Color Spotlight: Quinacridone Sienna

I think what attracts me so much to this earth tone is that it’s so bright it’s practically not an earth tone. It’s somewhere between a slightly muted red-orange and an extraordinary bright alternative to Burnt Sienna. I did this from a dot card, so it’s less intense that it would be if I’d had … Read more

Color Spotlight: Goethite Brown Ochre (PY43)

Daniel Smith – Goethite (Brown Ochre)

I like granulation now, so this is part of my effort to revisit colors I previously wrote off because of the granulation. Last week, I did Potter’s Pink for the same reason.

Goethite Brown Ochre is a highly granulating, low-tinting-strength yellow ochre, made with the traditional yellow ochre pigment PY 43. Jane Blundell includes it as one of the fourteen colors in her Ultimate Mixing Palette.

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Color Spotlight: Burnt Sienna (PBr7)

Holbein Burnt Sienna

Burnt Sienna is one of the most classic earth tones, an earth orange that ranges from an orangey brown through to a peachy gold. It is often used to mix up a range of browns and to neutralize blues, which are its opposite.

Burnt Sienna is just one of many earth tones that are traditionally made with PBr7 (Pigment Brown #7); others include Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, and Burnt Umber. So basically all of them. PBr7 colors vary quite a bit in granulation depending on who you get them from. Holbein’s earth tones, like this one, tend to be quite creamy and smooth without granulation.

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