Jim Harris (aka Gunzorro) once wrote of a "fairly stable rainbow." For our paintbox, this is one of our main top choices for the core notes of yellow. The opacity and high chroma are some of the reasons we adore cadmium yellow. It comes in a range of cool and warm yellows named Light, Medium, and Deep (from cool to warm, respectively).

To get an idea of the color ranges for these names, we compared a few cadmium yellow lights in oils. Here are some comparisons of cadmium yellow deeps and mediums. Cadmium Yellow has glorious high chroma yellows ranging from bright citrusy cool lemons to middle yellows to warm marigolds. This pigment can almost dip to orange. Paintmakers offer them in Lemon, Light, Medium, Deep and Extra Deep. The word lemon or light refers to a bright canary yellow (a yellow that leans toward green) while Mediums refer to what some would call a primary yellow or even a slightly warm yellow. Cadmium Yellow Deeps are often chromatic marigold yellow-oranges, while Extra Deeps can be a yellowish orange. There are a few other names floating around out there like Cadmium Primrose (usually a very cool cadmium lemon) or Cadmium Yellow Pale, which may refer to a Lemon or Light, but we’ve seen its usage vary. On the warmer side, it’s fairly common to find a few interstitial blends between Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Orange to fill in the notes of the spectrum between Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Orange PO20.

While we recommend limited palettes to beginning painters, it may be helpful for intermediate or advanced artists to have a wide range of cadmium colors as each one can provide a note of high chroma at a slightly different hue angle. This arpeggio from yellow to orange provides a very good backbone for color mixing. We’ve heard this recommendation echoed by painters who favor the cadmiums, that is, to have a lot of different choices from a lot of different brands. The reason for this is not to benefit paintmakers, rather each paintmaker chooses the notes of color from a wide gradient of available choices from lemon yellow to marigold. The knowledge of how these colors behave in color mixing is an advantage for any painting subject matter, and using a string of cadmium yellows one can easily find one's way around mixing greens.

Perhaps somewhat confusingly, the names Light, Medium, and Deep can vary tremendously from brand to brand. Sometimes a Cadmium Yellow Medium in one brand will equate to a Cadmium Yellow Light in another. When starting out, a person can pick a Cadmium Yellow Light and a Cadmium Yellow Medium or Deep to simplify the options and learn color mixing.

We compare several Cadmium Yellow Lights in oils, as well as several Cadmium Yellow Deeps.

Something fascinating about cadmium yellows is the way they can add lightness to a mix- especially Cadmium Yellow Lemon. For some applications a person wants transparency or does not want this lightening effect, so we would recommend other pigments for transparent yellows (see note on PY110, also PY150).

Debate has raged around the cadmiums, and they are listed as pigments with toxicity, so be extremely cautious with them. Lately we have seen a lot of resources suggesting the modern cadmium pigments are engineered to be far less toxic source, another source and another source, compared with regular cadmium. However, we always err on the side of caution with pigments (there is no downside to being super careful) and so we always handle these with respect. Also beware with older cadmiums for many reasons as they may also contain toxic adulterants like lead. We have read not to breathe them (this means not using them for airbrush). However, we are not experts in health and safety so please consult the relevant authorities on their proper handling and disposal. According to the work of Monona Rossol, cadmium is a carcinogen and causes kidney damage. The Artist's Guide to Health and Safety has more information about the hazards of pigments containing Cadmium as well as Barium, as well as information on Sulfides. They should not be sprayed and the dust should be stringently avoided (remember in regard to avoiding sanding). It should go without saying, but absolutely do not ingest any pigment.

These are fairly lean oil paints as far as the oil required.

Cadmium Yellow actually has two pigment codes, PY35 and PY37. PY35 tends to be for cooler yellows though has quite a range, while PY37 makes warmer yellows. PY35:1 and PY37:1 are cheaper ways of making cadmium yellow which have less strength.

PY35 pigments (also called the CC version) refers to a higher-quality version of cadmium yellow than PY35:1 pigments. The CC refers to the concentrated cadmium version.