Discover 10 New Michael Harding Oil Colours: The Brecon Beacons Collection

Michael Harding has introduced 10 new artist oil colours as part of the Brecon Beacons collection, the latest chapter in a wider release of colours rooted in history, memory and a sense of place.

The collection extends the Michael Harding palette with an expressive spectrum of yellows, reds, purples, blues and green. It includes useful modern pigments, atmospheric mixtures and several distinctive colours created to inspire new possibilities on the palette.

Like all Michael Harding Artist Oil Colours, these paints contain a high loading of quality pigments ground in refined cold-pressed linseed oil. They contain no fillers, extenders or added driers, resulting in pure, vibrant colours with the rich, buttery consistency for which Michael Harding is known.

Bismuth Vanadate

A vibrant, zesty yellow with a softer character than many high-intensity modern yellows. Bismuth Vanadate is opaque, permanent and has high tinting strength, allowing it to bring brightness and energy to mixtures without becoming overly sharp.

Its opacity makes it useful for direct painting, highlights and areas requiring good coverage. It is a versatile choice for landscapes, still lifes and brilliant colour mixtures.

Pigment: PY184
Transparency: Opaque
Drying speed: Average
Series: 4

Hansa Yellow Medium

Hansa Yellow Medium is a warm, yolky yellow with excellent clarity and strength. Unlike the opaque Bismuth Vanadate, it is transparent, making it particularly valuable for luminous mixtures and glazing.

It produces vibrant oranges when mixed with warm reds and a wide range of natural greens when combined with blues. Its high tinting strength means that only a small amount is required to influence a mixture.

This is an extremely useful modern yellow for glowing landscapes, colourful still lifes and expressive floral painting.

Pigment: PY97
Transparency: Transparent
Drying speed: Slow
Series: 3

Amber

Sitting between deep orange and burnt gold, Amber is a rich, glowing colour with a natural warmth.

Its semi-transparent character makes it particularly effective for glazing and building luminous layers. It can bring warmth and depth to landscapes, portraiture and atmospheric passages without the heaviness of a fully opaque earth colour.

Amber can be used on its own for glowing golden areas or mixed into reds, browns and yellows to create rich autumnal tones.

Pigments: PY74, PR170 and PY3
Transparency: Semi-transparent
Drying speed: Average
Series: 2

Pyrrole Crimson

Pyrrole Crimson is a brilliant blue-biased red, offering clarity and intensity while remaining transparent.

Its cooler character makes it well suited to mixing violets, purples and deep crimson tones. Used thinly, it creates luminous red glazes; used more strongly, it produces dramatic passages of concentrated colour.

It is an especially useful choice for dramatic skies, sunsets, florals and any mixture requiring a clean, powerful crimson.

Pigment: PR264
Transparency: Transparent
Drying speed: Average
Series: 3

Perrindo Maroon

Deep, fruity and fiery, Perrindo Maroon is a characterful transparent red with warmth and richness.

It offers an interesting alternative to colours from the traditional Alizarin family. Its transparency gives it depth when used in glazes, while its dark red character makes it useful for florals, shadows, portraiture and atmospheric passages.

Mixed with blues or greens, Perrindo Maroon can also produce deep chromatic neutrals without immediately becoming dull or muddy.

Pigment: PR179
Transparency: Transparent
Drying speed: Average
Series: 3

Corinthian Purple

Corinthian Purple combines three pigments to create a rich, semi-transparent purple with plenty of atmosphere.

Its balance of red, blue and violet gives it a complex character that can shift depending on the colours around it. This makes it particularly useful for evening light, nocturnes, deep shadows and expressive colour mixtures.

It can be used as a ready-made atmospheric purple or adjusted towards warmer and cooler variations by adding red or blue.

Pigments: PR112, PB29 and PV23
Transparency: Semi-transparent
Drying speed: Average
Series: 2

Imperial Purple

Imperial Purple brings together the depth of Ultramarine and the brilliance of Quinacridone Violet.

The result is an elegant, transparent purple that moves easily between rich shadows and vibrant areas of colour. Its transparency makes it especially useful for glazing, while its balanced undertone allows it to work across florals, landscapes, portrait shadows and atmospheric subjects.

Imperial Purple is an excellent option for artists who want a versatile purple that feels deep without becoming heavy.

Pigments: PB29 and PV19
Transparency: Transparent
Drying speed: Average
Series: 2

Cobalt Blue Deep

Cobalt Blue Deep is a rich, atmospheric blue with the permanence and dependable handling associated with traditional cobalt pigments.

It is semi-opaque, giving it greater covering power than the transparent colours in the collection, while still retaining depth and subtlety. It is also the fastest-drying colour in the new range.

This elegant blue is ideal for skies, water, distant landscape elements, shadows and mixtures requiring a stable, natural-looking blue.

Pigment: PB74
Transparency: Semi-opaque
Drying speed: Very fast
Series: 5

Cosmic Blue

Cosmic Blue is one of the most unusual colours in the collection. At first glance, it appears dark and shadowy, but as the paint is worked or extended, a sapphire-like blue begins to reveal itself.

Its semi-transparent quality gives it depth and luminosity, making it well suited to nocturnes, deep water, skies, shadows and dramatic atmospheric passages.

Cosmic Blue offers something quite different from a traditional primary blue. It can produce near-black depths in concentrated applications while revealing its cooler blue character in thinner layers and mixtures.

Pigments: PBk11 and PB15.1
Transparency: Semi-transparent
Drying speed: Average
Series: 2

Forest Green

Forest Green is a sumptuous, verdant green with a rich and natural character.

Created from earth brown and blue pigments, it moves comfortably between foliage, shadows and reflected colour. It is useful straight from the tube but can also be pushed warmer with yellow and earth colours or cooled further with blue.

Its semi-transparent quality allows darker layers to retain depth, while its high tinting strength makes it a useful mixing colour for landscapes and botanical work.

Pigments: PBr7 and PB15.1
Transparency: Semi-transparent
Drying speed: Fast
Series: 2

A collection built for expressive colour

Together, the 10 Brecon Beacons colours form a varied and highly expressive palette.

Bismuth Vanadate and Hansa Yellow Medium offer two very different approaches to yellow, one opaque and zesty, the other warm and transparent. Amber bridges the gap between yellow, orange and earth tones, while Pyrrole Crimson and Perrindo Maroon provide brilliant and deep approaches to red.

Corinthian Purple and Imperial Purple open up atmospheric shadows and vibrant violets. Cobalt Blue Deep offers reliable coverage and permanence, while Cosmic Blue introduces mystery and depth. Forest Green completes the collection with a rich, natural green made for landscapes and beyond.

Whether you add one carefully selected colour to your existing palette or explore all 10, the Brecon Beacons collection offers fresh possibilities while retaining the exceptional pigment strength and handling expected from Michael Harding.

Explore Michael Harding Artist Oil Colours at Gordon Harris.