Sepia isn’t a colour that has a lot of star power. No wonder! It was named after the sepia cuttlefish, which is where sepia gets its pigment. These small cephalopods, related to their much larger cousins, the octopus and the squid, store ink in sacs situated between their gills. When under attack, they release a cloud of ink to distract any predator, which gives the cuttlefish enough time to escape.

Most of us associate sepia with old-fashioned photographs. In the early days of photography (1850s), applying sulphuric sepia on a black and white photo, gave the picture warm brown tone that was more appealing. Most importantly, however, the addition of sepia made the image more stable and longer lasting. This was an important step in the longevity of photographic work. Imagine all the photos we might have lost from the past if they’d been left as black and white!

Sepia’s history in art, however, goes back before photography. During the Renaissance sepia became popular as a drawing medium. By the late 18th and 19th centuries, it had replaced bistre as a medium for making wash drawings. (Bistre was brown pigment made from boiling wood. Sounds like ink for cuttlefish was a better choice!)

Today, no cuttle fish are harmed in the making of sepia as a paint colour. Sepia watercolour pigment is created using a mixture of carbon and umber, which gives it that black/brown colour with a reddish tone. Some refer to it as a colour “nestled between raw umber and sienna”. If you don’t have the colour (or don’t want to add yet another tube of paint), adding a bit of ultramarine to burn umber will give you a sepia colour.

An added bonus, real sepia is edible and can used today in cooking, such as the Italian dish Spaghetti al nero di seppia (spaghetti with squid ink) and is known as Ikasumi in Japan where it is used in various foods, including ice cream. Apparently, it can leave a temporary stain on your teeth, just saying….

As a watercolour paint, sepia is considered a semi-transparent colour, lightfast and low staining. When used as a wash, it shows lovely gradation, and when the wash is still wet, it is easy to life the colour. It is often recommended for plowed fields, farm subjects, fences bulrushes and cattails. But similar to how we still regard those old sepia photographs, when used in paintings, it still reinforces the sense of time passing, or a moment not to be forgotten.