1.25 oz. W&N Artists' Oil Colors Yellow Ochre #744

Professional art supplies manufacturer Winsor & Newton delivers again on the oil paint front. This oil paint in a yellow ochre tint is warm and rich, and it holds texture well. The yellow ochre shade was initially developed from naturally occurring iron oxides, and it is in fact one of the oldest, most popular colors used by oil artists. This paint comes as a deep, golden yellow, but it can also be diluted and lightened to form a brighter, dry straw yellow that is still just as inviting. And of course, it can also be easily blended with other Winsor & Newton oils to form different lasting pigments.

Yellow ochre is a natural pigment containing silica, clay and a mineral (iron-oxyhydroxide) known as goethite. It belongs to a family of colors known as an "earth pigments," (along with umber and sienna) and is one of the original pigments used by humans in cave paintings. The famous horse in the cave in Lascaux, France was painted with yellow ochre. The Egyptians also used yellow ochre extensively in tomb painting, often to depict the faces of women. Yellow ochre can even be seen in frescoes on the walls of Pompeii. Yellow ochre is an earthy yellow with hints of brown, but the hue of natural yellow ochre varies. Today some of the best natural ochre is mined in Cyprus. Synthetic yellow ochre has been produced since the 1920s and is known as mars yellow.

The yellow ochre is considered a medium to slow drying paint that takes five or more days to dry after it is applied.