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September 27, 2010 at 12:44 am #988789
[FONT=Comic Sans MS]I am fairly new to watercolor painting and would like help finding a nice transparent yellow that is permanent and not too warm or cool. Has anyone used the transparent yellow by Winsor and Newton? I like to mix my own colors and am just starting to buy artist grade paints. There are so many yellows available and it is hard to tell by the online color charts just what they will look like. Can someone make a suggestion? Thanks, JudithW[/FONT]
September 27, 2010 at 2:05 am #1142947As far as I know Joyce Faulknor, author of ‘Stunning Crystal and Glass’ uses the W&N transparent yellow.
Depends what you are wanting to paint, but its often a good idea to have one warm and one cool yellow to be able to mix the combinations you want. Everyone has their personal choices.~Bridget~September 27, 2010 at 5:28 am #1142936I have Daler Rowney’s Permanent Yellow and it is very transparent. I also like WN New Gamboge and Quinacridone Gold. I use those three a lot depending if I want a cool yellow or a warm yellow. They are all pretty transparent.
Have you checked out the section on Yellows in the Watercolor Handbook?
[B][COLOR=”DarkOrange]*Yellows*[/COLOR][/B]
Keeping Yellows Bright
Lemon Yellow Doesn’t Play Well With Others… Discussion
Quinacridone Gold and Possible Substitutes for It
Shadow Colors for Yellow Flowers
What Are Your Favorite Warm and Cool Yellows?
Lots of good info there. There are sections in The WC Handbook for each color family as well since you are just starting to build your palette. (The link is in my signature line or at the top of The Learning Zone.)
Sylvia
September 27, 2010 at 7:06 am #1142938Transparent yellow(PY150) is almost the only yellow I use, I also have a couple of cadmium yellows(lemon and dark) but it’s very seldom I use them.It wont give you the most sharp greens and oranges but it’s very seldom I want that.
One amusing thing with this colour is that it doesn’t look yellow in the cup but more like somekind of earth tone.
September 27, 2010 at 8:33 am #1142945Thanks so much to all of you, I will definitely check out the watercolor handbook and will give the transparent yellow a try. I purchased W&N Lemon Yellow by mistake and found it really didn’t “play well with others” when attempting to make a pumpkin orange shade. I ended up with a muddy peach shade. I think I will get the Transparent Yellow and the New Gambage to begin with and see how that goes. Thanks for your help! JudithW
September 27, 2010 at 8:49 am #1142937Judith,
I just did a painting of oranges and I’m working on one now of squash blossoms. I mixed the most gorgeous orange tones using Perylene Scarlet and Permanent Yellow (which is very transparent like Transparent Yellow). I don’t know if you have anything like Perylene Scarlet, but this is a great combo for wonderful oranges.Sylvia
September 27, 2010 at 8:59 am #1142940Seester …… Lemon Yellow is a cool yellow meaning that it leans towards the blue side of the yellow shades and so as with all cool yellows you will never get a good clear orange it will give you good ‘grey’ oranges. ….. But Lemon yellow will give you good lively greens when mixed with FUB or Cobalt Blue or even Phthalo Blue. So stick with the Lemon Yellow you just need to learn when and how to use it.
Transparent Yellow is, I think a mid ground yellow leaning ever so slightly to the red side of the colour wheel. So it may not give you a good orange either and may not be good for producing vibrant greens either.
What you need for a vibrant orange is a yellow which is warm, leans towards the red side of the yellows, so New Gamboge should fit the bill. Indian Yellow would also work.
If you are going to mix your own colours then you will need to be able to work out which colours are warm and which are cool, you will need a cool version of the 3 primaries (red, blue and yellow) plus a warm version of the same colours, (red, blue and yellow). With these 6 colours in your palette you should be able to mix any colour you want ………. :wink2:
You need to choose wisely, from the colours you have talked about here, IMO, you will be better served with Lemon yellow as your cool, and New Gamboge as your warm and forget the transparent yellow.
………….. then you need to think about which red to mix with it ……….. You may need the money saved from the Transparent Yellow to purchase a warm red ………..
Personally I use Cadmium Yellow Light as my cool Yellow and Cadmium Yellow Medium as my warm yellow they work well for me but are not as transparent as some other colours ……….. but I just add water …….
Kev
Insanity is hereditary ............ you can get it from your children ....or my case Grandchildren
September 27, 2010 at 9:03 am #1142942I have also been looking for a middle temperature transparent yellow. I tried both Winsor Newton and Schmincke Horadam transparent yellow PY 150 and was very disappointed to find they both look like yellow ochre and are very grainy, not what I need at all. The closest I have come to a useful transparent yellow is Cotman Lemon Yellow Hue PY 175. Old Holland has a Schvenigen yellow light but it is $18 for a tiny tiny tube, so I’m not trying that.
Painterbear, what brand of Permanent Yellow did you use?
Thank you
KarenSeptember 27, 2010 at 9:09 am #1142935As noted above, one cool yellow and one warm yellow on your palette will give you a range of mixes.
More importantly, whichever ones you choose, stick with them for enough time and enough paintings so that you get to know their characteristics and the range of colors you can mix with them.
Not only greens and oranges, but browns as well (a violet + a yellow produces a lovely warm brown). (make an orange and then add a blue for grays) Find out what happens when you glaze a tinted yellow over a dried wash. Playing around with color mixes is a great adventure.
September 27, 2010 at 9:16 am #1142941Karen and Judith, the quest to find a mid-temperature yellow ……. plus blue and red come to think of it, has lasted many folks a life time, there isn’t one. It is like the search for the Holy Grail, by it’s very nature each of the ‘pure’ colours can be seen by the naked eye by light passing through it, and light is influenced by all three of the primary colours so there is never a point at which there is a perfect pure yellow, or red, or blue.
We just have to live with that and move on ……… as I said above after my search I have stuck to the Cadmiums ……… they work for me. Play with the colours when you get them and find out what they can do for you. But a one size fits all yellow ………….. well it is the Holy Grail ……..
Kev
Insanity is hereditary ............ you can get it from your children ....or my case Grandchildren
September 27, 2010 at 9:39 am #1142948I use W&N transparent yellow extensively. It is a staining color and this might affect your choice. I use staining paint almost exclusively with multiple thin washes so I do not get the graininess commented on previously nor the “yellow ochre” appearance which it can resemble if used from the tube or thinly diluted. It also looks very dark when it sits on the palette…it really freaked me out until I realized this is just characteristic and it is not a problem with the paint.
Karl
Florida, New Hampshire
USASeptember 28, 2010 at 12:58 am #1142939I love WN Transparent Yellow. True, it is staining, but it makes great mixes and is the MOST transparent of all the yellows I’ve tried.
It’s a little embarrassing to admit but – I own 18 yellows :o
Highly recommend :thumbsup:
Happy Painting
DondiLOTS of free reference photos on my website:
http://AptosArt.com
[FONT="Arial"]Dondi
September 28, 2010 at 7:45 am #1142943Judith
firstly, be careful about names like ‘transparent yellow’ and ‘permanent yellow’. These are just marketing names and don’t really mean anything (although it’s rare to find the same name used by different manufacturers for entirely different pigments).
You should think in terms of pigments, and I’m amazed that no-one so far has referred you to the handprint website. Although parts of this site contain abstruse and confusing colour theory, the pages on pigments are a superb resource. Look here and click the word ‘Yellow’ at the top if necessary. You will see the various pigments described, with their marketing names.
Incidentally, for a minimalist (secondary) palette, handprint currently recommends PY150 (for example, W&N’s current ‘transparent yellow’. They did have a previous one using a different pigment). It looks almost brown out of the tube, but dilutes to a glowing transparent yellow. It is moderately staining but should be non-granulating.Andrew
September 28, 2010 at 9:02 am #1142946So much good advice! Thanks everyone for your responses. I think my biggest problem was that I started with student grade paints that come in primary colors and am now trying to get something similar in artist grade paints. There is so much to learn and I want to be sure that I am getting paints that are lightfast as well as getting the proper cools and warms for mixing. I enjoy the learning process though, and I admit I am an art supply addict : ). Thanks again!
September 28, 2010 at 10:51 am #1142944I agree with Kevin on the Cadmiums. i used them alot and water them down to get more transparency.
Reggie
Life is short so savor every moment!
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