R&F Encaustic Paint Block - Courbet Green, 40 ml

It is like a green version of Indigo. Alongside other dark colours, it is a somber, earthy green with a surprising blue undertone. Carl Plansky of Williamsburg Art Materials developed it.

• Pigment Composition: PY37-Cadmium Yellow; PBr7-Burnt Sienna; PB15:3-Phthalo Blue
• Paint Lines: Encaustic Pigment Stick
• Opacity: Semi-Transparent
• Pigment Stick Drying Rate: Fast
• Classification: Mixed
• Chemical Composition: Natural Earth, Cadmium Yellow, Prussian Blue
• Safety Information: Conforms to ASTM D-4236
• Safety Warnings: This product contains cadmium, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer.

Pigment Name: PY37-Cadmium Yellow

Classification: Inorganic, Cadmium

Chemical Composition: Cadmium (II)-sulfide

Properties

Cadmium Yellow is brilliant, dense, and opaque, with good tinting strength and very high hiding power. It is the artist’s principal bright yellow and is available in light, medium, and dark shades. The deeper shades appear deep orange and have the greatest tinting strength. It is slow-drying in oil form and used in oil and watercolour form. It cannot be mixed with copper-based pigments. A clean Cadmium Orange is created when Cadmium Yellow is mixed with Cadmium Red. Hues vary by brand. Cadmium pigments have been partially replaced by azo pigments, which are similar in lightfastness to the cadmium colours, cheaper, and non-toxic. Cadmium Yellow is usually available in a pure grade or a cadmium-barium mix. This mix has the same permanence with a lower tinting strength.

Permanence

Cadmium Yellow is lightfast and permanent in most forms, but like most cadmium colours, it will fade in fresco or mural painting. The deeper shades are the most permanent. The pale varieties have been known to fade with exposure to sunlight.

Toxicity

Cadmium Yellow is a known human carcinogen. It can be hazardous if chronically inhaled or ingested.

History

Cadmiums get their names from the Latin word cadmia, meaning zinc ore calamine, and the Greek word kadmeia, meaning Cadmean earth, first found near Thebes, the city founded by the Phoenician prince Cadmus. Metallic cadmium was discovered in 1817 by Friedrich Strohmeyer. Oil colours were first made from Cadmium Yellow pigments in 1819, replacing toxic Chrome (lead) Yellows. However, their production was delayed until 1840 due to the scarcity of cadmium metals. Landscape painters, such as Claude Monet, preferred Cadmium Yellow to the less expensive Chrome Yellow because of its higher chroma and greater purity of colour.

Pigment Name: PBr7-Burnt Sienna

Classification: Earth

Chemical Composition: Iron oxides

Properties

Burnt Sienna is a warm, mid-brown colour formed by burning the yellow-brown limonite clay called Raw Sienna. Due to the combination of its opaque, red-brown mass tone and its transparent, orangey undertone, it ranges from semi-opaque to semi-transparent. It is an excellent mixing complement for blues and greens, creating salmon or peach-coloured tints when mixed with white. It can be useful for subduing bright colours and does not get chalky in dark mixtures.

Permanence

Burnt Sienna has good permanence and is considered one of the most versatile of the permanent pigments.

Toxicity

Burnt Sienna has no significant hazards.

History

Burnt Sienna has been used as a pigment since prehistoric times, but its current name came about during the Renaissance. It comes from the city of Siena in Italy and is short for terra di Siena, meaning the earth of Siena. Sienna was famous for mining and producing earth pigments from the Renaissance until World War II. Due to the depletion of clay deposits in Tuscany, Italian siennas now come from other areas, including Sicily and Sardinia.

Pigment Name: PB15:3-Phthalo Blue

Classification: Organic

Chemical Composition: Beta copper phthalocyanine

Properties

Phthalo Blue PB15:3 is a structural variant of Phthalo Blue PB15 that produces more greenish tones.

Permanence

Phthalo Blues are lightfast, stable, and permanent for all paint uses. Due to their stability, they are currently used in inks, coatings, and many plastics and are considered a standard pigment in printing ink and the packaging industry.

Toxicity

Phthalo Blues have no significant hazards, although those made before 1982 contained some PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).

History

Developed by chemists using the trade name Monastral Blue, the organic blue dyestuff, now known as Phthalo Blue, was presented as a pigment in November 1935 in London. Its discovery was accidental. The dark colour was observed in a kettle where a dye was being made from a British dyestuff plant. The demand for such a pigment came from commercial printers who wanted a cyan to replace Prussian Blue.