Tawny is a light brown to brownish-orange color. It is often used to describe the color of animal fur, particularly lions and deer. Tawny shades range from pale tan to reddish-brown. As a color name, “tawny” dates back to around 1300 and comes from the Middle English word “tawny” meaning “tan-colored.” Understanding exactly what color tawny is can be helpful when describing animals, paint colors, clothing, and more.
Defining Tawny
The main characteristic of the color tawny is that it is a light brownish-orange. More specifically, tawny contains undertones of orange, yellow, and red mixed into a light brown base. This creates a soft, warm, earthy color.
Tawny sits in between lighter shades like beige and darker browns like umber. It has more red undertones than tan but is not as orange as copper. Tawny is darker and more muted than pastel peach. Compared to similar earth tones, tawny is lighter than rust and more yellow than bronze.
Tawny in Nature
Tawny is commonly used to describe the fur or feathers of certain animals. For example, tawny owls and tawny eagles have brownish-orange plumage. Lions are also often referred to as tawny due to their golden brown fur.
Deer like fallow deer and sika deer develop tawny colored fur in the summer months. Some fox species also develop tawny coats. The word helps differentiate these warm, light brown animal coats from more grayish or redder browns.
In botany, some plants and mushrooms are described as tawny. The tawny milkcap mushroom has a brownish-orange cap. Certain moths and butterflies also display tawny colored wings, such as the magpie moth.
Tawny in Art
Painters often utilize the color tawny in their works featuring animals or nature. Landscape painters may use tawny shades to capture dried grasses, earth, or trees with autumn foliage. Portrait artists may paint a person’s tan skin or hair with tawny hues.
Some specific pigments are referred to as tawny based on their soft orange-brown tones. Raw sienna and raw umber, made from natural clay, both produce tawny shades. Burnt sienna has a slightly redder tawny tone. These pigments are commonly used in oil paints.
Tawny in Fashion and Decor
In fashion and interior decorating, tawny works as a neutral accent color that provides warmth. It pairs well with other natural tones like off-white, tan, cream, light blue, olive green, and even pink.
Tawny is seen in fall clothing colors like jackets, pants, and boots. It also works for upholstery and wall paints as an alternative to basic brown. Tawny provides a cozy, earthy feel to living spaces. However, it should be used sparingly as large swaths of tawny may overwhelm a room.
| Shade | Hex Code |
|---|---|
| Pale Tawny | #D99A6C |
| Tawny | #CD5700 |
| Tawny Olive | #A57C50 |
Defining Tawny in Hex, RGB, and CMYK
To understand tawny colors precisely, it helps to look at their values in different color coding systems:
Hex: The main tawny hex code is #CD5700. This represents the balance of red, green, and blue that creates the prototypical tawny shade. More muted tawnies are represented by olive green hex codes like #A57C50. Lighter tawnies are peachy hex codes like #D99A6C.
RGB: In the RGB color model, the central tawny RGB values are R: 205, G: 87, B: 0. Lighter tawnies have higher green and red values. Darker tawnies have lower green values and higher blue added.
CMYK: The main CMYK values for tawny are 0% cyan, 60% magenta, 100% yellow, 20% black. CMYK allows tawny to be created by mixing pigments. Higher yellow and magenta make tawny distinct from brown.
So in summary, tawny is defined as a light brown-orange color with strong orange/yellow undertones and some red. Tawnies range from peachy beige to deeper umber browns but maintain warmth and earthiness.
How Lighting Affects Tawny
Like other colors, tawny can shift in appearance based on different lighting conditions. This contributes to the wide range of shades that can be called tawny.
Full sunlight gives tawny a brighter, more saturated appearance. Indoor lighting and shade makes tawny look more muted. At dawn or dusk, tawny takes on a soft haziness. Under fluorescent or LED lights, the orange undertones may become more pronounced.
Photographers must pay attention to lighting when capturing the tawny color of animals or landscapes. The perfect warm sunset can intensify a tawny tone. Meanwhile, open shade reduces the vibrance.
Regional Variations in Tawny
The exact definition of the color tawny varies somewhat by region and language. Here are some of the alternate names and shades used for tawny:
– United Kingdom: Tawny is interchangeable with “fulvous” which refers to the brownish-orange color of some British animals. Fulvous is derived from the Latin “fulvus.”
– Australia: Aussies also use tawny and fulvous interchangably when describing animal fur. A tawny frogmouth refers to a species of bird.
– Germany: The German word for tawny is “lehmfarben” which translates directly to “clay colored.” This refers back to natural earthen clay pigments.
– France: En Français, tawny is translated as “fauve” meaning wild beast or anything relating to lions or foxes.
– Spain: In Spanish, tawny is “leonado” meaning lion-colored, referring to the fur of mountain lions.
So in summary, tawny is translated in many cultures as the warm brownish-orange color of certain wildlife. The roots link back to clay, lions, and foxes as common tawny colored animals.
Tawny in Culture and History
Throughout history, tawny has been associated with wildlife and the natural world. Some cultural connections include:
– Ancient Egyptians used the tawny shade in hieroglyphics to represent the ideas of nature and animals.
– In ancient Persian rugs and textiles, tawny represented the earth.
– Medieval illuminated manuscripts used tawny pigments made from iron-rich clay soils to paint animals or backgrounds.
– During the Romanticism art period, tawny symbolized wilderness and untamed beauty.
– Arthur Conan Doyle described Sherlock Holmes as having “tawny” hair to give him an unkempt, rustic appearance.
So in many cultures worldwide, tawny has represented nature, animals, earthiness, and ruggedness. These longstanding associations give tawny a rustic and organic feel.
Summary of Key Points
To summarize the key aspects that define the color tawny:
– It is a light brownish-orange color that sits between tan and umber.
– Tawny contains undertones of orange, yellow, red added to a light brown. This creates a warm, earthy tone.
– It is used to describe the fur and feathers of certain animals like deer, foxes, lions, owls.
– In decor, fashion, and art, tawny provides a cozy, neutral accent color.
– Precise shades range from pale beige to deep brown but maintain orange warmth.
– Lighting, language, and region impact how tawny is perceived and categorized.
– Culturally, it is associated with nature, animals, earthiness, and ruggedness.
So in essence, tawny is best summarized as a versatile, organic color bringing warmth and rustic flair. With its centuries-old roots and connections to wildlife, tawny maintains an earthy appeal.
Conclusion
Tawny is a light brown-orange color that is evocative of the natural world. Its soft earthiness has been inspiration for artists, writers, and designers alike. Tawny’s rustic and organic characteristics give it an appealing and cozy style.
The next time you spot a deer or fox with golden fur, an owl with tawny feathers, or a tan jacket with warm undertones, you can feel confident identifying the color as tawny. And with knowledge of its cultural history and artistic impact, you can fully appreciate all that this charming color conveys. Tawny’s flexibility and wide range make it a continually relevant part of our visual world.
