Indian Yellow and Indian Yellow Deep

Indian Yellow and Indian Yellow Deep are unique colours, with quite a history. Indian Yellow was originally created by feeding cows a diet of mango leaves and collecting the uniquely coloured urine that they produced. The luminescent colour was a favourite of renowned painter JMW Turner, which is unsurprising as he was known as ‘the painter of light’. Modern day production no longer involves cows, but still creates a fantastic colour with the same qualities as the original. The difference between the two shades of Indian Yellow are readily apparent; Indian Yellow is an energetic colour with a clear brilliance, and Indian Yellow Deep has the same vibrancy but with a darker, richer tone. We open up both yellows here with Sansodor so you can see the range of colour they provide as they are thinned out. Their transparency makes them great choices for layering or as a glaze to add tone and depth to your work.

Video Transcript

0:06    Hello. Today I'm going to demonstrate the beautiful properties of Indian Yellow and Indian Yellow Deep from the Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colour range. Indian Yellow was originally created by feeding cows a diet of mango leaves and collecting the urine they produced, which had a unique yellow colour. It is an incredibly luminescent colour. So it's no surprise that the English artist J.M.W. Turner, known as ‘the painter of light’, used Indian Yellow.

0:37    To start, these are the colours straight from the tube. This is Indian Yellow. This is Indian Yellow Deep. As you can see Indian Yellow is an energetic yellow pigment with a clear brilliance. Indian Yellow Deep, has the same vibrancy of colour, but with a slightly darker, richer tonal value. Now I'm mixing in Sansodor, a low odour solvent used to dilute oil colour during painting. I'm using a clean brush to demonstrate.

1:08    I'm adding more solvent and wiping my brush occasionally to show the range of the colour. The more Sansodor you add, the thinner your paint consistency will become. But you have to be very careful not to use too much because it will weaken your layer of paint. Finally, to demonstrate the translucent qualities of Indian Yellow and Indian Yellow Deep, I will use Bismuth Yellow as a ground colour and show how Indian Yellow and Indian Yellow Deep act as a glaze over the top to create tone and depth.

1:33    Bismuth Yellow is a brighter opaque lemon yellow with excellent covering properties. Here the paint is totally dry, providing a ground of the colour ready to glaze. Here is a layer of Indian Yellow mix with the Sansodor and here is a layer of the Indian Yellow Deep mixed with the Sansodor. The translucent qualities of the yellows on top act as a lovely glaze and can be a great addition to your painting practice.

I hope you found this demonstration useful!