Contre-jour, Essaouira Harbour, Williamsburg Handmade Oil Colours on Arches huile paper, (32x42cm)
Haidee-Jo Summers reviews a selection of colours from the range of Williamsburg Handmade Oils.
About Williamsburg Oils
These paints are handmade in small batches and I now know from experience how the characteristics vary from one colour to another, which leads to particular quirks and traits rather than uniformity across the range.
The variety of textures and finishes took me by surprise the first time and I was looking forward to acquainting myself with more colours.
Where to buy
Williamsburg Handmade Oil Colours can be purchased from Jackson's Art Supplies by clicking here and from art shops and other online retailers.
Exploring Williamsburg colours
Williamsburg Handmade Oil Colours – some of the colours
Colours tested include:
- Green gold, a semi-transparent pale olive-green
- Indanthrone blue, a very deep, dark, highly staining blue. I have become extremely attached to this one for glazes for shadow areas and for mixing beautiful blue-violet blacks. It also makes a fabulous sketching-in colour when diluted with turps.
- Cadmium purple, a strong and rich without being overpowering, it comes into its own as a characterful dark but, tinted with white, it makes a delicate, dusty lavender.
- Cobalt green, a useful dark middle green reminiscent of a pine forest of silvery needles. Again I found this beneficial for deep glazes of colour.
- Mars orange deep, which falls between Mars orange and Mars red light. The makers describe this as the colour of rust, autumn leaves and wet terracotta, with a bronze-like shimmer when the colour is viewed at an angle. I can see this being a useful addition to the portrait painter’s palette as a warm dark which, when tinted with white, makes a clean pale salmon.
The range of Williamsburg cadmiums stretches from cadmium lemon through oranges and reds and cadmium red purple to cadmium purple.
In the painting Contre-jour, Essaouira Harbour, above, I started with indanthrone blue, cobalt green and cadmium purple mixed with turps in a watercolour style of loose washes.
Exploring earth colours
Some of the earth colours
The Williamsburg colourmen are passionate about their colour ranges. They seek to provide painters with best quality pigments that serve as a connection with the past, while actively searching for new and unique ones, expanding the depth and scope of colours available to we who paint with them.
Although the paints are made in the USA the pigments are sourced from all over the world.
The extensive range of earth colours includes 13 French earth colours from the oldest operating mine and pigment supplier in France.
Natural earth pigments are becoming increasingly scarce as mines close and synthetic versions take the place of pigments lost.
It is precisely this passion for using the pigments and paint-making methods of the past that sets Williamsburg apart from other manufacturers.
Most of the earth colours derive from iron ore. Soils, geology, minerals and climate specific to each region create unique pigment qualities.
Provence is home to many great ochres and it is from this region that Williamsburg takes the pigments to produce French ochre yellow deep, French ochre Havane, French burnt ochre, French burnt umber, French raw umber, French raw sienna and French light sienna.
Calcining (cooking) the pigment at high temperatures produces two different colours from the same pigment source: one raw and one burnt.
The four versions of umber and sienna make wonderful soft shimmering warm silver-greys when tinted with white, and rich, deep velvet browns when darkened with French noir Indien, all four of these would be equally at home in a landscape or portrait palette.
The last of the colours I tried were:
- French terre verte, a green similar to cobalt green but not as strong in mixes
- French ardoise grey
- French cassel earth, which has only a moderate light-fastness rating
- French noir Indien, comes from natural black iron oxide. It’s a very opaque black paint with warm undertones. It mixes beautifully with the other French earth colours to make darker varieties and, when tinted with white, makes a slate grey that shimmers
- French rouge Indien, a natural red iron oxide, opaque with a satin sheen. Like many of the earth colours it lends itself to a portrait or landscape palette
DISCOVER THE ITALIAN EARTH COLOURS WITH HAIDEE-JO HERE
Demonstration: Contre-jour, Essaouira Harbour
Stage one
I began this studio painting with loose washes of indanthrone blue, cobalt green, French light sienna and cadmium purple, which I diluted with turps, to sketch in the major shapes and masses.
Only parts of the sky were left white
Stage two
I used French noir Indien and indanthrone blue with a smaller brush to redefine the darkest lines and details, for example the fence and clutter in the background.
I added French yellow ochre deep in glazes for warmer areas of shadows.
Stage three: detail
I used cadmium purple, cadmium red and lemon yellow for the brightly coloured flags in the background
Finished painting
Contre-jour, Essaouira Harbour, Williamsburg Handmade Oil Colours on Arches huile paper, (32x42cm)
Cadmium purple and French rouge Indien were used in the sky, with the addition of white.
Thicker paint was applied over the thin glazes of colour.
The four versions of French umber and sienna make wonderful soft, shimmering warm silver-greys when tinted with white.
Final thoughts
There are currently over 160 colours in the Williamsburg range and each single pigment is carefully milled to meet their exacting requirements, which is why you need to experiment with each one when you first encounter it.
I’ve been fortunate to have found some new firm favourites amongst these paints.
You never quite know where the company’s search for natural and historical pigments will take them next, and it’s exciting to think that we can reap the rewards of their hard work in the relative comfort of our studios or outdoor workspace.
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