On the color wheel, it sits between violet and mauve pink.
Permanent Mauve Watercolor – Paint Characteristics & Color Mixing
Permanent Mauve watercolor is similar in color to Cobalt Violet, a semi-opaque color, but its transparency differs in that it is semi-transparent and darker in tone.
It is the “purple” in the semi-transparent non-staining watercolor palette used for the glazing technique and mixing with other colors.
Measured against a gray scale value finder, semi-transparent non-staining watercolors are generally mid-light in value ranging from 20% to a maximum of 80% value.
So, the colors in the semi-transparent non-staining category are adequate for a mid-tone palette, except for where darker passages require colors with values higher on the gray scale.
PAINT CHARACTERISTICS
Permanent Mauve is slightly more opaque than transparent non-staining watercolors and requires more restraint to remain luminous when mixing with other colors.
Semi-transparent non-staining watercolors have similar characteristics to transparent non-staining watercolors, but with a wider range of colors to add to a palette.
Permanent Mauve can be layered in several glazes using other semi-transparent non-staining watercolors if each layer is allowed to dry thoroughly before applying the next layer.
COLOR MIXING WITH PERMANENT MAUVE WATERCOLOR
Add Opera Rose to Permanent Mauve to mix a variety of lighter pink-purple colors. Or, add Permanent Magenta to mix a redder purple color.
Mix Permanent Mauve with yellow watercolors such as Aureolin or New Gamboge to create interesting mid-value semi-transparent gray colors.
Permanent Mauve can also be successfully mixed with watercolors in both the transparent and semi-transparent non-staining categories.
It also makes beautiful, luminous washes when glazed with the other watercolors in the transparent non-staining category.
Mixed with semi-opaque or opaque colors, it will create a combination that is cleaner and more transparent than using only opaque colors.
Purchase watercolor paints using my affiliate links below:
… and the recommended semi-transparent non-staining watercolor for mixing grays with Permanent Mauve
… also the transparent non-staining category of watercolors for glazing or color mixing with Permanent Mauve
To learn more about transparent watercolors, click the link to my blog post “Which watercolor paints are transparent.”
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What Color Is Mauve?
Mauve is a pale purple, between violet and red.
It is named after the mallow flower, called mauve in French.
Even in English-speaking countries today, mauve is the more popular name.
Mauve became a named color in the 1700s, revolutionizing the world of painting by providing a purple that wasn’t extremely expensive to obtain.
The color is bluer than magenta but redder than a violet color.
Mauve is more grey and blue than one might expect from a pinkish violet.
This is because many bluish wildflowers get called mauve, so the color is associated with a wide range of colors.
Mauve has been associated with youth, femininity, and decadence.
People who choose it as a favorite color tend to be romantic and creative.
Sometimes, they are seen as too dreamy and in their own heads.
However, the color is common in fashion and cosmetics, with most people encountering it fairly often.
It’s especially popular for weddings and sentimental occasions, as it evokes nostalgia.
Mauve Color Names
There are many color names clustered around the color mauve.
Mauve itself comes from the French name for the mallow flower, but around it are violet, orchid, lavender, and lilac, all different names for famous flowers.
Other purple colors include plum and indigo, which are rich purples.
What makes mauve unique compared to other purples is twofold.
First, it is a fairly pale shade of violet, and second, reddish or pinkish in tint.
When considering just these factors, lavender and lilac are similarly pale but lack as much pink.
Fushia and magenta are more pink than mauve, and mauve lies between them and violet on the color wheel.
Pink mauve, heather mauve, and dusty mauve are all popular variations on the color, to name just a few.
Mauve Color History
Until the 1850s, pigments, and dyes were made using plant materials.
However, such dyes were inconsistent, fading quickly with washes.
Mauve is an incredible color in terms of the history of dyes and pigments.
In 1856, the chemist William Henry Perkin was trying to invent a cure for malaria but instead created a synthetic dye the color of mauve.
This allowed him to make the first mass-produced dye ever formulated, called mauveine.
The fact that it was such a rare and unusual shade completely changed fashion within just a few decades, becoming exceptionally popular in the 1890s, the so-called “Mauve Decade.”
Alexandra Feodorovna, the last Empress of Russia, actually had a legendary mauve room in her Romanov palace.
The fact that purple was previously associated only with royalty due to its extreme rarity became a massive shift in what was possible in fashion.
Garments from the best fashion houses of Paris and London started using mauve extensively, and it sold well.
The color was in vogue even amongst royalty, with Queen Victoria and Empress Eugenie both celebrating the new dye.
In addition, the dye gave a huge boost to the chemical industry in general.
It was commercially successful and found vital applications in the medical field.
The dye could be used to color cells and study chromosomes, which allowed for much clearer visuals of what was happening.
This eventually led to the discovery of what causes tuberculosis and chemotherapy treatment.
