Art Spectrum Studio Blend Oil French Ultramarine 40ml is the warm, violet-biased blue that has been the foundation of western oil painting since it replaced natural lapis lazuli in the nineteenth century. Based on PB29 (synthetic Ultramarine Blue), it is a deep, rich, slightly violet blue with a semi-transparent quality that gives luminous depth in shadow passages and sky. French Ultramarine is warmer and more violet than Phthalo Blue or Cerulean Blue Hue, and it mixes differently: it granulates slightly, gives warm, slightly greyish-green when mixed with yellows, and produces rich, deep purples and violets when mixed with reds. It is the blue that belongs in every oil palette.

What Makes This Colour Essential

Mixing With French Ultramarine

French Ultramarine is one of the most versatile mixing blues in oil painting. Mixed with Burnt Sienna in a roughly equal ratio it gives a neutral grey-brown that is warm and rich rather than flat. Tilted toward more Ultramarine it gives cool grey; tilted toward more Burnt Sienna it gives a warm brown-grey. These mixes replace the need for black in many palette configurations and give more interesting, luminous shadow tones than Ivory Black alone. Mixed with Titanium White it gives a range of sky blues from pale horizon to deep zenith, always retaining the characteristic warm, violet quality of ultramarine.

Mixed with Quinacridone Magenta or Cadmium Red Hue, French Ultramarine gives rich, warm purples and violets. A small amount of Dioxazine Purple added to French Ultramarine gives the very deep violet-blue of twilight sky and deep shadow in water. In landscape, French Ultramarine in the shadow areas of green foliage (mixed with Sap Green or Yellow Ochre) gives cool, believable shadow without the greenish cast that mixing a blue-green with yellow gives. For distant, atmospheric landscape recession, French Ultramarine mixed with Titanium White and a touch of Raw Sienna gives warm atmospheric haze.

About Art Spectrum Studio Blend Oil: Melbourne Made Since 1966

Art Spectrum Studio Blend Oil is the rebrand of the former Art Prism range, with fresh new packaging and artwork. The formula is unchanged: same pigments, same linseed oil base, same manufacturing standards. Made in Epping, Victoria since 1966. The 26-colour range is fully compatible with all Art Spectrum oil mediums and varnishes, and is also available in 150ml tubes.

Art Shed Online is an authorised Australian stockist of Art Spectrum products. All Art Spectrum Studio Blend Oil products are sourced through official distribution channels. We ship Australia-wide.