White Nights Watercolor Lightfast Test Art Supply Review Color Chart St. Petersburg + NEW COLORS Pastels, Metallic etc.

White Nights Russian watercolor art supply review, lightfast testing results, color chart swatch and painting demo videos. This page also covers Yarka St. Petersburg (a set noted "36 ultimate full pan set" is the professional quality USA import version from the Jack Richeson company, not to be confused with general "Yarka" brand student paints which come in trays similar to prang/crayola).

I recommend buying individual pans of White Nights, which are very reasonably priced, at Jackson's a major art supply store that ships worldwide from the UK. As of January 2022 they offer all current catalog colors with the exception of ultramarine deep (a more granulating PB29), which is an excellent mixing color I've only been able to find through Etsy/Russian importers. While it's a bigger investment, if you're interested in mixing color separating and textural mixtures, I recommend Schmincke's French Ultramarine as a highly granulating PB29.

 

*** WHITE NIGHTS HAS MADE A LOT OF CHANGES OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS - I WILL BE MAKING A NEW GENERAL OVERVIEW VIDEO IN 2022 WITH UPDATED INFO *** I've used this brand for a long time, so there's a lot of older and outdated info on this page. I have a few projects to wrap up before I'll have time to return to this topic, go over the new additions of 38+ colors that were added over the course of 2019 to 2021, write a list of all the colors that were retired in favor of more lightfast pigments and which colors prone to fading are still included in their 100+ color catalog. IN THE MEANTIME you can see all of my notes regarding problem pigments and changes on my free blog-style post at patreon here.

 

As of Fall 2020 (for the USA, some areas did not obtain stock until 2021) 9 new pastel colors were added, bringing the opaque mixtures using PW6 to a total of 18. I'll cover those and lightfast test results for 32 other 2019-2020 additions to their catalog. 

 

The older lightfast test video further down the page regarding White Nights vs Yarka St Petersburg's 36 pan set is now outdated due to pigments being changed in 2019-2020. I will leave this info available for anyone who still has the older products. Here is a chart noted the current changes, as well as a list of colors that still have fading issues.

White nights watercolor which colors are fugitive pigment paint test changes PO64 pastel peach

The colors released in early 2019 were some of my very favorite from this brand. They added mostly highly lightfast single pigment paints. They include Venice Purple (365) Geranium Red (364) May Green (745) Cobalt Azure Blue (532) Cobalt Turquoise (531) Orange (315) Naples Orange (254) Aureolin (253) Naples Yellow Light (219):

Available at Jackson's for shipping worldwide. 

White Nights 2019 new colors cobalt turquoise venice purple naples yellow light azure blue geranium red

These colors mix cleanly, with limitations only added by my desire to play with these colors independently as a mini-set. Because there was no magenta/cool red, the 9 new colors have some mixture limits if they were the only ones you have. I find them to be a beautiful addition to their 36 color pan sets, completing some missing colors like Cobalt Turquoise (teal) and Venetian Purple (perylene maroon). These two colors in particular make lovely neutral mixes ranging from dusty purple to cool blue-gray:

White Nights Watercolor NEW 2019 colors Venice Purple Cobalt Turquoise neutral color mixing cool gray

This next video covers the difference between the White Nights Russian Labeled 36 pan set and the Yarka St. Petersburg "Ultimate" set (found on Dick Blick or Amazon for USA sales). Please note they are the exact same paints, not to be confused with the student grade "Yarka" sets that come in a different style of tray.

 

 

 The following noted colors are fugitive. The ones marked Yarka are also available as White Nights in individual pans (marked as Yarka here to show that these colors come in the Yarka 36 pan set). You can see a larger version of this image in the video above when viewed as full screen.

White Nights Watercolor color chart lightfast test fugitive fading list St Petersburg Russia watercolour

If you would like to purchase any of the supplies I mentioned in this review, I've included Amazon links. The third set below is a newer alternate color selection that includes several of the 2017 released colors (different from the first two sets that have been around for many years are shown in the video review). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

In mid 2019 White Nights released 7 new metallic colors including antique gold, inca gold, aztec gold, silver light, silver deep, bronze and copper. All of them are lightfast, with no fading whatsoever after 1 full year in a window receiving daily sun light:

white nights metallic watercolor lightfast test gold silver pearl white mica fugitive none 

 

 

In late 2019 White Nights released 6 new pastel tints, colors mixed with white. This release included the colors lavender, coral, lilac, pink peony, royal blue, rose quartz. After a full year lightfast test, there is some fading in rose quartz PR170 and coral PR242, particularly when diluted. They later added several other pastel colors, the most notably fugitive being "peach" containing the pigment PO64 which fades very quickly (under 3 months).

WHITE NIGHTS pastel watercolors coral lightfast test fading fugitive 

 

Purchase White Nights paints on Jackson's website here. 

In early 2020 White Nights released another 3 pastel tints, including peach, mint and dunes. This helps round out a lovely gouache-like opaque pastel set with the previous year's 6 colors. The other 7 colors include cobalt chrome turquoise, ultramarine deep, neon pink, perylene violet, caput mortuum, vandyke brown and irgazin yellow. 

 

 

If you're a fan of White Nights paints, and especially if you've already started collecting last years new colors, this new selection helps round out some missing pieces. These 3 pastels offer a nice mint green, peach and sand dune color to go along with 2019's pastel pinks and blues. If I was new to White Nights, I may consider a more coordinated palette instead (like one of their sets of 36). This bundle is just a collection of new colors, not ones meant to go together to be painted with at once.

 

white nights color chart new 2020 colors mint peach dune cobalt chrome turquoise neon pink caput mortuum watercolor

However, as a fun challenge to myself, I did use this as it's own complete color selection and can tell you that it's surprisingly great for beach scenes. The cobalt chrome and neon pink can be used for skies, the ultramarine deep and mint look like tropical water, and the peach and dunes mix perfect sand. Irgazin yellow mixed with cobalt chrome gives plant green colors. All were easy to re-wet and are high quality professional paints.

 white nights watercolor beach landscape dunes sand irgazin yellow ultramarine deep new 2020 colors paint watercolor

Cons - Neon pink, as it's name suggests is their version of the popular fluorescent color called "opera" in most brands. It's made with a fugitive dye mixed with PR122, so it will not be lightfast. This may be a bad thing for those who avoid that color normally. However, it's really a lovely deep magenta leaning version which could be really pretty for florals, especially fuchsia flowers. This is also an overall very opaque and granulating color selection. Not impossible to use in layering, but really not ideal for any transparent glazing effects. This will not be the selection for everyone. Hopefully the color chart and example art paintings can help you decide :)

white nights watercolor neon pink perylene violet transparent petals layered flowers painting

  

Swatch cards for White Nights watercolors:
PY129 White Nights Watercolor Irgazin Yellow PY150 White Nights Watercolor Indian Yellow Art Pigment Database PY3 PO64 PW6 White Nights Watercolor Peach PO64 White Nights Orange Watercolor Lightfast Fugitive Fading Pigment List Database PR188 White Nights Scarlet water color watercolor art swatch card test pigment database masstone diluted PR242 White Nights Geranium Red water color watercolor art swatch card test pigment database masstone diluted PR242 PW6 White Nights Coral water color watercolor art swatch card test pigment database masstone diluted PR19 PW6 WHITE NIGHTS WATERCOLOR MAGNOLIA NEW PASTEL SWATCH CARD PR122 Fugitive Dye White Nights Watercolor Neon Pink Opera pr122 white nights quin rose watercolor new 2017 magenta pigment database swatch PV19 White Nights Quinacridone Quin Red pigment art swatch water color colour database lightfast test masstone diluted tube texture card PV19 White Nights Carmine pigment art swatch water color colour database lightfast test masstone diluted tube texture card PV19 White Nights Quinacridone Quin Violet Rose pigment art swatch water color colour database lightfast test masstone diluted tube texture card pv19 white nights quin lilac watercolor color chart swatch pigment database pv55 white nights quin violet new watercolor swatch card color chart pigment PV15 White Nights Ultramarine Violet watercolor pro student lightfast test swatch card art color pigment database water PB29 White Nights Watercolor Ultramarine Deep PB29 Ultramarine Blue White Nights Watercolor Color Chart Swatch CardPB36 White Nights Watercolor Cobalt Chrome Turqoise PB28 White Nights Watercolor Cobalt Turquoise Teal Blue Aqua Paint Color PG7 PW6 White Nights Watercolor Mint PY151 PG7 PW6 WHITE NIGHTS WATERCOLOR WARM GREEN PASTEL SWATCH CARD COLOR CHART PG7 White Nights Emerald Green water color pigment database swatch test card light fast PG8 White Nights Watercolor Green Art Pigment Database PY42 PBr6 PBk7 PW6 White Nights Watercolor Dunes PY42 PBK8 PW6 PETERSBURG OCHRE WHITE NIGHTS WATERCOLOR PAINT PIGMENT SWATCH CARD PY42 PBK8 PW6 PETERSBURG OCHRE WHITE NIGHTS WATERCOLOR PAINT PIGMENT SWATCH CARD PR101 White Nights Watercolor Caput MortumPV29 White Nights Watercolor Perylene VioletPBr6 White Nights Mars Brown Watercolor Pigment Swatch Database Card Color Art PBr7 White Nights Burnt Umber Watercolor Pigment Swatch Database Card Color Art PR102 PBk8 White Nights Watercolor Van Dyke Brown PB15 PBK7 PW6 WHITE NIGHTS WATERCOLOR MARENGO ART PIGMENT PAINT DATABASE PR102 PBK7 PW6 WHITE NIGHTS PEARL GREY WATERCOLOR GRAY NEUTRAL PIGMENT SLATE

 

Every once in a while someone searches for White Knights instead of Nights, so fun fact about the origin of this term = White Nights as a name is based on the beauty of near constant daylight that happens in Northern Russia, particularly revered for its beauty after a dark cold season. There's a period of time with perpetual twilight due to the sun not fully setting. This is referred to as "White Nights" especially in St.Petersburg during the months of may-july (this unusual lack of sunset happens in many areas, such as Canada and Alaska).

You can buy White Nights watercolors individually here. 

Info about lightfast tests can be found under the brand banners on the reviews home page here. You can also see how colors compare side by side to other brands on the pigment database here.

 

Note: this page contains affiliate links. All product opinions are my own. I am committed to honest reviews showcasing both the pros and cons of each product. I have not received payment from any brand for a review. I earn a commission from sales made through this web page's clickable banners or links to Amazon, Arteza, Scrapbook, Jackson's or Blick Art Materials websites.