Holbein Pigment Paste, 014 Pyrrole Red

If you've ever worked with powdered pigments, you know how messy and difficult it can be. Holbein Pigment Paste gives you the control and flexibility of pure pigment, but it's already been mixed with a dispersant and a wetting agent, so you can squeeze it out of a bottle and add it to your preferred medium.

Unlike making paint and ink with dry pigment, Holbein Pigment Paste doesn't require you to grind or mull the mixture. The pigment particles are superfine, and Holbein has done the hard work of forming a stable dispersion. It's compatible and easily mixable with watercolor mediums (like gum arabic or Aqua Gloss), acrylic mediums in all textures, and water-based pigment inks. Try pairing Pigment Paste with a tube of white gouache or acrylic paint to make a range of different pastel shades.

In our studio test, we used six colors of Pigment Paste with two different mediums. First, we mixed it with watercolor medium and a few drops of water to create incredibly concentrated watercolor. Then, after a few layers of watercolor (these single-pigment pastes mix beautifully when made into paint) we made acrylic ink with Holbein Pigment Paste in Shadow Green. You can see our artist applying the acrylic ink with a dip pen and a brush.

It would be quite difficult to match watercolor to acrylic ink by buying two different products, but it's easy with Pigment Paste! Just one tip: start with the medium or the other paint you're modifying, then drip in a tiny amount of Pigment Paste. It's extremely concentrated, and it won't take much to color almost any water-based substance.

Please note: Pigment Paste is not paint, because it doesn't contain paint medium. You need to mix it with a colorless water-based medium or into other water-based colors like acrylic, watercolor, and pigment ink, or it won't be able to stick to your surface. For our swatches, we used watercolor medium as a binder.

Holbein Pigment Paste is not compatible with oil paints, oil mediums, or solvent-based inks.

35 mL squeeze bottle. Made in Japan.