Yellow Hues

Working with and teaching colour always presents a challenge, no matter the skill level or experience of the artist we make colour decisions every time we pick up a brush. The difference between the levels of our challenge comes from the knowledge we possess about the pigments we work with.

With Traditions, we stress ‘pigment knowledge’ as there is a real benefit to mastering this aspect of learning to paint.

Since 'colour mixing' is the main goal of working with Traditions, there will be a learning curve for most who have not painted this way before. This will take some study and a lot of serious practice mixing.

I was recently asked a question about working with a particular hue – ‘yellow’. Of all the colours we work with, yellow can present its own challenges, this is the lightest of the hues and can easily hue shift and change value and intensity right out of our control and at the same time present a whole bunch of other issues for the artist to handle.

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Here we have a beautiful yellow rose, it is very light in overall value, with the deepest values towards the center and as shadows from the petals. Here is where we can sometimes run into trouble with mixing too dark of a shadow colour when developing the first stages of the rose. After achieving basic 'form' or shape of the petals with 3 base values, it would be more advantageous for the artist to use a transparent pigment such as Quinacridone Gold PO43, Indian Yellow PY139 or for the darkest shadows, Yellow Deep, a semi transparent pigment which is of lower value, can be used to glaze in the additional shadows for added depth. These pigments with the exception of (transparent) Indian Yellow PY139 are semi - transparent and allow the lower layers to show through.

photo #3

When working with a fruit such as the realistic pear, we can use more toned yellows to achieve the basic form or shape of the object. Using a more opaque base yellow such as Yellow Oxide PY42 to start will give us not just better coverage, but overall we will have a more realistic pear colour to work with. Here is where the 'earth pigments' such as Burnt Umber or Raw Umber can be used to mix the lower values also used in creating the form of the object.

However, using a layering method to achieve added dimension and personality to the pear can also be achieved by using the transparent pigments as glazes over the first developmental stage of creating form. At that point use other pigments such as Quinacridone Gold PO48 which has an orange hue and will give the added accents and warmth to this fruit. If you look carefully you can actually see the soft orange 'glow' on the shadow side of the pears above. We can even see the reflected green from the leaves. Read the article on 'Glazing' on this website for greater explanation of this technique.

photo #4

Here we can see a beautiful pale yellow rose, creating a base mix of Titanium White and Yellow Oxide with a little Hansa Yellow would probably provide you with a close enough yellow to start. By adding more white and a touch more Hansa Yellow will give the lighter value and I would add a touch of Yellow Deep for my darker value. I would use a layering method, to achieve greatest depth by glazing several times with transparent sheer layers of yellows and oranges, that's a personal choice as to which one - mine would be Quinacridone Gold PO43.

Here we see beautiful accents on the petal edges, soft pinks and slightly coral hues add the 'blush' to the rose. Remember sheer and transparent - with your application and always read your pigments for the best and most efficient results.

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Difficulties you may encounter with yellow

Let’s look at some of the potential pitfalls when working with yellow....We’ll choose a few different realistic 'yellow' subjects and see how they might be controlled... yellow roses and a ripe pear. Beautiful subjects that are often favorites amongst us, keeping in mind that EVERY subject, is relative to its surroundings, the background upon which it sits, the quality of the light source or the overall 'key' and mood of the painting, not to mention how diverse our individual interpretations of the actual subjects might be.

For this example let’s say they are all painted in natural light and are the single subject in each composition. To begin - we’ll keep the situation pretty much the same for comparison.

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Decision one: what pigment to start with?

- We must decide what yellow pigment/s we start out with and why some choices might be more efficient than others. We have three subjects to paint, a ripe pear and a yellow rose and a mature sunflower. All three require the use of yellow pigments, but which ones and why?

So where do we start? here are some suggestions

	Study the actual subject and determine what the limitations for painting are, based on the subject itself.
	What are the options for painting my subject? – Which are; a ripe pear, a yellow tea rose. E.g. does a rose come in true blue? Is a realistic pear a very pale and soft light yellow? Can a pear be painted in a toned yellow? Make a list of the options for each subject.
	Determine if this is this a bright sunny yellow subject or a dull toned yellow one? E.g. how does a soft yellow rose compare to a dramatic sunflower, or visa-versa? Compare Hansa Yellow, Yellow Oxide, Raw Sienna, and what else???
	Does the subject limit me to only this particular hue or can I extend my range of colour on the object and make it be broader? E.g. can a rose be painted with several yellow-ish hues and still look realistic? Could I also include an orange-ish pigment here and there?
	Does the subject allow for the choice of yellow hues to lean more to yellow orange or to yellow green? Raw Sienna (leans to ?) versus Hansa Yellow Light? (leans to?)

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Decision two: Controlling the intensity

Controlling the intensity of yellow is tricky business. The good news is we have several options, we just need to know which ones to use and when to use them.

	The first thing to learn about lowering the intensity of a colour is that we are reducing the saturation of the colour and pulling it into the center of the pigment wheel and by default - nearer to grey. The first way to do this is to mix the colour with its compliment, this helps pull the colour into the wheel because compliments sit opposite from each other, so they pull each other into the center. This works in theory, but we know that each yellow pigment sits in a slightly different position and an EXACT compliment isn't always available. For yellows the general compliment is 'violet' which one - it depends on the result you want.
	Another method for lowering the intensity of yellows - look to a duller yellow, one that will not dramatically alter the value you strive for. For example Hansa Yellow can be dulled by adding Raw Sienna which is an earth pigment that falls into the yellow hue or family.
	The addition of white will dull or lower the intensity - but at the same time lighten the yellow mix to a lighter value.
	The additions of Black & White or both (grey) will lower the intensity by pulling the colour into the center of the pigment wheel, but this may also cause the yellow to hue shift towards green. Why? Black falls in the blue family of pigments and will affect the mix - blue and yellow make green? or something close to green. If you do not wish to go into green, grey is not the option. yellows and Oranges are two hues that have a tendency to hue shift when grey is added to them. The 'blue' bias of the grey causes this to occur.

to be continued................... see if you can spot the range of yellows used by Mother Nature in the photos below. Some shift to yellow orange while others shift to yellow green.

Yellows for the fall.............

If you are interested in learning more about yellow, look at the questions as they relate to the different photographs.