Notes On Color: Mars Yellow Deep, Sepia & Warm Pink
We’re back with another edition of Notes On Color - our platform for sharing our thoughts on color. This week we’re highlighting Mars Yellow Deep, Sepia, and Warm Pink.
Just a reminder that you can find all our blog posts - from tips on color mixing to suggestions about how to choose a color - neatly organized for you on our Articles & Links page.
Enjoy. Keep painting.
Mars Yellow Deep. Warm, slightly reddish. Top tone is a bit like Raw Sienna but denser and brighter.
Mars Yellow Deep is a single pigment - iron oxide - and it is relatively straightforward to process on the three-roll mill, possessing what we in the biz call 'good dispersibility.' It does, however, present challenges on the pouring end of our production process. The same density and opacity that make for great painting experiences make for very long paint-making days. A tough one to clean up after - the color never goes away.
Available in both our encaustic and Pigment Stick® color lines. Opaque with a fast drying rate.
Chemical Composition: synthesized iron oxide, precipitated.
Sepia. A deep purplish brown. Developed to match the color of the ink from cuttlefish, the traditional source of sepia. The reddishness associated with the sepia washes of Renaissance drawings is often faded from the natural color. Ours is permanent.
Sepia is Richard Frumess at his finest - nuanced and subtle, warm and cool at the same time. What we refer to around here as ‘complex.’ This formulation found its place in the R&F color line 26 years ago (the first batch was made on 4/10/1996).
Many a paint maker past and present has bemoaned its presence on the production schedule. Not because it’s not an interesting color to make or use; but because it’s a beast to get right. Sepia contains five pigments. Each of these pigments (every pigment actually) has a unique personality. The paint maker’s job is to bring out the distinctive traits of a pigment – make them known for the painter, but also get them to play well with each other. Mill one component too tightly and it could dominate, or worse, fall flat.
But when these mixes work out, when all the pieces come together as intended, the result can deliver a complexity and depth unmatched by any ‘single pigment’ color.
Available in both our encaustic and Pigment Stick® color lines. Semi-Transparent with a Pigment Stick® drying rate of medium.
Chemical Composition: titanium-zinc white, quinacridone magenta, brown pink, and ultramarine blue.
Warm Pink. Warm Pink is beloved for its intense salmon hue. R&F is at its best when it lands in color spaces hard to pin down. Warm pink is a restless color. Somehow managing to display both earthy tones and cool, bluish notes without containing either earth or blue pigments. A personal favorite.
Opaque with a slow Pigment Stick® drying rate, it is available in both our encaustic and Pigment Stick® color lines.
Chemical Composition: quinacridone red, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, and titanium-zinc white.
