While manufactured right here in Seattle, Washington, DANIEL SMITH PrimaTek® pigments come from all over the world - North and South America, Europe, Africa and as far away as Siberia and China. PrimaTek® Series are carefully ground to optimize the qualities of each natural mineral pigment, then blended with the finest imported Gum Arabic, and put in tubes and labeled by hand.

The unique character of pure mineral color has its own attraction and unique value to artists. Their working characteristics range from the captivating granular effects of our Hematite watercolors, to the amazing tonal richness of Natural Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Genuine—a pigment whose history is second only to its stunning beauty. Every DANIEL SMITH PrimaTek® color has a story to tell.

Officially discovered in 1905 and named for the Latin word pupura, meaning purple, Purpurite Genuine is an intense lavender violet that paints smoothly and easily but also granulates subtly. In watercolor, it is semi-opaque with low-staining levels, so it offers great versatility in use and technique. Purpurite Genuine is a mineral with a naturally occurring, low luster, silky sub-metallic sheen. This unique characteristic allows your painting to take on additional dimension as the light interacts with your washes and glazes.

DANIEL SMITH Purpurite, is created from a scarce deposit of manganese phosphate with the finest, most intense color coming from South Africa.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Yes

DANIEL SMITH has acquired a unique supply of the precious mineral Amazonite from Brazil. It's a strong pure color that is completely transparent in watercolor, non-staining and lifts easily for maximum versatility.

Natural Amazonite Genuine provides all the magic of the hills and forests of Brazil. This lovely teal shade of feldspar microcline, a precious mineral, was named for the Amazon River and was used in ancient times as war paint by fierce female warriors.

In addition, legends state that when you wear a piece of Amazonite you will harmonize your soul and be attuned to the spiritual dimension. Small carvings of Amazonite were tucked into a baby's bunting to sooth and pacify. A shared piece of this lovely teal mineral was believed to enhance and further unite the union of soul mates.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Medium
• Granulation: Non-granulating

Hematite is ground from a heavy silvery-black mineral rich in iron. In a thick wash, the heavier particles settle, creating bold granulation. Variations in color are caused by the differing shades of iron oxide found in this historic pigment.

When you paint with Hematite or the traditional Greek name, Bloodstone, you can almost feel the pounding of the battle drums as ancient warriors covered their bodies with Hematite in the belief that they would be protected from mortal wounds. According to lore and superstition, large surface deposits of Hematite mark the site of hard fought battles, where the blood of fallen soldiers flowed into the ground.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Yes

Hematite Burnt Scarlet
Hematite Burnt Scarlet has a rich rusty-orange hue that settles to create dark orange-brown areas.

Hematite Violet
Hematite Violet produces the same splendid texture as the standard Hematite, but the background hue is a warm violet-brown.

Tiger’s Eye Genuine is made from the brownish-gold stone with rippling bands of light that are reminiscent of cats' eyes. The gemstone, a member of the quartz family, is geologically stained with dark iron oxide creating the distinctive bands and markings called the chatoyant effect. The combination of quartz and iron oxide produces a remarkable paint that, in watercolor, is very transparent and non-staining, as well as strongly colored and granulating. The color is olive drab with undertones of cool ash brown. With great textural effects and versatile color, this will quickly become a staple of your palette.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Yes

Burnt Tiger's Eye
Burnt Tiger's Eye is a beautiful variant to Tiger's Eye, where the stone has been calcinated to change the iron oxide from cool to warm in hue. The result is striking and the granulating effect enhanced. While the Tiger's Eye Genuine is cool olive drab, Burnt Tiger's Eye Genuine is warm reddish-brown. In landscapes, it's an excellent, natural-looking complement to greens. It's also great for creating rich, warm flesh tones.

Named after the English mineralogist, F. G. Vivian, this rare mineral of secondary origin exhibits an intense dark blue masstone with a slight reddish blue undertone. Vivianite has been identified in medieval paintings in Germany and in English medieval polychromy. The school of Cologne used it to depict skies in the 13th and 14th century.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Yes

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Yes

The highest quality, deepest pink Rhodonite comes from Germany and is typically used for jewelry. This versatile rose pink is wonderful for portraits and landscapes. Rhodonite, identified in 1819, is a brilliant rose pink mineral whose name comes from the Greek rhodon, meaning rose.

DANIEL SMITH has tamed Rhodonite’s beauty into a lyrical rose pink that’s a great addition to every palette. As a watercolor, wet-into-wet at a low value, it yields a mild, warm pink that creates a soft, transparent glow. At full value, it is more intense but still transparent, low-staining and non-granulating.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Non-granulating

American pipestone is the stone that unified our people in a time of transition. This sacred mineral was the stone of choice for the legendary Sioux peace pipes. Traveling through Pipestone County, Minnesota, one can almost hear the murmurs of the past. The warm, muted tones of the pipestone foster an introspective creative flow.

DANIEL SMITH Minnesota Pipestone is created from pipestone of exactly the same shade as the stone that the Plains Indians revered and reserved for the making of their pipes. Milled in small batches, it honors history and lives up to contemporary expectations. A warm, soft, earthy pink, our Minnesota Pipestone watercolor is semi-opaque and granulates beautifully in washes. It is as permanent as the rock from which it is made. The combination of our historic pipestone with modern synthetics is spellbinding. The technology takes your work to the limits, but the history will take you beyond them.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

For millennia, Sedona has ignited the imagination of every creative spirit fortunate enough to feel its dazzle. Tufts of sagebrush punctuate the ancient sea of sand in quiet counterpoint to the soaring red rock sentinels. With color purity cast from a desert crucible, red spires burst on a field of pure cerulean sky, humbling the observer in absolute wonder. This ethereal red connects us to the people who were first mesmerized by the region 11,000 years ago.

After our latest trip to the Southwest, we knew we had to create paint from Sedona’s rocks. Made with authentic rock from the Arizona desert, this timeless color — lightfast, richly pigmented and absolutely permanent — ties your work to the work of countless generations of southwestern artisans in a way that demands to be experienced. We went straight to the source for our newest, yet oldest, mineral pigment. We can now share the enchantment of the stone with you. Capture the awe, the intensity and the magic of Sedona.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

Lapis Lazuli has been prized for its beauty, its mystical and healing properties, and its perfection as a pigment. Ancient civilizations believed that the veins of glittering pyrite found in the Lapis were actual gold, driving up its value. The stone’s expense today, as in the ancient world, results from its hardness, which makes extraction difficult, and it is only mined during the warmest months of the year.

Mined in the mountains of South America, this gem-quality pigment is an opulent medieval blue. There is not a hint of gray in this paint, with a classic, concentrated blue that is extremely vibrant and light reflective (due to the irregular and angular shape of the pigment particles). A touch of golden pyrite found as an inclusion adds a delightful shimmer. The result, for painters, is an elegant, almost three-dimensional effect that is completely different from the predictable blue of synthetic ultramarine pigments.

DANIEL SMITH Genuine Lapis Lazuli is at least 80% pure gem pigment suspended in a natural binder. In richness, prestige and historical precedent, there’s nothing like it!

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

Malachite Genuine is a clear, yellowish green made with pigment ground from the distinctively patterned gemstone. Used in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, it remained the best green available for mural and easel painting up through the Renaissance. Malachite Genuine is lightfast and our watercolor version has very good transparency. We have recently reformulated this color with purer, brighter Malachite pigment.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

A warm cinnamon color that granulates to resemble rusted iron, DANIEL SMITH Mummy Bauxite combines powerful color with visual texture. Mummy was a very popular organic pigment in the 18th and 19th centuries, rumored to have been made from ground Egyptian mummies. The mineral’s name comes from Les Beaux in southern France, where it was first identified in the 19th century. Our sources bring us Mummy Bauxite from Chitinskaya Province.

Unlike the old world color, DANIEL SMITH Mummy Bauxite is extremely lightfast, semi-transparent and low-staining. You get the tonal warmth and depth of traditional Mummy with the modern assurance that the color is strong, stable and consistent.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Yes

A unique and vibrant blue, it comes from the slumbering Sleeping Beauty Mountain in Arizona where we found a deposit that lives up to the quality and expectations of DANIEL SMITH pigment. Lightfast and permanent, with none of the transient color fade that plagues most turquoise, this is truly an extraordinary color.

From Egyptian queens to Pueblo artisans, turquoise has inspired legends and colored history. The Zuni thought it protected them from demons, while the Navajo believed it was an actual piece of the sky that had fallen to the earth. Many cultures thought an amulet worn on a horse's bridle protected the horse and rider from a fall. The legends are many. The magic is yours to own.

As a mineral, turquoise has a unique molecular structure. In watercolor, its porous nature encourages interaction with other pigments and produces granular washes like no other paint. From the very first test, artists feel its powers. Juicy washes flow easily from the brush, while drybrush work has the intense texture found only in a mineral pigment. Washed alongside a warm, staining pigment, it is almost three-dimensional. While traditional mineral pigments can have a soft, muted feel, the unique properties of DANIEL SMITH Natural Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Genuine give it true brilliance. It's like capturing pieces of the sky right on your paper.

There are many grades of turquoise on the market. Our grade, the highest grade, is found closest to the earth's surface, where environmental factors have enhanced the structure to gemstone quality and deepened the tonal richness to a remarkable blue. DANIEL SMITH uses only this finest gem grade to produce Natural Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Genuine. The result is enchanting.

Historic references of turquoise date back as far as Egypt's first dynasty, while implied references can be found in biblical passages as well as in the teachings of Aristotle. Prehistoric nations left evidence that turquoise was mined and traded extensively. Turquoise from the American Southwest has been unearthed in Aztec ruins. Across the world, Persian turquoise used as trading currency has appeared in ancient burial sites hundreds of miles away.

The mystic beauty of turquoise has been felt by every culture and its use has crossed national and cultural boundaries. Paint with DANIEL SMITH Natural Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Genuine and catch a piece of its rich and colorful history for yourself. Prepare to be captivated.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

You must try Zoisite to appreciate its unique color and characteristics. Zoisite, a mineral from Austria discovered in 1804, is a lush primal green with a dark — almost black — bottle green granulating surface. With minimal paint to water, the effect is a gray-green with a micro-dotted surface. With maximum paint to water, the surface fractures to a faux leather look with a distinct three-dimensional effect. Play with the ratios and be fascinated by the amount of interest Zoisite can add to your painting.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Yes

Natural Kingman Green Turquoise Genuine captures the magic and mystery of the ancient Southwest in a subtle greenish turquoise. It is mined near Kingman, Arizona, which lies along a Native American trade route.

The classic blue-green of the American Southwest, this beautiful, low-staining paint creates exquisite gradations of light and color.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

Apache legend speaks of a single dove that left the edge of the original well and saw the world. When the great floods came, this dove led the first woman to the safety of the Yavapai. Today, the enfolding security of the Yavapai stone provides a sentimental glimpse through time. The endurance of the stone symbolizes the endurance of the human spirit. The mellow color remains unchanged.

Made from Arizona rock, Yavapai Genuine is semi-transparent, with a surprisingly smooth texture in washes. This legendary pigment can link your palette to the indomitable past and the bright possibilities of the future. We’ve captured the strength of the Yavapai in an historic mineral pigment that exemplifies the perpetual energy of art.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

Made from pure Fuchsite, a Russian mineral with mica-like characteristics, this color creates a luminous pearly green shimmer. This transparent mineral color is great for layering delicate green to add luster and dimension to your paintings.

Try glazing DANIEL SMITH Fuchsite Genuine over a stronger green to soften and enhance foliage or add it one subtle layer at a time to cool your study with a unique glow and non-traditional hue.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Non-granulating

This exclusive DANIEL SMITH color is a stunner - a rich blue-gray with impressive granulation and dazzling, glittery sparkle. Its name comes from the Greek word kyanos meaning dark blue enamel. Thought to promote serenity, concentration and mental clarity, this shiny translucent gemstone is used for jewelry and heat-resistant ceramics, and now for a watercolor that will add amazing texture and visual excitement to your work.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

We bring you an unusually beautiful Serpentine pigment from the land down under. This Australian green-color serpentine is of a variety called Stichtite. A soft stone used cross-culturally for carving amulets used to ward off harm, our newest PrimaTek® has no comparison. A surprising semi-transparent paint, it's a deep green that granulates with specks of burnt scarlet—a great addition to your palette.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-Transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

The mountains of Brazil yield a beloved and treasured gemstone. Paint this soft, reddish dusky rose and watch as the iridescent mineral sheen rises to the surface of your brushstroke. This color gives new definition to skies, botanicals and reflections.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

Azurite Genuine's tranquil clear blue, lightfast and transparent, is beautiful for skies or distant mountains. The color was widely used through the Renaissance, then replaced by less expensive, more easily derived pigments such as Cobalt Blue and Cerulean. Our latest supply of Azurite is the brightest and purest we have offered.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-Transparent
• Staining: Non-staining
• Granulation: Yes

Sugilite Genuine's rare opaque mineral ranges from grayish lavendar to pink to deep purple. As a watercolor pigment, it combines subtle fuchsia pink and warm gray in a single strongly textural color. In a wash, the gray settles with a slight graphite-like sheen, while the pink rises to resemble the color in an overcast dawn sky.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Yes

Bronzite Genuine is a warm honey-bronze with lustrous sparkle provided by very fine films of iron oxide. It's a warm golden-brown in masstone - somewhere between ochre and sienna, but distinctly different - that lets down into pale washes of soft, always warm, sandy beige. In a wash on cold press or rough paper, the brown settles out of this intriguing special-effect color.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Non-Staining
• Granulation: Yes

This exceptionally beautiful PrimaTek® color is made from the more strongly colored of the two minerals known as jade — the other is Nephrite. Used for eons in China and Central America, this gemstone now becomes a spectacular artist’s color. Its luster is vitreous. From deep, dark-green masstone to the palest wash, it creates all the exquisite shades we think of when we think of jade.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-Transparent
• Staining: Non-Staining
• Granulation: Yes

Bloodstone, green jasper flecked with dark red "drops" is legendary for its mystical, sacred and medicinal uses. This new addition has an intense and velvety aubergine masstone. In washes, it develops into a warm gray that lifts beautifully and shows impressive granulation. It's a great mixer, especially wonderful with transparent Rhodonite Genuine and Quinacridone Burnt Orange.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Non-Staining
• Granulation: Yes

Gorgeous in color, Blue Apatite is a striking mineral that is rarely used in jewelry due to its softness. As an artist's pigment though, it's fantastic - a dense, rich midnight blue that granulates magnificently on cold- or hot-press papers. Within a wash, nuances of color are revealed, from inky near-black to rich Prussian-like blue. Create a stormy sky in one juice stroke!

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Transparent
• Staining: Non-Staining
• Granulation: Yes

PrimaTek® Green Apatite watercolor lets you create a beautiful range of greens—fresh yellow-green to deep olive—with a single tube. This sedimentary color is a dark, almost brown, olive green in masstone. In washes, the brown settles out of a vivid natural green, creating memorable texture and contrast.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-Transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Yes

Ground from a scarlet-streaked mineral from the hills of Italy, Piemontite Genuine is a rich, versatile new PrimaTek® watercolor. A deep amethyst is the darkest value of this semi-transparent watercolor; adding water produces lovely violet-brown granulation with a carmine tone. Perfect for adding interest to shadows or painting the mottled surfaces of autumn leaves.

• ASTM Lightfastness Rating: Excellent
• Transparency: Semi-Transparent
• Staining: Low
• Granulation: Yes