Michael Harding Green Gold is a useful yellow pigment that mixes with reds to make interesting oranges and with blues to make a variety of dark sap greens.
Michael Harding has just introduced a new colour, Green Gold. The pigment in the Green Gold is PY129, Copper Azomethine Green. Bruce MacEvoy has named this a ‘Top 40 Pigment’ on his always informative Handprint website. He describes it as: “PY129 is commonly the ingredient in ‘green gold’ paints, is a lightfast, semitransparent, staining, mid valued, moderately dull yellow pigment.” Michael Harding describes it as a great mixing colour, and that it makes some very interesting mixtures with Crimson.
I love the range of values and mixing properties of the Golden Acrylic Green Gold, but it doesn’t use the same pigment and I’ve never used this pigment in oil colour. So I wanted to get a feel for what the new Michael Harding Green Gold oil paint can do. I mixed a spectrum of colours with the Green Gold to see how it was modified by different colours. Then I mixed the Green Gold with Magenta in a few proportions because that is a particularly lovely combination. It takes very little Magenta or Crimson to modify the Green Gold (or any green or yellow) as these reds are strong colours.
The green gold is a yellow so the mixes with magenta tend towards oranges. More magenta added towards the right.
Magenta (PR122) and the Michael Harding Green Gold make some beautiful mixes.
This Magenta is the Jackson’s Artist Oil.
Magenta (PR122) and the Michael Harding Green Gold make some beautiful mixes.
This Magenta is the Jackson’s Artist Oil.
Artist Ian Goldsmith tried the Green Gold and found “it is a vibrant, one might say ‘lurid’ yellowish green, and I’ve got to be honest, initially I wasn’t a fan. However, it did grow on me when I mixed it with white and discovered the resulting bright sulphurous creamy yellow. It suddenly went from caterpillar green, to a metamorphic butterfly yellow! It’s also extremely transparent, so would make a great glazing colour and mixes well with violet (PV23) to make a nice transparent dark.”
An alla prima study by Ian Goldsmith to demo the Green Gold, with some Violet and a touch of Raw Umber.
Michael Harding Pale Violet
Michael Harding Green Gold and Pale Violet are new colours recently introduced.
Michael Harding has also introduced another new colour, Pale Violet, a premixed-for-convenience colour made from Ultramarine Blue, Dioxazine Violet and White. Michael Harding describes it as particularly useful for shadows in clouds and portraits. Painter Ian Goldsmith tried this colour recently and said “It’s a vibrant pale violet that I liked instantly”, however since he likes to keep his palette to a minimum he will probably continue to mix this colour himself.
A quick study Ian Goldsmith made of an Instagram friend to demonstrate the Pale Violet.
Michael Harding Pale Violet (on the left) and Green Gold (on the right) make green greys.
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