yellow · Oil and Watercolor

Lemon Yellow

A cool yellow. The only route to clean, fresh greens when mixed with blue.

IndexPY3

Color#F6E04B

Tinting strength5/10

Opacitysemi-opaque

Lightfastnessgood

Dryingaverage

Middling strength: it mixes politely and does not take over.

With white, step by step

pure #F6E04B 6:1 #F7E661 3:1 #F7EA6F 2:1 #F7EC79 1:1 #F7F08D 1:2 #F7F3A2 1:3 #F7F5AE 1:6 #F7F7C0 pure #F8F7F3

From pure Lemon Yellow on the left to titanium white on the right. Watch how much chroma you lose on the way — that is the cost of lightening with white, and the reason a tint often needs a trace of something warm putting back.

What to mix it with

These are the partners that take Lemon Yellow furthest towards neutral, which makes them the ones you reach for when you need a shadow or a gray rather than a color.

with Mars Black quietest point #201E1D with Zinc White quietest point #FBFAF7 with Titanium White quietest point #F8F7F3 with Ivory Black quietest point #23201E with Payne’s Gray quietest point #38484A with Dioxazine Purple quietest point #826662

Every pair

Titanium White Zinc White Cadmium Yellow Light Cadmium Yellow Deep Yellow Ochre Raw Sienna Naples Yellow Cadmium Red Light Cadmium Red Deep Alizarin Crimson (permanent) Quinacridone Rose Indian Red Burnt Sienna Raw Umber Burnt Umber Ultramarine Cobalt Blue Cerulean Blue Phthalo Blue Prussian Blue Phthalo Green Viridian Chromium Oxide Green Dioxazine Purple Ivory Black Mars Black Payne’s Gray

Is it on your palette?

Tick off what you own and every recipe is worked out for that set, from a color you pick out of your own photo.

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