Sennelier Watercolour S1 Forest Green (899)

Forest Green (899) Lamp black is an opaque, heavily staining black pigment with little covering or tinting power. It is typically the opaquest black in watercolour form. Though a very pure black, it tends to muddy slightly in mixtures.

Phthalo Green is a transparent, cool, bright, high-intensity colour. It is an excellent base colour for mixing a range of bright greens. It is considered an excellent alternative to Viridian because it is intense, mixes well, and can be used to emphasize mineral colours in various tints.

However, its tinting strength is very high, so that it can overpower other colours. This pigment most closely resembles the discontinued and toxic Verdigris. Yellow Ochre provides artists with earth tones from cream to brown. Its transparency varies widely, from opaque shades to more transparent ones, which are valued for their use as glazes.

Pigment Name: Lamp black PBk7

Lamp black is an opaque, heavily staining black pigment with little covering or tinting power. It is typically the opaquest black in watercolour form. Though a very pure black, it tends to muddy slightly in mixtures. Natural sources may be brownish or bluish in tone because of impurities. When used in oil paints, it is one of the slowest drying pigments and should not be used in underpainting or applied in layers underneath other colours.

Chemical Name: carbon.

Permanence: Lamp Black is very lightfast and permanent. It is used in all techniques in permanent painting.

Toxicity: Carbon itself is not considered hazardous; however, other hazardous combustion products are often present as impurities when Lamp Black is produced from natural materials. For this reason, commercial preparations of the pigment should be considered slightly toxic. Avoid skin contact and inhalation. Where such impurities are present, Lamp Black is a possible human carcinogen.

History: Lamp Black is a carbon-based black traditionally produced by collecting soot (known as lampblack) from oil lamps. It has been used as a pigment since prehistoric times. Lamp black is found in Egyptian murals and tomb decorations and was the most popular black for fresco painting until the development of Mars Black.

Alternate Names: Carbon Black, Channel Black, Furnace Black, Oil Black, Vegetable Black. Flame Black is an impure version of Lamp Black. An alternate spelling is Lampblack, in which the first syllable is stressed, and the two words are elided to form a closed compound.

Pigment Name: Phthalo Green PG7

Phthalo Green is a transparent, cool, bright, high-intensity colour used in oil and acrylics. It comes from a Phthalocyanine Blue pigment where most hydrogen atoms have been replaced with chlorine, forming highly stable molecules. It has pigment properties and permanence similar to Phthalo Blue. It is slow drying and an excellent base colour for mixing a range of bright greens. Phthalo Green is considered a good alternative to Viridian because it is intense, mixes well, and can be used to emphasize mineral colours in various tints. However, its tinting strength is very high, so that it can overpower other colours. This pigment most closely resembles the discontinued and toxic Verdigris.

Chemical Name: polychlorinated copper(II) phthalocyanine.

Permanence: Phthalo Greens are completely lightfast and resistant to alkali, acids, solvents, heat, and ultraviolet radiation. 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 Green has no significant hazards, but it contained PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) until 1982.

History: This bright blue-green was developed in 1935 and has been used since 1938.

Alternate Names: Bocour Green, Cyan Green, Intense Green, Monastral Green, Phthalocyanine Green, Rembrandt Green, Thalo Green, Winsor Green.

Pigment Name: Yellow Ochre PY42

Yellow Ochre provides artists with earth tones from cream to brown. It has good hiding power, produces quick-drying paint, and can safely mix with other pigments. Its transparency varies widely from opaque shades to more transparent ones, which are valued for their use as glazes. If gypsum is present, Yellow Ochre is not suitable for frescoing. (See Brown Ochre, PY43.) PY42 is made from synthetic iron oxides. PY43 is made from natural iron oxide.

Chemical Name: iron(III)-oxide, hydrated.

Permanence: Yellow Ochre has excellent permanence because ochres are some of the most permanent pigments available.

Toxicity: Yellow Ochre is non-toxic unless it contains manganese.

History: Ochre comes from the Greek word ochros, meaning pale yellow. It was one of the first pigments used by human beings, and evidence of its use has been found at 300,000-year-old sites in France and former Czechoslovakia.

Alternate Names: Chamois, Iron Yellow, Mars Orange, Mars Yellow, Minette, Ochre, Sil, Yellow Earth, Yellow Oxide. Varieties of Yellow Ochre include Brown Ochre, Flesh Ochre, Roman Ochre, Spruce Ochre, and Transparent Gold Ochre.