Burnt Umbers

A Kremer pigment order arrived today! I've mentioned before and it's worth restating: Kremer rocks. An order placed Monday evening arrived today, and as always, was 100% complete.

There are other fascinating pigments in this package but for now let's look at these gorgeous burnt umbers. They all are of a fine grind--I can't feel any grit while dispersing.

  Reddish                 Type B                 Dark Brown

Here are the details:

Burnt Umber Reddish, Italy (40700)

Burnt Umber Type B, Cyprus (40723)

Burnt Umber Dark Brown, Cyprus (40720)

[pigment name, origin, (Kremer #)]

Umbers have the same iron oxide component as the ochres and siennas. Only thing is that umbers also contain manganese which means that a bit of added attention is needed. If the usual precautions are taken, there's no problem.

From what I've been reading, the manganese acts as a drying agent with oils and artists sometimes mix a bit of umber for that purpose.