Orange-toned yellows, somewhere in-between yellow and orange. Some people call this slot “warm yellow.”
Color List
Single pigment colors, roughly in opaque-to-transparent order:
Mixes:
Discontinued:
Not tried:
- Cadmium Yellow Deep (PY35)
My Thoughts
Necessary slot? It depends on the rest of your palette and what other yellow options you have. Katie Woodward is an example of someone who has a warm yellow (New Gamboge) as her brightest/yellowest yellow, but generally I would recommend having a middle yellow or a lemon yellow if you’re only going to have one yellow. For a split primary palette, such as the Daniel Smith Essentials kit, the combination of a lemon yellow and an orange yellow take care of the “cool/warm” divide and can mix to make middle yellow… but I often find middle yellow more convenient.
One situation where I find orange-yellow indispensible is when I’m painting autumn leaves or another subject with a lot of bold oranges. I think having an orange-yellow is the most crucial component to mixing a bold orange, and allows you to mix bolder oranges (with a range of reds) than you can even get from single-pigment oranges.
Many artists use warm yellows to mix naturalistic greens, with green or cyan pigments. This is a job that can also be done by a heavy metal complex gold.
Favorites: With a lot of back-and-forth (because many of these pigments are similar), I’m going for Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65) as my favorite; it is the brightest.
Mix your own: Middle Yellow + Orange, or in a more limited palette, Middle Yellow + a very small amount of Magenta, Pink, or Rose.