Which Yellow Should I Use?

Great question! Yellow is one of the colors that we cannot mix, so my theory is that I need the highest chroma or the most intense yellow I can get it. In my book, over the years, cad-yellow-lemon is a really nice, bright lemon yellow. There is also cad- yellow- medium and light. But, cad-yellow-lemon, the pure version, is the highest and brightest yellow that I know of. There is also cad-yellow-medium pure, which is a little darker. Indy yellow is really going towards ochres. Naples yellow hue is a little pale, a little darker. I can mix those colors with the cad-lemon because I can add a small bit of red or I can add raw sienna to it. I can always tone it down, which is a big thing. I can always bring it down deeper, but I can’t get it any brighter.

This goes for some other colors, too. You want to get the highest intensity chroma color because you can always bring it down and you can’t take it up. You may as well start high if you know you can’t get there any other way. Color can be very personal, but give it a shot with a small tube of cad-yellow-lemon. I really enjoy this yellow and it has been working for me for many years.

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