“As I get older I’m more and more comfortable with being alone…”
Sienna Miller
Learning the art of watercolour painting involves a whole new vocabulary and knowledge base. These brownish paints are a good example. On the left is sienna and on the right burnt sienna. Sienna is a naturally occurring ferrous oxide, with a reasonable portion of manganese to give yellow tones. I was surprised to learn it had nothing to with Italian towns that hold horse races, nor Formula 1 racing. Modern paints are synthesised, and the key pigment in sienna is PBr7. Some artists get hot and bothered about companies (looking at you Windsor & Newton) that add PBr101 to get a nicer orange tone. I stand with the aggrieved, the paint should be referred to as a hue if this has occurred. Remarkably you get burnt sienna, if you roast sienna. YouTube says you can do this a home if you are a fool. I have learnt that burnt sienna mixes with ultramarine to give moody dark neutrals and greys. Magically, sienna doesn’t tend to form green when mixed with blue, making it useful for sunny highlights in blue skies. #dontgetmestartedonumber #letsmakelemonade.
Pen Paint and Scalpel 
very interesting, but I was a little disappointed to learn that the colour Sienna has nothing to do with the place! I also went to school at Siena college- our uniforms still have a lot of brown and green!
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I too thought it was the colour of the soils near Siena
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