A replacement for PY153, New Gamboge, Indian Yellow etc?

In 2012 the popular pigment PY153 Nickel Dioxine Yellow was discontinued, no doubt because of lack of demand from the chemical and/or auto industries. As has been pointed out previously makers of watercolour or other types of paint are very much at the bottom of the pile and have to take whatever is available. Although not offered by a huge number of paint makers PY153 was the pigment used by both Winsor & Newton and Daniel Smith for the popular New Gamboge paints. Both have already reformulated with a multi pigment mix. In addition Rowney and one or two others called it `Indian Yellow, supposedly a replacement for the notorious original Indian Yellow. Why notorious? It has been said, and repeated many time, that this paint was made in a vile process by feeding cows in India with certain types of leaves, that turned their urine yellow, and this was the foundation of the paint. Although this story has been repeated many times I, in my capacity as a (very) amateur historian, researched the story and discovered that it might all be nonsense with no real basis in fact.   

The Rowney Indian Yellow is a staple in my palette so I have to decide at some stage on a replacement. I still have a full tube so this isn't urgent. Handprint claims several orange-yellow and yellow-orange paints make adequate replacements but basically plumps for three, PY35, PY65 and PY110. Before I continue you will find that several paint suppliers still list PY153 and may continue to do so. Can you trust the labelling? Possibly but I have my doubts and in fairness one can't expect a manufacturer to immediately change the labelling for just a single paint. I notice that Winsor & Newtons new style bare metal tubes appear to have the information printed on them so that may mean they can change details quite rapidly.  Winsor & Newton have also said that their usage of pigments is so large that, when a pigment is discontinued, they run out quite rapidly.

The left swatch is Indian Yellow from Rowney. The two middle swatches are Permanent Yellow Deep (PY139) from Maimeri and Venezia respectively, while the right  one is Cadmium Yellow Light ((PY35) from Lukas. The closest appears to be the Lukas paint but, being a Cadmium, is opaque and also toxic. The two Maimeri paints appear more orange. Neither PY65 or PY110 are (as yet) widely available but PY65 is listed by W & N  as Winsor Yellow Deep, also by DaVinci as Hansa Yellow Deep and Arylide Yellow Deep. Daniel Smith call it Hansa Yellow Deep. So far PY110, which is highly praised by Handprint, is only on offer from Daniel Smith and Graham - Permanent Yellow Deep - Indian Yellow  respectively. This may change  in the medium to long term.. Daniel Smith call PY108 Indian Yellow.

What to do? I don't have to change immediately so will ponder the problem for a while. My inclination is to try PY110 maybe from Daniel Smith. Any corrections or additions to the above are welcome and can be incorporated in the text.

November Challenge

For November it was my choice. I chose a photograph of an owl, I'm not sure what species it is.

16" x 12" Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140lb (300gsm) Not

With such a dark subject I thought long and hard how to approach it. To attempt a very colourist approach seemed inappropriate so I essentially went for a middle way. I first made a loose but reasonably accurate drawing not getting too much into detail. I used a conventional pencil with a 2B lead. Rather than finish this in my usual two hour session - including breaks - I worked on it in short periods over several days. 

At the time an Acer snake bark maple in my garden was discarding its leaves and I collected several. I firstly painted the head as this was to be the most detailed part. When painting the background I coated the leaves with paint, reds, oranges, browns and yellows and used them as a stamp. I then tidied them up a little with the brush. I also splattered colour into the background both on dry and wet. I used granulation medium in the background. I generally paint with the board in a near vertical position so the paint runs and mixes.

The body of the owl was partially painted at the same time as the background and was finalised right at the end. The eyes look rather like two black holes and I added some small white highlights 

There are quite a lot of colours in here with several blues, reds and greens. Frankly I can't remember all of them but Lunar Blue, Green Gold, Cobalt Teal Blue, Moonglow, Quinacridone Rose, Perylene Maroon, Quinacridone Rust, Quinacridone Gold, Sap Green and Hookers are all in there somewhere. These are mainly Daniel Smith and Graham paints with the exception of Green Gold which is Rowney. There is also some white gouache on the owl and the branch it is sitting on. I don't think the result is too busy but you are welcome to disagree. To make the painting the greens and browns of the photograph would, in my opinion,  made it very dull colourwise.

The Butt & Oyster

I posted a feature on my visit to Pin Mill in July. After reviewing the photographs  I took, some of which are featured in that article, I decided the two main subjects of interest were the famous Butt & Oyster and the Thames barges. There are other ways of looking at it as there are some glorious panoramic views but unfortunately not my strong point. In the end I decided to concentrate on the Butt & Oyster and cropped one photograph to maximise the pub.This is the result and here it is warts and all as finished. Should I have ignored the fence?

The Butt & Oyster Waterford 18" x 14" not

Greens were mixed from various combinations of yellow and blue except where Hookers Green was utilised, adulterated with touches of Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber to try and make it more natural looking. Only two brushes Rosemary Series 33 Kolinsky Nos 6 and 9. The roof of the pub was a combination of Cadmium Red Pale (Rowney), Cerulean Blue (W & N ), Avignon Orange (Maimeri PR206) and Burnt Umber. The walls are a mixture of Raw Sienna and Gold Ochre (W & N PY42). All colours mixed on the paper. Small touches of other colours like Viridian on the canopy to the right. Darks are usually Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna or Burnt Umber.

Top Forty Pigments - Yellows

This is something I planned to do this year starting with yellow. This is heavily based on the researches and recommendations of Bruce McEvoy of Handprint  http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html but I have attempted to simplify for those who don't wish to get deeply immersed.  If you do follow the link. Other sources of information are the books by Hilary Page http://hilarypage.com/  and Michael Wilcox http://www.schoolofcolor.com/ , although they are starting to get rather long in the tooth and many new pigments are coming onto the market not covered in these earlier works. Hilary Page does offer upgrades on her website but when I last looked it did not appear to have been altered for a while. Manufacturers websites give good information, Schminke are excellent and you can download a pdf file that gives much more extensive information than most others. http://Schminke.de/fileadmin/downloads/pdf/horadam_aquarelle_d_gb_01_08.pdf 
Amongst commercial sources Dick Blick  http://www.dickblick.com/categories/watercolors give detailed information on the huge  range of watercolours they sell, although you have to follow several links. Another fantastic source of pigment information is http://www.artiscreation.com/ColorCharts.html  Manufacturers offer information in various forms including proper chip charts, some of which can be purchased from suppliers like Jacksons. This as opposed to printed ones that are more freely available. Winsor and Newton do a very good leaflet on their artists watercolours.  Holbein and Schminke also have good literature- if you can find it. The chip charts and most of the printed colour charts don't normally give pigment details but if you search manufacturers websites it is usually there somewhere. Some are easy to find others more difficult.

The starting point is that these should be single pigment paints, which are superior for mixing purposes and clarity. All are reliably lightfast although even here there can be differences between manufacturers. Bruce recommends you do your own lightfastness tests but I don't bother.

Many popular pigments like PY3 and PY97, usually called Lemon Yellow (PY3) or Primary Yellow (PY97) or similar have not been included.  If you are using a yellow that doesn't appear here and you are perfectly happy with it comment by all means but remember I am not setting our `rules' that must be followed nor saying you shouldn't use this or that paint. Bruce McEvoy might but not Peter Ward. There is plenty of information about fugitive paints and most manufacturers rate them accurately but it's often in the small print! Overall there are more than 25 different yellow pigments on the market and this may be a slight underestimate. New ones, as with other colours, appear regularly. Actually if you look at the `artiscreation' link above you'll see the list of yellow pigments is enormous. However I refer primarily to those used for watercolour as listed by Handprint.

Essentially yellows come in three basic groups. Light Yellow (Lemon), Medium and Deep. The general consensus, if having only one on your palette, would be a medium yellow.

Where do we start? The obvious one is Cadmium Yellow which comes in deep/pale/light/lemon and medium hues. Two pigments are closely linked here PY35 and PY37. Incidentally P stands for pigment and Y for yellow. PY35 leans towards green and PY37 towards red. Widely available most leading manufacturers offer two or three versions. Make your choice and take your pick. The toxic nature and opaque quality of the cadmiums is something to be considered.

Next is a newish pigment PY110 tsoindolinone Yellow R, a deep yellow listed currently only by Daniel Smith and Graham. I have bought the Graham version via Lawrence of Hove but not used it yet. It is described as a warm yellow orange. Daniel Smith calls it Permanent Yellow Deep and Graham Indian Yellow (Hue).

We now come to Green Gold PY129 azomethine copper offered by W & N, Rowney, Old Holland as `Golden Green' , Graham as Azo Green and Daniel Smith as `Rich Green Gold'. This is an interesting paint that I have used for a while. It's a cool yellow that ranges in colour, depending on dilution, from yellow green to light yellow. A good one for landscape greens, particularly early in the year. I don't think PY129 can be considered as a standalone yellow but one to add if and when you expand your palette. This is one of the paints referred to as `two-tone'.

PY150 nickel azomethine yellow is another fairly recent pigment currently offered by Daniel Smith and Graham as Nickel Azo Yellow, Winsor and Newton and Schminke as Transparent Yellow. I've tried the W & N version and am not sure about it at all. So there you are Bruce! Winsor and Newton use it as one of the pigments in their Quinacridone Gold paint, a three pigment mixture.

PY153 nickel dioxide yellow. A deep yellow. This is one I use by Rowney  called Indian Yellow. On my most recent courses Charles Reid had added it to his palette as Winsor and Newton New Gamboge. Daniel Smith also offers it as New Gamboge while Sennelier call it Indian Yellow. The original true Indian Yellow, something to do with cow dung (!)I believe is no longer available.

PY154 benzimidazolone yellow H3G. A neutral yellow which Winsor and Newton call Winsor Yellow. Rembrandt offer two paints Azo yellow Light and Azo Yellow Deep, while Sennelier call it Sennelier Yellow Light.

Looking for other sources I see Lukas offer Green Yellow (PY129) and Gamboge (PY153), so being well priced might be worth trying. Amongst the student quality the situation is meagre. W & N Cotman offer PY153 as Gamboge Hue so that might be worth a try and Van Gogh PY154 as Azo Yellow Light. In the USA genuine Cadmiums are part of the Cotman range BUT not in the UK (to Windsor and Newton's shame and I've told them so).

To sum up this isn't an exhaustive study by any means but a taster perhaps for further investigation if you're  interested. There are many more yellow pigments but these have been singled out as outstanding. As I've suggested I'm not yet convinced about PY150 (I've had another look at it and NO I'm not) but Handprint is the place to go because he covers virtually all the currently available yellows and gives a very detailed analysis of each pigment. Some might not agree with his findings but no one else has gone into the subject in such depth. One alternative for a medium yellow is the popular PY97. I have seen different views about this pigment and have used the Maimeri version in the past. Recently I obtained some of the `Try it 'sheets from Daniel Smith.They call it Hansa Yellow Medium. I quite liked it and almost ordered a tube from Jacksons, which I may do at some future stage. Added 19.10.12: I later purchased the Daniel Smith Hansa Yellow Medium and find it excellent. Something that I should have made clear is that you find the pigment information somewhere on the tube of paint. All the major manufacturers put it on their tubes, although  usually it is in  very small print and almost requires a magnifying glass to read! The following website gives good  general information on pigments (and much else). http://www.channeling-winslow-homer.com/

I'll conclude by again pointing out this piece is not meant to be some sort of gospel that everyone should follow. As Bruce McEvoy says different manufacturing tecniques and paint recipes means that the same pigment doesn't appear as an exact homogenous mix across the range of manufacturers. Variations exist and when choosing  personal preference  comes into it. In addition pigments are supplied by several firms and this is a factor in the resulting paint.

There are also other important yellows in the earth colours and they will be covered separately.

Latest Plein Air

Actually it isn't but the one I did today is far too light, the Church at Newton St Loe,  and I've already put it on the ever growing reject pile. I would probably have been pleased with it a year or three ago but no longer.

Pat's back garden 16" x 12" waterford Not

This was painted last Saturday on our second 2010 visit to Pat's house at a village on the outskirts of Bristol.  Weather was fine, a little cloudy but warm and I painted a scene looking through a gap between bushes. The main feature is the urn but following Charles Reid's dictum of not having a particular centre of interest decided to modify it and added several flowers. Actually they were  growing in a border behind and to the side of where I sat so it's my own composition. I think it works quite well. Colours used included , Permanent Rose (W & N),Carmine (W & N), Quinacridone Gold (Maimeri), Ultramarine Violet (Rowney), Hookers Green (Maimeri), combinations of various blues and yellows, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber. Oh yes and Raw Umber.

Second Attempt

This is the second attempt at the Acoma Indian Woman. This is the initial loose drawing

This is stage one initially painting the face.

Acoma Indian Woman 18" x 14" Waterford Not

Photographed 29/06 using My Nikon DSLR with 55mm lens. This is more accurate.

The more I looked at the first painting  the more I realised how poor it was. This is my second attempt and while not perfect feel it is better. Colours used for the face were Cad Red Light (PR108) and Cad Yellow Light (PY35) together with Cerulean (PB35-W and N), Ultramarine (PB29) and Cobalt Blue (PB72) both Rowney. For the headdress I utilized Cerulean, Ultramarine Blue and  Ultramarine Violet (PB15-Rowney)  with some Viridian (PG18),. The hair was Quinacridone Gold (PO48)  and Raw Sienna (Pbr7) both Maimeri. Also touches of Burnt Umber here and there with some Cadmium Orange (Maimeri PO20) to warm it up. I think the painting is actually better than the representation in the photograph. I once again add the disclaimer that I am not claiming this a great watercolour, just my watercolour. I studied several of Charles Reid's paintings before deciding how to tackle it. Looking at it I decided not to overdo the darks and only used the original photo as a guide..

Footnote Added 29/06: Looking at this photograph and then the original painting it seems it looks somewhat lighter and possibly `washed out' compared to the actual painting. My ad hoc photography is probably responsible. I have now made another attempt to photograph the painting and the result is above.