{"id":14692,"date":"2026-10-05T11:11:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=14692"},"modified":"2026-10-05T11:11:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:11:37","slug":"i-like-williamsburgs-italian-raw-umber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2026\/10\/i-like-williamsburgs-italian-raw-umber\/","title":{"rendered":"I like Williamsburg’s Italian Raw Umber"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Early in my career, the earth colors were central to my palette because they were cheap. Price was the criterion I used to select my colors: raw umber, burnt umber, burnt sienna, raw sienna, yellow ochre, earth green, Van Dyke brown, ivory black, Prussian blue, and lead white. The cadmiums and the rich blues and greens cost too much for my pocket. Because they were the most affordable, I could buy them from premium brands like Blockx and Old Holland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, when price is no longer the sole consideration, raw umber and the other earths remain on my palette. Raw umber is made from natural brown iron oxide and is designated as PBr7 in the Color Index. It is a broad earth-pigment category rather than a single fixed color. Sienna colors are historically linked to deposits near Siena in Tuscany, and umbers to Umbria. \u201cBurnt\u201d versions are heated, which makes the colors redder. So raw umber and burnt umber are made from the same material, differing only in the production process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my experience, raw umber displays the same handling characteristics regardless of where it’s procured: transparent and quick-drying. Raw umber is the fastest-drying pigment, which makes it ideal for underpainting and sketching. While its handling is consistent, its appearance can vary widely depending on where the iron oxide is mined, from warm reddish to cool blue or green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently. I prefer the cooler versions, and Williamsburg Italian Raw Umber is a fine example: it handles crisply while demonstrating great depth. Good stuff. Here is a painting, “Lunch in Savannah,” I’m working up. The underpainting is made entirely with Italian Raw Umber over a cool gray ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here’s another view of the painting. Mybe I’ll call it “Pizza in Savannah?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My palette, a cheap glass-framed reproduction, shows that I ignored every color except raw umber. By the way, I replaced the palette’s reproduction with a cool-gray mid-value backing. Comparing the palette’s cool gray to the coolness of the raw umber demonstrates that Italian Raw Umber’s coolness is relative to other raw umber varieties. To further illustrate the point, here is another painting I’m working on, done entirely with warm raw umbers from several vendors, primarily Williamsburg’s French Raw Umber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite the poor quality of the camera-shot photo, you can see that the umber is much warmer than in the other painting. I will name this painting “Something Dance,” or Dance Something?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love raw umber, especially Williamsburg’s Italian Raw Umber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love raw umber, especially Williamsburg’s Italian Raw Umber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":14702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,208,550,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-materials","category-oil-paint","category-shop_talk"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12776,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2023\/09\/premixing-tones\/","url_meta":{"origin":14692,"position":0},"title":"Premixing tones","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"September 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Artists spend a lot of time thinking about their palettes; how many colors, which colors, how big, and so forth. My palette is too large to hold in my hand so I keep it on a cart next to the easel. The palette has to be big enough to contain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How to"","block_context":{"text":"How to","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/how-to\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pal4.jpg?fit=1200%2C738&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pal4.jpg?fit=1200%2C738&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pal4.jpg?fit=1200%2C738&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pal4.jpg?fit=1200%2C738&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pal4.jpg?fit=1200%2C738&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3226,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/palettes\/","url_meta":{"origin":14692,"position":1},"title":"Palettes","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"March 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is my general. all-purpose palette. It has a good assortment of every color group and the core neutrals I always mix. You can do just fine with fewer colors--three or even fewer from each group is certainly workable. When I was younger, I had a very limited palette because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shop Talk"","block_context":{"text":"Shop Talk","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/shop_talk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/pal-hor21.jpg?fit=500%2C338&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3288,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/complementary-neutral-tones\/","url_meta":{"origin":14692,"position":2},"title":"Complementary neutral tones","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"March 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The eye loves complementary neutrals. The eye will accept the 'truth' of a well placed neutral faster than it will a piece of carefully crafted modeling. Nature abounds with complementary colors. I remember as a child being amazed by the green shadows cast by the light streaming though the red\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shop Talk"","block_context":{"text":"Shop Talk","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/shop_talk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/pal-vert-neutrals.jpg?fit=400%2C411&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6728,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2017\/02\/review-utrecht-oils\/","url_meta":{"origin":14692,"position":3},"title":"Review: Utrecht oils","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It's hard for me to understand this but until this week I never used Utrecht brand oils. \u00a0I'm not sure why this is. \u00a0I've visited their shops in NYC and Cleveland and ordered plenty of other things from them. \u00a0True, I was disappointed with the easel I bought from them,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "materials"","block_context":{"text":"materials","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/materials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/utrecht-tubes.gif?fit=800%2C538&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/utrecht-tubes.gif?fit=800%2C538&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/utrecht-tubes.gif?fit=800%2C538&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/utrecht-tubes.gif?fit=800%2C538&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6429,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/in-the-studio-10916\/","url_meta":{"origin":14692,"position":4},"title":"In the studio 10\/9\/16","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"October 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I worked on several paintings over the past few days. I also applied the ground to the canvas on the right-side of the photo. \u00a0The tone is burnt sienna, raw umber, and white. \u00a0I used to use warm grounds based on burnt sienna but lately I've used gray. \u00a0So I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Paintings"","block_context":{"text":"Paintings","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/paintings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/studio-2016-10-9.jpg?fit=800%2C1123&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/studio-2016-10-9.jpg?fit=800%2C1123&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/studio-2016-10-9.jpg?fit=800%2C1123&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/studio-2016-10-9.jpg?fit=800%2C1123&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":561,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2012\/12\/in-the-studio-12-16-12\/","url_meta":{"origin":14692,"position":5},"title":"In the Studio 12.16.12","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"December 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"For a Sunday during December in NE Ohio the light is good. Here's a photo taken in the studio today.\u00a0 I've been painting since 7:00 and now it's time for lunch and the Brown's game on T.V. The large painting on the right \"Garth and Jane\" was finished yesterday. 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