Grumbacher Max Artists' Water Miscible Oil Color - Green Earth Hue, 37 ml tube

Pigment Information

This color contains the following pigments:

PBk11-Mars Black

PBr7-Burnt Sienna

PY42-Yellow Iron Oxide

PG18-Viridian

Pigment Name

PBk11-Mars Black

Pigment Type

earth

Chemical Name

iron oxides

Chemical Formula

FeO or Fe2O3

Properties

Mars Black is an opaque black with a strong and cool masstone, a slightly warm tint, and a warm brown undertone. It is not as black as Ivory Black, but it dries more quickly and has three times the tinting strength. Mars Black is normally the only black available in acrylic form and that is safe to over paint. It can be used in all media without reservation and is widely used as an alternative to Lamp Black and Ivory Black.

Permanence

Mars Black is very lightfast with excellent permanence.

Toxicity

Mars Black has no significant hazards and is the only major black pigment considered non-toxic.

History

The word Mars refers to the Roman god of iron and war. Mars Black was developed in the early 20th century from inorganic, synthetic iron oxide.

Pigment Name

PBr7-Burnt Sienna

Pigment Type

earth

Chemical Name

iron oxides

Chemical Formula

Fe2O3

Properties

Burnt Sienna is a warm, mid-brown color formed by burning the yellow-brown limonite clay called Raw Sienna. It ranges from semi-opaque to semi-transparent due to the combination of its opaque, red-brown mass tone and its transparent, orangey undertone. It is an excellent mixing complement for blues and greens and creates salmon or peach colored tints when mixed with white. It can be useful for subduing bright colors 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 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.

Pigment Name

PY42-Yellow Iron Oxide

Pigment Type

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.