Burnt Umber

Manganese Blue

Hansa Yellow Light

My first colour choice was completely random. Although nothing is really random so something must have directed me… Ok then…

Burnt Umber: because it is a staple colour and I needed somthing dark.

Manganese Blue: I bought this one day to replace a Cerulean as they both fall into the cool blue category. They both act as an almost perfect cyan primary and are great for mixing brighter greens. Manganese is supposed to be a denser colour but you’ll notice I was using a fluid version.

Fluid paints offer a higher flow while still retaining a high pigment load so you don’t get any ‘watering down’ of pigment you may get if you added extra medium to a heavier body paint. Until recently I had never used them but frustration with unscrewing tube lids led me to try this as the lid is a simple flip off. In this case it worked well so loosen up the other paints but I wouldn’t buy fluid paints as my preference as on their own they feel as though they limit the marks you can make with them.

Hansa Yellow Light: This was also as a tested replacement for Cadmium Lemon, a very cool yellow. Hansa yellows were first made in Germany before World War I using organic pigments that remain lightfast but have a high transparency. They make instense and clean colours when mixed and can be used as glazing layers because of their transparency.

If you’d like further information for choosing yellows you can find more on this  Gamblin colours page (although they are talking about oil paints)

The results?

Bright vivid greens, as expected. Probably too bright for anything I would usually use, but then you never know…. it’s always easier to tone down a colour hue by adding a touch of the opposite, but impossible to brighten one up so it’s good to know where to go when bright is what you are after!

The Manganese Blue is a beautiful colour and mixes with the Burnt Umber to create some good dark teals and turquoise when mixed with white. (I used Titanium White throughout the month)