Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor No.57 TURQUOISE GREEN DEEP

Turquoise Green Deep (No. 57) is one of the characterful individual colours in the Kuretake Gansai Tambi series – a deep, cool blue-green with strong saturation, built on the pigment base of PG7 (Phthalocyanine Green) and PB27 (Prussian Blue). The pan is significantly larger than Western watercolour pans and can be quickly activated with a damp brush. The colour characteristically moves between opaque gouache quality and transparent watercolour – depending on how much water remains on the brush.

Features

• Large pan surface (48 × 28 mm): Wide flat brushes and larger brushes can be used without any problem; areas can be covered quickly and evenly without the pan being used up too rapidly.
• Pigment combination PG7 + PB27: Phthalocyanine Green provides the luminous, cool base note; Prussian Blue shifts the colour tone towards darkness and lends the turquoise a deep, ocean-like weight. Both pigments are considered lightfast – when applied concentrated without heavy dilution, the colour remains stable even with prolonged light exposure.
• Adjustable opacity: With little water on the brush, Turquoise Green Deep works like a gouache – full-toned and opaque, with a velvety surface. More water dilutes the colour to a transparent, clear wash. Both extremes work; the transition is continuously controllable.
• Creamy consistency: The hand-crafted paste releases evenly without crumbling or smudging. Wet-in-wet, the pigments flow softly into one another without fraying.
• Lightfastness (pigment-dependent): As a pigment-based colour, No. 57 is lightfast when applied opaquely and concentrated. With heavily diluted glazes, light stability decreases – this applies equally to all Gansai Tambi colours and is not a weakness of this colour, but rather a physical property of pigment-based watercolours.
• Available individually: The pan can be inserted into compatible Gansai Tambi palettes – practical for replacing a used-up colour or building up a custom colour selection.

Use & Tips

• Activation: Briefly circle a damp (not dripping wet) brush on the surface – the colour picks up immediately. If you need more pigment at once, apply more pressure with a wet bristle brush.
• Controlling opacity: For opaque areas – such as in illustration or botanical drawing – barely dampen the brush. For glazes, backgrounds or atmospheric wash techniques, add more water and allow the colour to spread across pre-dampened paper.
• Layering: Turquoise Green Deep dries to a stable layer. Further layers – such as darker greens or blues – can be applied wet-on-dry without the underlayer reactivating and bleeding.
• Wet-in-wet: On pre-dampened watercolour paper, the blue-green creates soft, organic edges – ideal for underwater motifs, foliage or atmospheric backgrounds. A drop of a warmer green in the damp area creates natural colour transitions.
• Calligraphy and lettering: The creamy consistency can also be used with a water-retentive brush for broad brush lettering. On smooth, ink-resistant paper, the colour flows evenly without streaking.
• Mixing: PG7 is a strong colour – use sparingly when mixing with other colours. Combined with a yellow from the series it creates vibrant emerald green; with a blue it produces a deep ocean blue.
• Pan care: Drying cracks or a slightly rough surface may develop – this is production-related and neither affects the colour behaviour nor the pigment quality. A damp brush rehydrates the surface completely.

For Watercolour Enthusiasts

Kuretake has been producing Gansai Tambi for over 100 years based on its own sumi ink tradition. The hand-cast pans differ from industrially pressed watercolour pans through their open-pore, slightly rough surface, which absorbs the brush particularly quickly. PG7 (Phthalocyanine Green) is one of the most lightfast organic pigments available – combined with PB27 (Prussian Blue, inorganic), it creates a colour that achieves an almost ink-like depth when applied concentrated. Gansai Tambi behaves as a hybrid: more opaque than classical European watercolours, but without the chalky feel of gouache – a character that draws on traditional Japanese painting with water-based pigment colours.

Technical Specifications