Art Spectrum Artists' Soft Pastel - Greenish Umber, 579P

Pigment Information

This color contains the following pigments:

PO13-Vibfast Orange 4051

PY42-Yellow Iron Oxide

PG18-Viridian

Pigment Name

PO13-Vibfast Orange 4051

Pigment Type

organic

Properties

Pigment Orange PO13 is a yellowish orange with high tinting strength.

Permanence

Pigment Orange PO13 has good lightfastness when used at full strength, but it may fade in tints. It is often replaced by PO61, which has lower tinting strength, but better lightfastness.

History

Pigment Orange PO13 is used in inks, textiles, paints, plastics, and rubber.

Pigment Name

PY42-Yellow Iron Oxide

Chemical Name

iron(III)-oxide, hydrated

Chemical Formula

Fe2O3 • H2O

Properties

Yellow Ochre provides artists with earthtones from cream to brown. It has good hiding power, produces a quick drying paint, and can be safely mixed 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.

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 to be used by human beings, and evidence of its use has been found at 300,000 year old sites in France and the former Czechoslovakia.

Pigment Name

PG18-Viridian

Pigment Type

inorganic

Chemical Name

chromium(III)-oxide dehydrate

Chemical Formula

Cr2O3 • 2 H2O or Cr2(OH3)

Properties

Viridian is the standard green and is stable, powerful, and cold with an emerald green undertone. It has a transparent hue, good tinting strength, a dark masstone that can be almost black at full strength, and a slow drying time in oil form. Viridian is commonly replaced by the darker, more saturated, and staining Phthalo Greens, but its properties make it a necessary part of the palette of an experienced landscape painter.

Permanence

Viridian has excellent permanence, except in high-temperature work, and is highly valued as a glazing color.

Toxicity

Viridian is slightly toxic.

History

Viridian’s name comes from the Latin viridis, meaning green. The process for manufacturing Viridian, or Transparent Oxide of Chromium, was patented by Guignet in Paris in 1859. However, it had actually been discovered by Pannetier and Binet in 1838. Viridian replaced Verdigris, which was reactive and unstable, and Emerald Green, which was a poisonous copper aceto-arsenite used as a rat poison in the sewers of Paris.