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Raw sienna and burnt sienna are natural pigments, sourced from the earth. They are named after the Sienna region in Italy, where the pigment was originally mined. Now, different manufacturers source the pigment from different regions or use synthetics or different oxides to mimic it. Both versions have excellent permanency.
Watch me compare raw and burnt sienna on my YouTube channel.
Raw sienna
This pigment is a dull yellow-brown, leaning a bit warm. When tinted with white, it is a very warm, creamy colour. It’s raw pigment which means it’s not heated. It would be a similar shade if you saw it in nature. The version I’m using is Golden Artist Colors which is PY43, an iron oxide.
Burnt sienna
I have loved using burnt sienna for a long time because when mixed with ultramarine blue, it creates a range of beautiful dark grays. It’s a pigment that’s created by taking the raw sienna pigment and heating it until it a reddish colour. I’m using Golden Artist Colour’s burnt sienna which uses PBr7, a calcined iron oxide. Calicination is the process of heating a pigment to create a new colour.
Mixing tests
I created a swatch sheet where I mixed both raw sienna and burnt sienna with various common hues around the colour wheel. I used the following paint colours in my tests:
- Hansa yellow lemon
- Cadmium-free yellow medium
- Cadmium-free red medium
- Quinacridone magenta
- Ultramarine blue
- Phthalo blue (green)
- Dioxazine purple
- Sap green hue
- Cadmium orange
Results
The two colours are dramatically different straight from the tube, so I don’t expect them to truly compete with each other. The mixing test is valuable to see what you can do with each and also compare with other natural pigments.
Raw sienna would be wonderful to use for sunset landscapes, especially beach scenes. Raw sienna would be great for any sort of landscape with sand in it. The pigment softens and mutes the colours that it’s mixed into, which could allow the artist to create serene scenes. It can lean a little chalky.
Burnt sienna is great for creating ruddy colours that are much more intense than when mixed with raw sienna. The mixes tend to be quite clean and it allows the artist to mix a seemingly endless variety of browns. When I added a bit of titanium white to each mix, then I started to see some chalkiness.
I tested both by painting a quick scene with red rocks, sand, ocean and sky. In both paintings, raw and burnt sienna were used when mixing all colours, even the ocean and sky. I struggled to be able to mix any sort of dark using the raw sienna. That’s not surprising because it’s a fairly light value straight out of the tube. The burnt sienna painting was easy to create darks and more depth to the painting.
Learn more
Get your own
Pick up your favourite shade of Sienna at your local art supply store or on Amazon:
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