Winsor Newton Yellow Ochre is a warm yellow. Originally made from natural iron oxides found in earth, it is one of the oldest pigments used by mankind. Yellow Ochre is one of my palette staples and always there for my neutral mixes. Winsor Newton's is more transparent than most brands and was easy to use as a glaze in this little quick sketch of my grand puppy, Louie Blue is much, much bigger now.

QoR watercolor brand Permanent Gamboge is one of the 83 or so pigments in this relatively newish line of watercolor paints with a unique new binder. They are a Golden Company product and new to me. This particular yellow reminded me of a combination of New Gamboge by Daniel Smith and either cadmium yellow or raw sienna. In this quick sketch, rather than find an image that had a comparable yellow as its primary color, I chose to lay down a watery wash over the entire area and then add layers to build the colors of the leaf and beetle.

Turner's version of this standard is pretty much the same as the others. If any different, perhaps in the watery version where it is a little bit less warm yellow.

Turner Artist Watercolors, Turner's Yellow  has an interesting legend or mystery behind it. The history of Indian Yellow, one of the colors used by J.M.W. Turner, seems to be rich with contradictory stories about its origins. According to an article on the Artists Network Website "Turner's Mysterious Yellow" by John Hulsey and Ann Trusty, recounts the process of making Indian Yellow as recounted in a letter written by Mr. T. N. Mukharji sent to the Society of Arts in London in 1883 as follows "the making of Indian Yellow as consisting of collecting the urine of cattle left to roam in mango orchards in the Bihar province of India. In one version of this story it was said that the cows were made to urinate into buckets on command. The urine was then concentrated over fire, filtered through cloth and made into balls left to dry in the sun. Another version says that the urine was collected somehow, then mixed with clay and rolled into small balls of about three to four ounces." The mystery gets more complicated by other stories that tell of the banning of the Indian Yellow production due to cruelty to cows. A more recent author researched this story finding no basis to any banning of the pigments production. The article explains that the dispute over the veracity of that letter is further dispensed off when in "1839, M.J.F.L. Merinee wrote in the book, The Art of Painting in Oil and in Fresco, that the color may be extracted from a large shrub called memecylon tinctorium (used by natives for yellow dye) which exudes the smell of cow urine." This more acceptable origin is given more credence when in "1844 a German chemist, John Stenhouse, examined balls of the color and also concluded that it was of vegetable origin." Whether is was urine or a plant that smelled like it matters not. Turner's yellow is a delicate landing somewhere between Hansa Yellow light and a warmer, cadmium yellow.

Turner Watercolor's Permanent Yellow, similar to Hansa Yellow Light, is clear, bright and intense. According to their website their watercolors " combining the finest pure pigments and gum arabic with high lightfast ratings and superb transparency and flow" are a "true professional paint". I am not used to this brand, but purchased the color as one listed as valuable by one of my favorite botanical artists from the U.K. To be fair, I only played with this pigment for a few minutes, so my assessment may not be accurate. This yellow was free flowing as advertised and intense. But the water to pigment ratio and how it mingled with other colors was odd. At times it seemed to just stop in its tracks far sooner than I thought it would or almost repel other pigments. My verdict is not complete yet, I will make a few more swatch tests with other pigments by Turner lest it be about the pigment and not the brand.

Holbein's Permanent Yellow deep is made up of two pigments. PY74, Hansa Yellow, is considered superior to many others Hansa Yellows due to its finer particle size, the effect of which is its brilliance and transparency. It has high tinting strength.  The second pigment Yellow 83, comes from a family of azo pigments called Diarylide. These yellow hued pigments were developed around 1940 and are a semi-opaque, somewhat staining, deep reddish yellow with good tinting strength, good lightfastness and permanence. However, it can fade in tints. Other Diarylide pigments are reported to have poor lightfastness, some completely fugitive.

Holbein Isoindolinone Yellow Deep, besides being an unpronounceable name, is similar to Quinacridone Gold or other deep warm yellows that border on orange. According to the Holbein website, it is more finely ground than other brands of watercolor and made "without ox-gall, animal by-products or other dispersing agents." They state that these are the qualities that help their pigments deliver "color of unequaled intensity, purity" and create beautiful transparent washes  while gaining to deep, clean darks.

M. Graham Azo Yellow, 018 is more transparent than Cadmium Yellow and more lightfast than Hansa Yellow according to their website. While it is a transparent pigment and staining, this strong warm yellow does not really granulate. I spent the morning in the tulip fields on my hands and knees looking at yellow tulips among others so of course, this yellow beauty, host to a couple of bugs, begged for some Azo yellow.

Winsor Newton's Cadmium yellow is a deep, yellow with a warm red tinge applied full strength. Strong and clean pigment. Cadmium-based pigments are permanent lightfast and brilliant. Cadmium Yellow was discovered by German chemist Friedrich Stromeyer in 1817 and was popular in the UK in the latter half of the 19th century. Mondrian often used cadmium yellow and cadmium red in his limited palette which also included flake white, ivory black and French ultramarine. Before cadmium yellow, artists used orpiment – a rich, deep yellow from the mineral orpiment. Its name is from the Latin auripigmentum (aurum “gold”, pigmentum “pigment”). Orpiment was popular with Renaissance painters including Titian. Unfortunately it was an arsenic sulfide compound and toxic. Cadmium Yellow was the replacement for orpiment.

 M. Graham's Bismuth Vanadium Oxide 019 is a bright lemon yellow, greener than Hansa Yellow and more lightfast. ​M. Graham watercolors are made with Northwest blackberry honey, according to their website. Bismuth Yellow washes down to a very pale, delicate yellow. perfect for this aging rose blossom.

Winsor Newton Raw Sienna comes from iron ore or ferric oxide which occurs naturally in clay. Yellow ochres are generally opaque, but siennas are more transparent. Sienna, one of he earliest pigments used for painting and found in prehistoric cave art. During the Renaissance in the 14th century sienna was further developed for painting. Sienna gets its name from the city it was produced in, the Italian city-state of Siena. The Italians stretched the range of hues of Sienna by roasting it, leading to the creation of raw sienna and burnt sienna pigments.  Raw Sienna is a bright brown pigment but Winsor Newton's Sienna has brilliant golden undertones and is transparent, layering beautifully with other earth tones if laid over the top. 

​Old Holland Cobalt Blue Turquoise is opaque and in its full tube strength, a deep turquoise. It washes down and lifts and can produce a wide range of values. This pigment is classifieds as oxides of cobalt and chromium. I am no chemist but that sounds like the explanation for this blue shifts to a greener side than most cobalts.

Sennelier Red Orange, a fiery orange with excellent lightfastness, like all Sennelier has honey has a binder that improves the longevity of the paint. Radiant, creamy, bright sunset colored orange is fabulous for this favorite rose of mine, "Samba".

Phthalocyanine Blue is lightfast, transparent and an intense blue. The chemical composition of Phthalocyanine contains copper and shifts this blue toward the green side. Chemists in London in 1935 developed the pigment they gave the trade name Monastral Blue by accidental discovery. The kettle containing a Bristish dye plant was a byproduct of the dye process. The discovery filled the demand from printers for a pigment to replace Prussian Blue.

ShinhAN Premium Watercolors are new to me, and Bright Violet is my very first experience with this brand. Lovely to work with, this red violet to deep purple pigment is a dream if you are inclined to paint botanical subjects as it is a match for many blossoms in the violet range. I don't know much about ShinHan but from their website I see they have 104 colors and claim to use only one pigment wherever possible, not mixing colors to create new ones.

Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet is earthy, rich and like all Quinacridone pigments, intensely vivid. It fits somewhere between Burnt Sienna and Quinacridone Coral or Red. It is transparent and layers to build depth and complicated color. It is not a granulator and lifts with ease.