Color Spotlight: Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65)

Da Vinci Hansa Yellow Deep: Gradient, opacity and glazing tests, color mixes

Hansa Yellow Deep is a deep orange-toned mango yellow, another option for the warm yellow slot in your palette where you might also be considering Isoindolinone Yellow Deep (PY110) or mixes like New Gamboge and Quinacridone Gold.

Da Vinci actually has two single-pigment PY65 paints; Hansa Yellow Deep and Arylide Yellow Deep. I tried them both in dot cards and couldn’t tell the difference. I’m testing Hansa Yellow Deep here.

Experiment Results

Gradient: Gloriously smooth gradient from deep mango to pale yellow-orange

Transparency: Totally transparent

Glazing: Glazes to a deeper, bright orange

Mixes: I struggled with some of these color mixes largely due to my own incompetence, not the paint. I especially struggled with the Schmincke color mixes as is my habit. (I actually redid the Schmincke Phthalo Green mix over with DS Phthalo Green Blue Shade because I got so frustrated with it!) Anyway, these are equivalent to the mixes you’d get from New Gamboge and about what you’d expect – corals, warmed-up earth tones, and muted greens.

Lightfastness

Lightfastness test for WN Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65). Left: window swatch, exposed to western light in Boston, MA, from May 30-December 9, 2023. Right: Protected strip.

There are some variations in the way I painted this, but no apparent fading from light exposure!

Comparison to Other Colors

Isoindolinone Yellow Deep, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Benzimida Orange

Comparison of yellow-orange colors

Holbein’s Isoindolinone Yellow Deep (PY110) is my former favorite yellow-orange, but in this comparison I can see that the DS Hansa Yellow Deep is a bit brighter! It’s also a little yellower, especially in midtone.

MaimeriBlu Cadmium Yellow Deep (PY35) looks almost identical to PY110 to me, so the same comparisons apply. Winsor Orange (PO62) is more orange and opaque with less range.

The pen is one of my favorite color Lamy Safari in the color Mango.

Comparison to Other Brands

Daniel Smith – Hansa Yellow Deep

Daniel Smith – Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65)

This one is really bright! Ignore the grayishness in the bottom bar, I smeared the ink from the box.

Mission Gold – Permanent Yellow Deep

Mission Gold – Permanent Yellow Deep (PY65)

Similar hue, a bit less transparent.

Direct comparison between Mission Gold & Daniel Smith:

Mission Gold Hansa Yellow Deep vs. Daniel Smith Hansa Yellow Deep

The colors are very similar! Both start in a sunny yellow-orange and grade through a warm yellow to a pale, sunny gold.

Winsor & Newton – Winsor Yellow Deep

PY65 comparison: Daniel Smith, Mission Gold, Winsor & Newton

Winsor & Newton (last in the trio above) is very similar to DS and Mission Gold, perhaps slightly lower valued (or maybe just harder to rewet). It’s a nice, bold color with a bit of smoothness – I find it goes from deep yellow to pale yellow with less of a stopover in a mid yellow than I see in the others.

Color Mixes

Transparent Orange (DPP)

WN Transparent Orange (DPP) + WN Winsor Yellow Deep (PY65) on Canson XL

Super-intense oranges!

Quin Coral (PR209)

DV Quin Red (PR209) + WN Winsor Yellow Deep (PY65) on Canson XL

Also extremely bold oranges!!!

Quin Red/Rose (PV19)

Daniel Smith Quin Red (PV19) + DV Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65)
DV Red Rose Deep (PV19) + DS Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65) on Canson XL
Daniel Smith Quin Rose (PV19) + DV Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65)

With the warmer forms of PV19 rose (DS Quin Red and DV Red Rose Deep), you can get very bold corals – close to a Quin Coral hue, although the oranges aren’t as bold as those with Quin Coral. The cooler DS Quin Rose gives you more muted corals and nearly burnt oranges.

Quin Magenta (PR122)

HO Quin Magenta (PR122) + DV Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65)

Weirdly, though PR122 is cooler than DS Quin Rose (PV19), these mixes look brighter to me!

Ultramarine Deep (PB29)

Holbein Ultramarine Deep (PB29) + DS Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65) on Canson XL

This is a near-complement. HYD mutes with Ultramarine to a deep navy blue.

Phthalo Blue Red Shade (PB15)

WN Phthalo Turquoise (PB16) + WN Winsor Yellow Deep (PY65) on Canson XL

Medium-muted greens.

Phthalo Blue Green Shade (PB15:3)

WN Winsor Blue Green Shade (PB15:3) + DS Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65) on Canson XL

Moderately muted greens that can get very dark.

Prussian Blue (PB27)

WN Prussian Blue (PB27) + DS Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65) on Canson XL

Hues similar to the Phthalo’s, easy to get deep and jewel toned.

Indigo

HO Indigo + DS Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65) on Canson XL

Muted and dark. These are not my favorite mixes.

Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7)

WN Winsor Green Blue Shade (PG7) + WN Winsor Yellow Deep (PY65) on Canson XL

This is a great mix for a bold, bright, summery green that is not as neon as a Lemon Yellow/Phthalo Green mix. This is a very good Hooker’s Green mix, similar to WN’s commercial Hooker’s Green (which is made from PG7 + PY110).

What Others Say

I colloquially dubbed this color “Kraft Mac and Cheese Orange” as it has a rich masstone but it does soften out nicely in tints and glazes.

Denise Soden, Color Spotlight: Hansa Yellow Deep

[T]he hue is a little too orange to be preferred over a middle yellow, and although it is slightly less opaque than cadmium yellow deep, it is not as strong in mixtures. Isoindoline yellow (PY110) has a nearly identical hue and may be a superior pigment for lightfastness, transparency, and lyrical color shifts.

Bruce MacEvoy, handprint.com

My Review of Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65)

I like this color a lot on its own; it puts me in mind of one of my all-time favorite Prismacolor pencils, Spanish Orange, and of my bright cheerful Lamy Safari pen in the color Mango.

It’s fabulous for mixing the boldest oranges, and creates glowing gradients.

Duochrome night sky from Kolbie Blume’s Beginner Landscapes. December 2, 2022. The yellow is DS Hansa Yellow Medium, and the purple is DS Quinacridone Violet.

In a limited palette, I probably would skip this one, as an earth yellow can do most of what a warm yellow can do and is usually more useful in more situations (at least for a landscape artist). In a sunset, I find PY65 can be garish, and I usually prefer Naples Yellow Deep. However, when you want really bold pop colors for standout subjects like sunflowers and fall foliage, PY65 is unbeatable.

On my palette? Yes! Especially handy in summer and fall.

Favorite version: It’s a close call as all the versions I tried were very similar. Daniel Smith appeared to me among the brightest/boldest which is what I want from this color. WN is a bit more subtle, but if I want subtle I will use a different color. Both DV options (which are undifferentiatable) are very smooth in gradients but lack range.

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