9 - Earth Watercolour Swatches

There are literally hundreds of artist quality watercolours available from many brands. I have tested many of them and created swatches as seen on the right. The square box is painted into a damp wash at the top to show the colour mixed in water, with more pigment added towards the bottom. The rectangle is painted in a juicy wash to show the mass-tone. The small squares at the bottom of the swatch have the pigment number and characteristics - staining, lightfast rating, granulation and transparency. 

For more on earth pigments see the Brown Artis creation pigment database page here. the comprehensive Handprint Earth Pigment page is here, based on lightfast tests competed in 2004.
Picture
The size of my swatches
I am gradually creating more categories as the galleries are getting too big!

Yellow Earth Single pigment Watercolours 

Yellow earth colours may be made with yellow pigments such as Yellow Ochre PY43 and the synthetic PY42, or brown pigments such as PBr7, which is generally used for the slightly more orange Raw Sienna. Note that some Raw Umbers (see below) can be very yellow and look like a yellow ochre. You can see some more transparent neutral yellows such as the Quinacridone Gold hues in the orange and yellow sections.
I'll add the written pigment information to each section shortly. Hover or click on any tile to see the full information.

Yellow Oxides and Raw Siennas made with PY42.

Yellow Ochres and Raw Siennas made with PY43

Raw Siennas and ochres made with PBr7

​Yellow Earth Single pigment Watercolours PY42 & Py43 and PBr7. 

I am gradually sorting this gallery into the pigment galleries above and below and will add the extra information into the text area here.

PBr6

Burnt Siennas, Raw Umbers, Burnt Umbers, and other Earth watercolours made with PBr7 

Many of these colours are made with PBr7, which is found in Raw Sienna (see above), Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber and Burnt Umber. Raw Umber can vary from the deep cool brown I expect it to be, to a slightly greenish yellow ochre hue, depending on the manufacturer. See also the PR101 watercolours below - some manufacturers use PR101 to create their burnt sienna watercolours.

Burnt Siennas made with PBr7

Burnt Umbers made with PBr7

  1. Burnt Umber - American Journey; Burnt Umber - Jackson's; Burnt Umber - Daler Rowney Burnt Umber - Old Holland; Burnt Umber -Rembrandt; 
  2. Burnt Umber - White Nights; 

Raw Umbers made with PBr7 

  1. Raw Umber - American Journey; ​Cyprus Raw Umber Deep - Aquarius; Raw Umber; Cyprus Raw Umber Deep - Aquarius; Daler Rowney; Raw Umber - Jackson's; 
  2. Raw Umber - Old Holland; Raw Umber - Sennelier; Raw Umber - Winsor & Newton ​
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Umbers made with PBr8

Burnt Umber, Cyprus - A Gallo; Green Umber - A Gallo; Greenish Umber - Rembrandt 

NBr8

Van Dyck Brown - Aquarius 

PBr11

Lunar Earth - Daniel Smith 

PBr24

This is a lovely option instead of a multi-pigment mix for Naples Yellow.
​2022 update - this pigment has been released by Daniel Smith as Chrome Titanate Yellow (not shown).
​Titanium Gold Ochre - Schmincke; Naples Yellow Deep Extra - Old Holland; Naples Yellow Deep - Winsor & Newton; Yellow Titanate - Winsor & Newton

Browns made with PBr25

PBr25 is an interesting alternative to Indian Red if you want to use an transparent earthy rather than an opaque PR101 Indian Red.

Red earth and yellow earth watercolours made with PR101 and PR102

There are many different colours made using the pigment PR101. They vary from a rich opaque and granulating Indian and Venetian Reds to a transparent burnt orange hue to a rich granulating transparent brown. I've put them all together here, but will gradually separate them further. PR102 is less common but included here also.

Orange Earths made with PR101

Venetian Reds made with PR101

Indian Reds made with PR101

Brown Earths made with PR101

Caput Mortuum made with PR101 or PR102

Earths made with PR102

Earth watercolours.

 Miscellaneous single pigments PBr6, PBr11, PBr25, PBr33, PR41, PY119, PY164, Primatek mineral pigments and others.

Earth watercolours made with PR206

Known by many names, this is a lovely transparent red earth colour. However this pigment is no longer available to these colours, and mixes made from this pigment, will also run out in time.

Van Dyke Browns

'Sepia' Watercolours

Mostly a mix of a black and a brown pigment.

Earth watercolours - mixed pigments

I prefer to use single pigment earth colours. Some of these are a mix of PY42 or PBr7 pigments, or a brown pigment with black. I don't think any are essential, though sometimes I do mix my own custom earth colours. These will be sorted, with extra pigment information added, soon.

Cool dark Raw Umber mixed  pigments colours

Verdaccio - A Gallo PBr7 + PBk11
These swatches are painted and added as a guide. The intention is show the characteristics of each colour when painted. The colour reproduction is not perfect but hopefully will still be helpful used in conjunction with the manufacturer's website.  Thank you to those of you, from Canada, Sweden, Hong Kong, Genrmany, Poland, Australia and the USA, who have helped me with this section by sharing your favourite colours. If you notice errors please let me know so I can correct them. If you have artist quality watercolour that are not shown here and want to help me build up this resource, also please let me know :-)
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This page was last edited November 2022 - updating the galleries in alphabetical order and extra written information is in progress...