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COLOR
Part III - Artists' Pigments

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Contents

Blues,Greens, Yellows, Oranges, Reds, Violets, Blacks, Whites

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Every color has its own distinct personality. One red may be warm, and another cool. A yellow that is dull next to another that is brilliant. Of two blues, one is deeper than the other. This section describes the characteristics of specific pigments and how they act upon other colors (or are acted upon by other colors) in mixtures. Colors in the illustrations are approximations and may not match tube paints.

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(NOTE: Some colors are sold under several names. The most commonly used is given in bold type, followed by alternate names in parentheses.)

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(NOTE TO WATERCOLOR ARTISTS: Where the addition of white paint is called for in a mixture, watercolor painters should increase the amount of water in the paint or apply it more thinly. Keep in mind that only in oil paints are certain pigments considered to be opaque or semi-opaque. Acrylic paints are more translucent or less translucent. All colors are transparent when applied as thin watercolor washes.)

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The Color of Sky

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All blue oil and acrylic paints are transparent except cerulean. The coldest blue is French ultramarine, followed by cobalt, cerulean, manganese, and the warmest, Prussian and phthalocyanine . These last two are clearly greenish (mixed with white in the diagram).

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The darkest blues are Prussian (also labeled as milori, Paris, or Chinese blue), then phthalocyanine (phthalo, thalo, Winsor, or monastral blue). They are so potent that even a tiny amount has a powerful impact upon other colors in mixtures. Even though they are transparent, due to their intensity, unless worked out into an extremely thin veneer, they effectively cover up what they are painted over. Rich, vibrant blacks can be made with them when combined with a goodly amount of a strong red like alizarin crimson, cadmium red deep, or Indian red. By adding white to these blackish mixtures, the blacks become handsome violet, pinkish, or greenish grays. The most sparkling greens come from Prussian and phthalo blue plus yellow paint, particularly when it is a lemony yellow. Mixed with a copious amount of burnt sienna, Prussian or thalo blue are transformed into a murky sea green.

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Muddier and far less powerful than Prussian or thalo blue, French ultramarine blue is the deepest of the remaining blue pigments. It is the most popular blue among artists due to its versatility. French ultramarine leans toward violet, and when combined with a color like alizarin crimson it makes the brightest and cleanest purples of any blue. For excellent grays, add burnt sienna and white paint to French ultramarine (shown above). Mixed with burnt umber, a black can be made. Greens created from French ultramarine are deeper, duller, and more muddy than those made with other blues. Hence, the resulting greens are among the most naturalistic looking and are highly useful in landscape art. A color very similar to cobalt blue, but not so translucent, can be made by adding some cerulean blue to the ultramarine.

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Cobalt blue is not quite as deep as French ultramarine. It is a fresh, clear and lively hue that can be considered to be a "true blue." With white paint added to it, cobalt blue is ideal for painting daytime skies during the warmer months. French ultramarine, on the other hand, can be thought of as a winter sky-color. Greens made with cobalt blue are brighter and more lively than those made from French ultramarine, and violets are more subtle.

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Cerulean and manganese are the palest blues. They are quite similar to each other, with manganese being the paler, brighter, and greener of the two. Cerulean is the only blue pigment that is opaque. Both cerulean and manganese are good colors for representing equatorial skies and waters. They yield lively greens, and make delicate violets.

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The Color of Grass

The coldest greens are cobalt and viridian, and in some situations they look blue; phthalocyanine green is slightly warmer than the other two. Oxide of chromium (not to be confused with chrome green) is a slightly dull green, with permanent green most like what is considered a true green. Terre verte is among the warmest of greens and the earthiest. Only cobalt green and oxide of chromium are opaque; the rest among this group are transparent.

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Like its cousin, phthalo blue, phthalocyanine green (phthalo or thalo green) is exceptionally deep and intense; a little goes a long way. As with thalo and Prussian blue, it is transparent but has tremendous covering power. Many painters avoid thalo green due to its metallic and artificial appearance. Nonetheless, as with its blue relative, it makes excellent blacks. (Modern Prussian greens are composite colors, mixtures of several colors meant to imitate true Prussian green, which is no longer available. The pigments typically used in Prussian green today are of questionable permanence and the color is therefore not reviewed here, except to say it is similar to phthalocyanine green.)

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Viridian (sometimes labeled as emerald green, although it is not genuine emerald green - the authentic material is rare and expensive and is generally identified as "genuine" to distinguish it from viridian), straight from the tube and applied in a heavy layer, can look black-ish. A unique violet is elicited when it is combined with a cold red such as alizarin. Viridian has the peculiar ability of adding warmth to blue pigments without turning them into literal greens. Bright, cold greens are made when viridian is mixed with the paler yellows; to make a warmer and deeper green, a color like cadmium yellow deep is suggested. Oddly, with white paint added to it, viridian is a fine color for warm, summery and blue skies. Add ultramarine violet or manganese violet to viridian to create interesting blues. With a little alizarin crimson mixed with viridian (along with white), it makes a pearly gray. Add a sprinkling of cobalt blue to that gray to simulate the color of an evening sky with the sun at your back.

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Terre verte (earth green, bohemian earth) is a warm, deep-toned and delicate color. Since it has little tinting power, a lot of it must be used in mixtures with opaque paints or it will be overwhelmed. Its real strength is in transparent glazes, where its full power becomes evident. Lovely grays and blacks are created by combining it with alizarin crimson and other reds. It is an excellent color for painting foliage, especially in glazes, and for the undertones of human flesh.

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The color of willow, oxide of chromium (chromium oxide green) is one of the most useful tube greens for the landscape painter. It is particularly apt in mixtures with hues like Naples yellow, the ochres, and with cerulean blue. A shade like that of the water of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia is made by blending chromium oxide with burnt sienna and white.

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When a warmer color than cerulean blue is wanted, but one that is not quite truly green, cobalt green serves well. It is a good base for making colors that portray the seas and skies in southern climates. Mixed with iron oxide yellows like the ochres, handsome and subtle greens can be produced. Pale, bright, cadmium-type yellows mixed with cobalt green make colors resembling young grass in strong sunlight.

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Permanent green is a bright, assertive convenience color; a mixture that generally includes phthalocyanine blue. It is too strong and acidic for most purposes, and must usually be toned down considerably to become useful.

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The Color of Sunshine

Yellow pigments can be divided into two groups: bright and prismatic, or dull and earthy.

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Prismatic Yellows:
The brilliant yellows range from a very pale and lemony shade to dark-ish, deep-toned types. The lemony yellows include cadmium yellow lemon and lemon yellow. Other prismatic yellows are identified as pale or light, medium, and deep. They include cadmium, cadmium-barium, and hansa yellow. Indian yellow is deep and orange-like. Of the prismatic yellows, only Indian yellow and colors labeled as transparent are transparent; all other prismatic yellows are opaque or semi-opaque.

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Cadmium yellow lemon and lemon yellow (also marked as barium yellow and permanent yellow) are cool and slightly green. These qualities render them useful in adding yellow to a mixture without making it unduly warm. Almost any color can be made greenish by the addition of a lemony yellow, including violet, blue-violet, and black paints. In combination with blue, the most lively greens are produced by a lemony yellow. Lemon yellow adds spark to tube greens. Alizarin crimson mixed into lemon yellow yields a subtle orange color.

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Pale shades of cadmium yellow and its siblings, including cadmium-barium yellow, come closest to a true yellow. In mixtures, cadmium yellow pale acts in a manner similar to lemon yellow, but without the coolness of a green tint. Bright orange tones are made when a pale yellow is mixed with a prismatic cadmium or vermilion red. Some types of hansa yellow (azo yellow) are similar in tone to cadmium yellow pale, but are semi-transparent. For a comparable and fully transparent color, use arylide, which is marketed by Winsor & Newton as transparent yellow.

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Middle shades of hues like cadmium yellow and cadmium-barium yellow lean very slightly toward orange. They are sometimes labeled as medium yellows. Mixed with blue paint, especially French ultramarine, the medium yellows make strong, earthy greens.

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The illustration shows examples of greens made from blue and yellow paints. At left is thalo blue mixed with a lemon yellow followed by a mixture with a medium yellow. In the middle is French ultramarine blue combined with the same two yellows. At right lemon yellow is as mixed with black paint and then with alizarin crimson.

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Cadmium yellow deep and similar colors look quite orange. In many cases they can serve in place of an orange pigment. Rusty oranges are made from mixtures of cadmium yellow deep with burnt sienna. Reddish violets added into deep cadmium yellows turn them into a reddish brown. Greens made with these yellows are dark, somber, and muddy. Indian yellow belongs to this group by virtue of its deeply orange tone, but is fully transparent. It is available in several shades, some being redder than others. It is an intense color, adding spark to most anything it is mixed with or glazed over.

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Earth Yellows:
Earth yellows are mainly iron oxide pigments, which resemble the color of mustard. Among them are the ochres, raw sienna, and mars yellow. Aureolin and Naples yellow are not derived from iron oxide, but fit in well with the earth yellows. The diagram illustrates the various earth yellows in the same order, from left to right, as discussed above.

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Yellow ochre is fairly representative of the iron oxide group of yellows. It is semi-opaque, but is offered in a transparent version called transparent gold ochre. A pale version, yellow ochre light, is strongly yellow and bright, and there is a slightly greenish type called lemon ochre.What is said of yellow ochre is true in the main of the other iron oxide yellows. Compared to the cadmium family, yellow ochre is dull and brownish. Delicate greens result from mixtures of yellow ochre with blue pigments, the least muddy of which are produced with cerulean blue. A color similar to burnt sienna, but with more fire, is made by mixing yellow ochre and alizarin crimson. Transparent types of ochre give off a luminous, amber glow.

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Raw sienna (raw Italian earth, Italian ochre) is fully transparent and is deeper in tone than yellow ochre. Applied in thick patches, it appears slightly green. When laid down as a thin veneer it is the color of amber.

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Mars yellow (yellow oxide) is a synthetic version of natural yellow ochre and is a little deeper and more orange than ochre. Transparent mars yellow (transparent yellow oxide) can easily take the place of raw sienna.

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Aureolin (cobalt yellow) has a dull, muddy, and moderately green top tone that is close in hue to raw sienna. When spread into a thin, transparent layer, it is the color of straw and is brighter and more golden than either ochre or sienna.

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Naples yellow is the palest of the earth yellows. It comes in shades that run from greenish to pinkish-orange, and looks a bit like the color of newsprint paper. Imitation versions are plentiful, and are unfortunately not always labeled as being such. The imitations are dull and pasty compared to the genuine pigment. Authentic Naples yellow is delicate and lively. It is semi-opaque to semi-transparent, while imitations are generally opaque. In mixtures with white paint and cobalt or cerulean blue, both genuine and imitation Naples yellow have the ability to simulate the remarkable color of a mid-day sky just above the horizon: blue and yellow at the same time, but never green.

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The Color of Fruit

Few orange pigments are available. The bright ones are cadmium (left in picture), cadmium-barium, permanent, and perinone orange. Plus there is the dull Mars orange, an iron oxide color.

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Cadmium and cadmium-barium orange are brilliant, opaque hues that look like the fruit. Touched into green paint, they provide a more organic flavor of green. Added to earth yellows to the yellows look brighter. Permanent orange (azo and transparent orange) is similar to cadmium orange, but runs from semi-transparent to semi-opaque. Perinone orange is more ruddy than the others.

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Mars orange is a deeply reddish-orange that resembles the color of some types of bricks. Mixed with most blues and violets, mars orange produces muddy grays. Burnt sienna gains warmth from mars orange, and greens take on an earthy tone. Mars orange is absolutely opaque.

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The Color of Fire

There are three kinds of red pigments: bright, fire-engine reds; intense crimsons; and brick-like earth reds.

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Prismatic Reds:
The opaque, bright reds are cadmium, cadmium-barium, and vermilion. Napthol red is semi-transparent, and pyrrole red is fully transparent. Cadmium and cadmium-barium reds are available in several shades.

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Cadmium-barium red light and cadmium red light (also labeled as pale, scarlet, or vermilion shades) resemble genuine vermilion, but look pastier in mixtures. They are a tad more orange than medium shades of cadmium red, and make rich orange colors when mixed with a hue like cadmium yellow deep. Warm, peachy pinks emerge when a light cadmium or vermilion red is mixed with white paint. Green gets earthier looking with one of these reds touched into it, but remains brilliant and cool. Combined with a blue, slightly dull and muddy violets result. Many tubes marked as vermilion are imitations; to obtain the true pigment, look for labels that state genuine vermilion.

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Cadmium red (sometimes identified as cadmium red medium) and cadmium-barium red (medium) are opaque fire-engine reds. Pyrrole red (bright red), and some shades of napthol red (permanent red) are similar in color, if a hair cooler. Cadmium red is a striking color that performs comparably with its paler siblings, but does not bring as much warmth to mixtures.

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Cadmium red deep (cadmium maroon) and cadmium-barium red deep are considerably darker than light or middle shades. They verge on violet and resemble the color of blood. Mixed with white paint, cadmium red deep produces pinkish mauves. Combined with viridian, it makes an intense, if muddy, black. It yields good purples in mixtures with blue pigments, purples that are not as assertive as those that come from alizarin crimson.

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Crimson Reds:
The best known of the crimson reds is alizarin. Other crimson types are available in shades similar to alizarin, but may be pinker, redder, or more bluish. All are transparent.

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Alizarin crimson is a deep and slightly purple red (at left in the illustration). Quinacridone red is offered in a variety of hues, some of which resemble alizarin. Those labeled as quinacridone rose, thalo rose, or permanent rose are paler, brighter, and more pink than alizarin (center). In some contexts, rose appears distinctly violet and even can even seem blue. Quinacridone magenta and permanent magenta (on the right in the picture) are also brighter than alizarin, but are more bluish, being nearly violet.

Alizarin makes bright, clean violets when mixed with any blue, some greens, and with black paint. The deepest violet comes when alizarin is combined with phthalo or Prussian blue. A color identical to ultramarine violet can be made by mixing it with French ultramarine blue. Crisp pinks come from adding white paint to alizarin. Alizarin and its cousins all behave in a similar way, and all bring redness to mixtures without adding warmth as other reds do.

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The two illustrations that follow show alizarin crimson mixed with French ultramarine blue to make violet, along with mixtures using several other reds (on the left); and a series of pinks made from white paint mixed with the same red pigments (at right).

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Genuine rose madder is difficult to obtain these days. It is a bit more orange than alizarin and not so powerful; otherwise, they are the same. Scarlet lake is essentially identical to alizarin.

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Perylene red is produced in alizarin-like shades, in tints that are deeper and more maroon, and in more scarlet tones.

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Earth Reds:
It would be the very odd figure painter who did not have at least one or two earth reds on the palette, since they are indispensable for representing the flesh of all races.

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Every color in this category is composed of iron oxide: rust. Natural earth reds are made from clays that have usually been roasted to deepen their colors. Distinctions in hue are due to the presence of different impurities and to variations in the manufacturing process. Synthetic earth reds are made primarily from roasted rust with various additives to create different tones.

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Opaque types of earth reds are English, Venetian, and Indian red. Mars red is opaque, except in versions labeled as transparent red oxide. Burnt sienna and burnt umber are transparent or semi-transparent.

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The most familiar earth red is burnt sienna (burnt Italian earth). It has a deep, mahogany top tone in good grades, and reveals its orangey fire when applied transparently. A salmon pink results when it is mixed with white paint. Combined with phthalo or Prussian blue, burnt sienna yields a most unusual green. It brings depth and earthiness when mixed with green pigments for painting leafy subjects. To make an olive green, add a touch of burnt sienna to a blend of lamp black and cobalt yellow. Burnt sienna deepens blues and pushes them slightly toward violet. In a balanced mixture with ultramarine or cobalt blue, gray results. Brilliant reds like the cadmiums are deepened and dimmed by burnt sienna, without sacrificing their redness. Burnt sienna itself is made warmer by the iron oxide yellows and oranges. To brighten it up, add a little cadmium red or alizarin crimson to burnt sienna.

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The opaque earth reds are more intense and redder than burnt sienna, as seen in the illustration at left. Their colors are like those of various kinds of bricks. All of them need to be used with restraint, since they can easily overpower many other colors in mixtures. English red (light red oxide, red ochre) is paler and more scarlet than the other iron oxides. Venetian red (red oxide, terra rosa) is not as orange as English red. Indian red (Pompeian red, Spanish red) is the deepest and most potent among this trio. In good quality paints, Indian red is made of pure rust free of impurities. It is the most intense of the earth reds, and is slightly purplish. In mixtures with white paint, a violet-pink is made. Add a little blue to it and you get violets like those seen in nature.

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Opaque mars red (red oxide) is made in shades that approximate English, Venetian, and Indian red. A transparent version, transparent red oxide, is similar to burnt sienna, but is darker and less orange.

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Burnt umber (burnt Turkey umber) is nearly black and, being reddish, can be used as a warm black or to make warm grays. With blue paint added to it, burnt umber is transformed into a rich purple. Other red pigments brighten it, and a color like cadmium yellow produces a deep, woody orange.

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The Color of Flowers

The bright, prismatic violets are transparent and range from the true violet of ultramarine and dioxazine to the redder manganese violet or pinker cobalt violet. Mars violet is an opaque, restrained and versatile pigment.

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Dioxizine purple (dioxazine violet) is the strongest and deepest of the group and holds its own in mixtures with other colors. It is so vivid that most painters find they must quiet it down somewhat before it becomes useful. Middle shades resemble true violet.

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Ultramarine violet (ultramarine red) most resembles a true violet, being neither particularly reddish nor overly blue. It can be easily replicated through a mixture of French ultramarine blue with alizarin crimson. It has relatively low tinting strength and is therefore most useful as a glaze color. Mixed with bright, lemony yellows lovely greens can be made, and with a cool green like viridian an interesting blue results.

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Manganese violet (permanent violet, burgundy violet) is similar to but a bit redder than ultramarine violet. Cobalt violet, on the other hand, is clearly more pink-ish, particularly in pale shades. It is a delicate color that is capable of beautiful subtleties, but is so weak that it can easily get lost in mixtures with other colors. It is useful mainly in transparent painting techniques.

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Mars Violet (caput mortum) is actually a blue shade of mars red. Like its red cousin it is extremely opaque and somewhat dull and deep in character. With the addition of white paint, mars violet also produces dull mauves or lavenders. It is extremely useful in painting the human figure.

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The Color of Dusk

Black is the coldest color we have. Used well it is an effective member of our palettes, but is sadly overused by many. Solid patches of black paint (or even extremely dark notes of other colors) create the illusion of a hole in a painting. As a generic solution to darkening other colors, the result is inevitably a picture lacking in life and color. In mixtures with white paint and depending upon context, some blacks can be made to look bluish, greenish, violet, and even reddish.

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In addition to black pigments, grays are included in this section.

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Ivory black is one of only two transparent blacks. It is a cool black, having a noticeably blue cast. The other transparent black is Perylene, which is strongly green in mixtures - so much so in fact, that when combined with white paint a most remarkable earthy green is revealed. A broad range of highly useful greens can be made with perylene in mixtures with any yellow, but especially a lemon yellow.

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Mars black (slate black, black oxide) has a brownish undertone that imparts a warmer tone in mixtures than does ivory black. It is also a better choice than ivory black for under painting since it contains less oil and dries more rapidly.

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Lamp black (carbon black) is more commonly seen in watercolors than in oil paints and has a bluish undertone.

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Vine black is a general term for a variety of blacks, including blue black, drop black, Frankfurt black, German black, peach black, and others. All are made from roasted wood, vine, or vegetable matter and have a blue undertone. They are considered inferior in permanence to most other blacks, but are still very useful when a broader range of blacks is needed.

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Paynes Gray is a convenience color: a mixture of ivory black, a blue, plus a little white. It is a pleasant color offered by a number of companies, but is easy to replicate on the palette.

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Davy's Gray is slightly warm and is considered impermanent.

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Graphite Gray resembles the color of graphite in a lead pencil.

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Raw Umber (Turkey umber) is frequently used to produce warm grays by mixing it with white. It is slightly greenish and a few companies produce versions (with a tiny amount of green pigment added) that are even more green; they are typically labeled as green umber or (confusingly) Turkey umber. Raw umber is a warm neutral that can often be mixed with other colors to quiet them down without significantly altering their hues.

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The Color of Snow

Like blacks, white pigments are cool in tone - usually slightly bluish. All are opaque except zinc white, which is semi-transparent. Zinc white is also the coldest white, followed by titanium white and then by lead white.

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Lead white (flake white, cremnitz white) is the oldest white pigment in existence. The terms "cremnitz" and "flake" refer to different processes for producing the pigment, although the name flake white is now also used by some companies for a product that is actually a mixture of lead plus zinc white. Of all the whites it is the best drier and the most reliable and permanent.

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Titanium white is the brightest and most opaque white. It is so familiar to even the least experienced painters that it seems unnecessary to say very much about it. I will note two items, however. First, when it has dried, titanium white forms a brittle and crumbly film that will not hold up as well as one of lead white. Second, there are unbleached versions that resemble the color of newsprint paper. Unbleached titanium white is extremely useful since it adds paleness to a mixture without the harsh brilliance and coldness of ordinary (bleached) titanium white.

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Zinc white is useful in mixtures with transparent colors to make them paler. It is extremely slow drying and, like titanium white, produces a brittle film. An unbleached type, unbleached zinc white, is opalescent pink in glazes.

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