Colour Index: PB32

Transparency: Transparent

Tinting Strength: Low

Granulation: Strong

Lightfastness: Sensitive

Range: Historic Colour Range

Expressive skyscapes and atmospheric washes

Creating distance and depth through texture

Layering with stable blues for nuanced effects

Our handmade Smalt Blue watercolour paint is a historic pigment made from finely ground glass coloured with cobalt oxide. As you paint, the grainy character of the pigment is tangible, creating expressive texture and movement across the paper.

Carefully hand-mulled to respect the uniqueness of the material, Smalt Blue retains its distinctive intensity while delivering a natural tonal range and pronounced granulation. These qualities make it especially suited to dynamic skyscapes, distant horizons, and passages where texture and energy are essential.

Part of our Historic Colour Range and included within the Japanese Collection, Smalt Blue offers artists a rare opportunity to work with a pigment rooted in centuries of practice; one that brings atmosphere, depth, and material presence to the surface.