PY164 is a rare brown pigment offered by few manufacturers. Although I have only tried MaimeriBlu’s version, I went with the Roman Szmal name, Manganese Brown, for this post, because I think is a more specific and accurate way to describe this pigment. Most brands use the word ‘Sepia’ to mean a mix of PBr7 and black.
Pigment Stats
Pigment number: PY164
Names: Sepia (MaimeriBlu), Manganese Brown (Roman Szmal), Dark Brown (WN – discontinued)
Chemical name: Manganese Antimony Titanium Buff Rutile
Chemical class: Synthetic/inorganic
Toxicity: This gets a B from Art is Creation, indicating “possible hazard.” Typically, paints with no warnings get an A on this scale; Cadmium paints get a C. MaimeriBlu’s safety data sheets do not indicate hazards for Sepia. Manganese paints tend to be more hazardous to work with (e.g. making paint) than to paint with.
Lightfastness: ASTM I (Excellent)
Transparency: Opaque
Staining: No
Granulating: Yes
Experiment Results
Hue: A neutral grayish brown. To me this looks like a great color for many types of tree bark. There is no distinct yellow, orange, or reddish tone as you find in many earth browns. This does look like Sepia, which is typically made from PBr7 + black, or maybe Van Dyke Brown or Raw Umber.
Gradient: I found that this paint appeared smooth when wet, but streaks appeared in drying.
Opacity: Appeared 100% opaque when wet, but appears semi-opaque upon drying.
Drying Shift: Darkens. As noted above, may also appear less opaque and more streaky upon drying.
Granulation: Moderate, appearing mostly in midtone. You can see that mixes with granulating colors become more granulating, while mixes with smooth colors become slightly granulating.
Color Mixes: I really like a lot of them. The neutral brown hue of the Sepia is easily adapted to a wide variety of undertones, and the mix with bold colors still look natural (e.g. orange + Sepia = natural looking orangey brown sienna color). This is nice since I find that some mixes of earth tones with bold colors tend to separate and just still look like two separate colors. The blue mixes result in very lovely dark grays.
What Others Say
It appears that PY227 Perm Yell. Deep and PY164 Sepia may be exclusive to [Maimeri]. They are both muted, semi opaque colors, that seem to really be well suited for many female song birds. If you don’t mind the opacity, they are some of the best quality paints Maimeri offers.
Kim Crick, Maimeri Blu Watercolor Review
My Review of MaimeriBlu Sepia (PY164)
I’m surprised by how much I like this since I usually don’t like earth tones. Actually, I think it’s my favorite option for the “dark brown” slot usually occupied by Raw Umber. I find that Raw Umber has a tendency to be so hard and difficult to rewet that it is no longer convenient for me. By contrast, the PY164 Sepia is smooth and strong, easy to use – a strong contender for the neutral/grayish brown slot that is so handy for tree bark and earth. It can easily be adapted to gray with any blue, or it can create a range of browns with different undertones by adding the applicable color, which is very intuitive.
That said, I’m not sure how much I’ll use this in practice. By now, I’ve learned to get along without a convenience dark brown in my palette. My typical method for painting dark/neutral brown is to mix Transparent Red Oxide and Indanthrone Blue or Ultramarine Blue, and I still think that is my general preference (those are such useful colors to have in a palette anyway).
The toxicity of manganese pigments also gives me pause, although I believe this tends to be more of an issue in manufacture than in use. I do try to avoid creating demand for pigments that are toxic or environmentally problematic to produce, though in this case I didn’t know that this was a manganese pigment when I bought it, so the damage is done.