Sennelier Watercolour S1 Raw Sienna (208)

Raw Sienna is a moderately dull deep earth yellow with medium tinting strength and excellent transparency. It is one of the basic permanent artists' pigments and is made from a form of limonite clay whose yellow-brown colour results from ferric oxides. Raw Sienna is preferable to Yellow Ochre for creating flesh tones due to its higher subtlety of colour when mixed with white. It creates a bright Ochre when mixed with Cadmium Yellow and creates greens and grays when mixed with Ultramarine. Raw Sienna dries quickly.

Chemical Name: hydrated iron oxide

Permanence: Raw Sienna has good permanence.

Toxicity: Raw Sienna has no significant hazards.

History: Raw Sienna has been used as a pigment since prehistoric times, although 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 the mining and production of 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.

Alternate Names: Italian Earth, Natural Brown Iron Oxide, Sienna.