Synthetic colors are a great discussion topic and many artists get confused by it. Matt Smith uses hue or synthetic colors in his work. Synthetic colors are colors that are man-made or lab-made colors as opposed to natural colors like cadmium, cobalt, and some of the earth colors like ochre. Synthetic colors are very intense. They tend to be less archival than cadmium. This topic came up after a recent discussion Matt and Gabor had about Matt’s choice of palette. Matt has added several colors over the past few years that have synthetics in them or are synthetic colors by themselves. It is because Matt just wants a little more intensity in certain areas of his painting. The trick is to be careful about what you choose with synthetic. For instance, some of the paint manufacturers have colors out there that say “cad-yellow hue.” What this means is it is not a cadmium, it is a synthetic color that is made to look like cadmium. And you are not going to be able to approach the intensity of cadmium with a synthetic color and have it be nearly as archival. You may think you are saving money, but it will be at the expense of your painting.

The main synthetic color Matt uses is a veridian hue, which has a little pthalo in it that gives it more horsepower without it being overpowering. Alizarin crimson is always a synthetic color, but it is a beautiful cool red. If you get a dark alizarin, this and crimson are wonderful to introduce into shadows and easy to control. But, the main synthetic Matt uses are pthalo blue. He adds a little bit of this into a mixture, so it does not become a problem. If he were to use it straight out of the tube, it could be overpowering. From an archival standpoint, it could be a problem. He also uses a cerulean blue hue, which is a mix of colors that make it look like a cerulean. He uses this because it is a vibrant color that will sit right down into a shadow and maintain its identity without being overpowering. He also uses pthalo yellow-green. This is a very warm, high-key, saturated green that is easy to control.

All of these are used as mixtures with other colors so the ratio is much more in favor of the overall pool of colors Matt is mixing. There are plenty of great synthetics out there that are improving. Matt recommends playing around with synthetic colors. Always be careful as they can be loud and sometimes too rich. Know your limitations, practice, and explore all of these different colors to see what works for you.  

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