study has played with me. Everything I know is being questioned. This colour is unusually bright but subtle. This sample of Quinacridone Red pigment is vivid, intense, and very cool – very close to magenta.

The only colour so far that has presented as I would expect. Very true to its colour expectation. There is a coolness to this red and a depth from its staining properties. Coverage is fairly even across the paper.

Disgusting mould has grown completely over the lid and the top of the solution. The colour is intense and appears very saturated before extracting the paper from the test tube. It was difficult to extract and despite the heavy smell of bushfires in Sydney currently, the odour from this sample was pungent. A congealed blob of fungus growth had grown on the paper – the colour was dense and heavily saturated even as it was drying.

Definitely softer than the Permanent Alizarin crimson, but it also exhibited fewer staining properties. Deckled edge was very intensely coloured, and the pigment sat more heavily in the creases. This colour seems to find the nuances of the paper. At least half of the intensity is seen with perm AC but a very similar hue.

Not a real red pigment now – the initial sample was but now it’s a substitute so I will be getting rid of this colour in my sampling. I think! It is a beautiful red, never-the-less, and it sits between the saturation of the two Alizarin Crimsons but is staining more evenly. A cool red appearance that looks like a beetroot stain.

So soft and almost a little fluoro. The Paper looks like it has not absorbed much pigment. Most of it has settled to the bottom of the tube.

This is getting more disgusting as I go along. A gooey slimy scum had formed at the top of the solution where the paper ended. Not sure why this one wasn’t black but just a congealed blob that stunk.

The colour is mottled unevenly. With pops of fluorescent pink. The roll of paper had an effect on the colour attaching itself to the structure.

Oh Goodness. This was concerning. As I opened the lid the black fungus floated like smoke into the surrounding air. I wondered what it could be and if it was toxic. It was hard to examine the colour solution and the paper while I was wondering about the fungus. This is the strongest of magentas with a very cool violet tone – a perfect colour for primary mixing, but I’m not encouraged to work with it after witnessing the black fungus. It looked like the genie had escaped from the test tube.