General Questions

You will find below a selection of FAQs relating to General Questions. If you still can't find the answer you're looking for you can email us.

1. Are Winsor & Newton products safe to use if pregnant?

2. Is it safe/permitted to fly with Winsor & Newton products?

3. Which Winsor & Newton products are not suitable for use by vegans?

4. What is the meaning of quinacridone and phthalo and what are the origins of these pigments?

5. Why does Winsor & Newton refer to colour bias rather than Munsell ratings?

6. What are the series numbers references on each of your colour tubes? Do they relate to the pigments as the costs vary according to their number?  

7. I have heard that there is great artistry and expertise in creating colour from hand grinding pigments. Why is this no longer common practice in colour manufacture?

1. Are Winsor & Newton products safe to use if pregnant?

With the exception of Lead based colours, such as Artist Oil Colour Flake White and Winton Oil Colour Flake White, there is no restriction for use of Winsor and Newton products by pregnant women. Flake White containing products carry a warning that the product should not be used if contemplating pregnancy or if pregnant. No other products carry health warnings for pregnancy.

The process of painting in oils involves the use of solvents. Solvents, such as Turpentine, White Spirit and Sansodor and some solvent based mediums carry hazard warnings, but none are restricted for use by pregnant women. It may nevertheless be a prudent decision to limit the amount of solvent vapour in an art studio or not to use solvents at all during pregnancy, so reducing exposure to an absolute minimum.

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2. Is it safe/permitted to fly with Winsor & Newton products?

The carriage of dangerous goods by air is governed by the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, the latest edition being the 49th Edition, effective from 1st January 2008.

Please follow the link below to a list of the products made by Winsor & Newton that are “not classified” in accordance with these regulations. They therefore fall outside the scope of the regulations i.e. are safe for transportation by air.

We suggest that you consult with your airline before taking these products on the airlines. It is our experience that some airlines will adopt local rules outside the scope of IATA, that prohibit some product categories, such as oil colours.

For further information click here.

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3. Which Winsor & Newton products are not suitable for use by vegans?

Winsor and Newton products are made to the highest possible standards. In some cases non-animal derived ingredients at present cannot match the high performance of critical animal derived ingredients.

However, technology rapidly progresses and we are constantly researching new and alternative raw materials.  At some stage in the future there may be a non-animal derived development that can match or exceed these existing ingredients at which point they will be replaced. All our animal derived products are obtained from sustainable sources and are by-products of other industries. Animals are not sourced for the sole use of manufacturing Winsor and Newton products. Please follow the link to a list of products containing animal derived ingredients.

For further information click here.

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4. What is the meaning of quinacridone and phthalo and what are the origins of these pigments?

Quinacridones are a very important group of pigments  which originated in the 1950's.  The first quinacridones were introduced by Winsor & Newton as Permanent Rose and Permanent Magenta.  With their highly transparent and lightfast hues, these colours transformed the pink and mauve section of the palette, an area that had always suffered from poor lightfastness.  Over the next 50 years many more colours became available, ranging from deep crimson to gold.  These are achieved by different combinations of the chemicals involved.

Phthalo Blue is simply an abbreviation of phthalocyanine blue and is made from copper phthalocyanine (colour index pigment blue 15.) This pigment is available in several slightly different hues , varying slightly in colour, but all covered by the generic name “phthalo blue”. This is the only pigment in Cotman Intense Blue.

Winsor and Newton also sell slightly different hues of phthalo blue in their Artists’ Water Colour range such as Winsor Blue Red Shade and Winsor Blue Green Shade. Once again, the only pigment used is phthalo blue.

Similarly, phthalocyanine green is available in two basic hues, a yellow shade (pigment green 36) which we sell as Intense Green in Cotman water colour and Winsor Green Yellow Shade in Artists’ Water Colour  and a bluer shade (pigment green 7), sold as Viridian Hue in Cotman Water Colour and Winsor Green Blue Shade in Artists’ Water Colour. 

In all cases the only pigment is phthalo green, but the blue shade was the original and is more commonly referred to as “phthalo green”.

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5. Why does Winsor & Newton refer to colour bias rather than Munsell ratings?

From time to time we are asked for an exact numbering system or chart regarding each of our colour's positions on a colour wheel, such as the Munsell system. 

Munsell values, based on specific measures of hue, chroma and value, are judged from colour computer readings on the full strength mass tone of a colour in a draw down of controlled thickness - essentially a "single" colour.  The benefit of this is that it provides continuity between colours and allows a colour to present a single rating.  

Examples of Draw-downs with Artists' Acrylics

For example, although you mix yellow and blue to get green, which yellow mixed with which blue will produce the cleanest, brightest green? This is where colour bias comes in. To get the brightest green, choose a blue that leans toward yellow and a yellow that leans toward blue. This ensures the mixture contains only two colours: blue and yellow. If you were to choose a blue with a red cast instead of a yellow cast, you would introduce a third colour, red, to your mixture, and red, which is the opposite or complement of blue, will make the mixture muddy. Colour bias is sometimes also referred to as the colour temperature, i.e., is it “warm” or “cool” in tone.

Artists Water Colour: Green made from Ultramarine (green shade) and Cadmium Lemon	Artists Water Colour: Green made from French Ultramarine and Cadmium Yellow Deep

To most accurately judge colour bias and select colours for your palette, it is best to consult a hand painted colour chart, which shows a gradation from mass tone to undertone for each colour.  A colour’s bias is most easily seen in its undertone, which appears in a thinly applied layer of the colour.

Find out more about colour bias and colour mixing>

6. What are the series numbers references on each of your colour tubes? Do they relate to the pigments as the costs vary according to their number?

Series numbers are a prominent part of the information provided on the tubes and in literature about Winsor & Newton colours but some artists may be unaware of what they stand for and may find them a little confusing.

Series numbers simply refer to the cost of the colour. Artists’ colours are sold in series. Series 1 is the least expensive; the higher the series number, the more expensive the colour. Some ranges have more series than other ranges;the professional or artist grade ranges often have more series. Artists’ Water Colour, for example, has four series. Cotman Water Colours have two.

The series numbers generally give an indication as to the cost of the pigments used to produce the colours. For example, cadmium pigments are more expensive than titanium white pigment, therefore cadmium colours will always be a higher series than titanium white so will cost more per tube. It doesn’t make them superior; it’s simply that the pigments cost more.

There are a number of reasons that some pigments might cost more; it could be that the production method requires more complexity or difficulty, or it could relate to scarcity. Quality only enters into the equation where there may be different quality grades within specific pigments. For example, one cadmium red might be a higher grade & cost more than another cadmium red, but both will be expensive relative to titanium white.

7. I have heard that there is great artistry and expertise in creating colour from hand grinding pigments. Why is this no longer common practice in colour manufacture?

Up until the late 18th century, hand grinding was the principal method of making artists’ colours. Skilled workers would use a shear/slide method with a stone muller and flat slab to disperse the pigments into the binder.  Hand grinding required knowledge and expertise to bring out the individual characteristics of pigments. Without this skill, the subtle variations required in grinding different pigments were lost. Hand grinding was, however, a very labour intensive and difficult method of creating artists’ colours; for scaled up manufacture of colour in the 21st century, it is very impractical.

At Winsor & Newton, the Triple Roll Mill is used to manufacture our artists’ colours. This process has been used for grinding colour for many years because its action improves that of hand grinding. Today, even the triple roll mill is viewed as old technology but it is still the best method of producing the quality required. This method of dispersing the pigment particles into the binder ensures that the pigment mass is broken down and ground into the binder in a much more consistent way than could ever be achieved by hand. Mills themselves vary; depending on the pigment being ground, they range from mild steel to ceramic to granite rollers, for softer pigments.