Complementary mixing pairs: pyrol ruby and viridian

Here’s another great pair of complements: pyrol ruby and viridian. Both of these are from Robert Doak. Pyrol ruby is a fairly transparent modern organic lake pigment with a color similar to alizarin crimson. It is quite permanent. Viridian is semi-transparent and slightly on the bluer side of green.

The ruby is a much stronger tinter than viridian. They mix to a very dark neutral that can substitute for black.

I strongly encourage any painter to do these kinds of experiments with all combinations of the paints they typically keep on their palette.