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Hansa Yellow vs Cadmium Yellow
I don't work with yellow. My palette has only Yellow Ochre and sometimes Naples Yellow, but it's rare. Since I recently received the Hansa one from Schaal, and I wanted to understand these two pigments properly, I ran a deliberate experiment and wrote down what I found. I decided to compare the two since multiple sources state that Hansa is the non-toxic equivalent of Cadmium. Hansa Yellow (PY74) Warm, bright, transparent azo pigment (photo by Schaal) Cadmium Yellow (PY35) Wa
Ania Tomicka
May 224 min read


Pyrrole Red: a modern pigment for oil painting
As a painter, I am always curious about how the same pigment can behave differently depending on the brand, the formulation, and the medium it is ground in. Recently I found myself with three different pyrrole reds: two by Schaal (one of which has since been discontinued, and its newer replacement) and one by Michael Harding, alongside a Schaal cadmium red. It felt like the perfect opportunity to compare them properly: not just pyrrole against cadmium, but pyrrole against pyr
Ania Tomicka
May 83 min read


The Nude in Art: Vulnerability, Truth, and the Absence of Desire
Throughout the history of art, the nude has always been a form of language. It is the purest matter through which the artist tells the essence of being human, stripped of roles, eras, and social identities. Laocoön and His Sons , by Agesander , Athenodorus and Polydorus of Rhodes (2nd century BC), Pio-Clementine Museum , Vatican. As a genre, the nude is a complex subject to approach due to its many variations: formal, aesthetic, and iconographic. Some art historians even con
Ania Tomicka
Nov 6, 20252 min read


The Art of Color Mixing: A Beginner's Guide
Color mixing is an exciting journey that every painter experiences. For those new to oil paints, mastering the art of color mixing can...
Ania Tomicka
Oct 24, 20243 min read
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