Over half the colors in the R&F’s color line are mixes.

The Complex Earths especially represent our dedication to the creation of unique colors. Complex Earths are mixes of natural or synthetic iron oxide pigments (collectively referred to here as “earths”) with chromatic pigments (pure reds, yellows, blues, greens, etc.) 

Each mix contains from two to five different pigments.

Toptone refers to the opaque version of any color. The more translucent the pigment, the thicker the paint film needs to be to make it opaque.

Undertone is the toptone extended (diluted) with medium - Blending Medium (for Pigment Sticks), or encaustic medium (for encaustic)

All pigments, whether opaque or translucent, have an undertone. The undertone of translucent colors, such as Quinacridone Red, is stronger and more saturated than the undertone of opaque pigments like Cadmium Red. Every pigment has its own degree of opacity or translucency. In the case of Complex Earths, each mix of differing translucencies produces undertones that vary depending on how extended the mixed color is.

Below are each of the Complex Earth colors divided into 4 different categories so that their usefulness can be better understood. (For a list of the components of each color, scroll to the bottom of this post.):

CHROMATIC BLACKS (Semi-Translucent): Payne’s Grey, Indigo, Blue Ochre, Courbet Green, and Turkey Umber Greenish

CHROMATIC EARTHS (Semi-Translucent): Turkey Red, Magenta Earth, Sap Green, Green Earth, and Olive Yellow

SANGUINE EARTHS & SEPIA (Semi-Opaque): Sanguine Earth (Light, Medium, and Deep), and Sepia

CHROMATIC GREYS (Opaque): Neutral Grey (Pale, Light, Medium, and Deep) and Turkey Umber Pale

Semi-translucent iron oxides, such as Brown Pink and Stil de Grain, and semi-translucent earths, such as the Siennas and Umbers, have complexities and hues that stand apart from the “singleness”of chromatic colors. 

Mixed with chromatic colors, the translucency of the earth pigments transforms the vividness of those chromatic colors into rich toptones and nuanced undertones.

In contrast to Chromatic Blacks, Chromatic Earth colors have fuller chroma and warmth. Their earthiness, which is more subdued than fully saturated colors, gives them the quality of rich intermediate colors that can transition between both saturated colors and neutral colors. Their lower saturation also makes them more easily influenced by other colors, which can make them seem warmer or cooler, purer or duller. The undertones of the Chromatic Earths are equally rich but strikingly more luminous than their top tones.

The more Chromatic Earths are extended with medium the more the strongest undertones dominate. Turkey Red is an example. The combination of Raw Sienna, Quinacridone Red, and Indian Yellow creates a push and pull between the Raw Sienna’s earthiness and the vibrant clarity of the Quinacridone Red and Indian Yellow undertones. The Raw Sienna gives a rich warmth to the red toptone. But when the Turkey Red is extended, it reveals a glowing orange-yellow interplay of the red and yellow tinged with the Raw Sienna.

Because the Indian Yellow has the strongest undertone of the 3 pigments, the more it is extend, the yellower the orange becomes. Cadmium Red Deep pushes the toptone of Turkey Red toward brown, Cadmium Yellow Deep toward red, Cobalt Blue toward purple. Tinting the Turkey Red with white creates a very muted neutral pink.

The Sanguine Earths and Sepia (pictured above respectively) are made only in R&F Pigment Sticks. R&F developed these colors as oil paint versions of Conté sanguine crayons. Just enough white is added to give Sanguine Earths and Sepia a chalky toptone. By contrast, when extended, these colors have a surprisingly saturated undertone.

Reminiscent of the Renaissance reddish drawing chalks, all four colors can be used singly or together to create monochromatic figure drawings, landscapes or abstract color fields. Their muted saturation enables them, like the Chromatic Earths, to serve as the intermediate transitions to fully saturated colors, pale tints, and darker hues.

[Richard] Diebenkorn used complex variants of grey to offset and make vibrant subdued chromatic colors. 

[Giorgio] Morandi used them to create meditative transitions to slightly saturated colors. The ambiguity of R&F’s Complex Greys makes them easily influenced by more saturated colors, which push the greys in different directions of hue, temperature, saturation, and value.

Just as the Chromatic Blacks have more versatility than “true” blacks, the Chromatic Greys contain hints of their component pigments, which offer a wider range of color relationships than simple black-and-white mixes. 

Tinting any of the Chromatic Blacks with white adds to the range of Complex Greys. Turkey Umber Pale is a good example of this mutability. Against white, it is a subtle yellowish-green neutral. Chromium Oxide Green pushes it toward blue, Cobalt Blue towards yellow, Cadmium Red toward green.

The R&F Pigment Sticks Neutral Grey mixes range in value from pale to deep: 

• Raw Umber
• Cobalt Blue
• Titanium-Zinc White. 

Set against their component color Raw Umber, they shift blue. Against Cobalt Blue they shift toward greenish brown.