Color To Order
November 23, 2009 by Janice
Colors to choose. Paint to use. More color to lay in stock. One of the many pleasures in paint are the names: cadmium orange, ultramarine violet feinst, rouge rubis…English, German, French.. the color comes from all over, like little packages of life. Add water and you get a river of thrill when this ones spreads and that one meets the other. Ahh. One of the many pleasures of being an artist is just the stuff we get to use. Offer any one of us a trip to Sennelier in Paris, or a roam through Artisan in Santa Fe, or any of the art suppliers of note in any major city…be sure to tie a rope around our waist so you can pull us out in a decent interval of time.
I am low on Chrome Oxide of Green, and Warm Sepia hm, better get some more Cobalt Blue…how’s the Rose Doré? Yes, add to the list… Cobalt Violet? Yes.. more..
And on it goes. Not a bad way to spend a little bit of a Sunday afternoon.
Silly, but I love the names of the pigments, they are so very specific, it’s like knowing the face and the hair color of a friend. Alizarin, manganese, viridian, all very unique with personalities and properties. Even the greys, Paynes or Davy’s? Davy’s please. It’s warmer.
My favorite? Hm, ones I cannot do without? If ever Schmincke ceased to make Ultramarine Violet Feinst we would see a huge hole in my heart, and a personal rant like are you nuts rant to the makers. And Cadmium Orange, so clear, so bright, so vital for connectors….and that Chrome Oxide…who knows that they need something called chrome and oxide to be happy? Well, some of us do. Cause that’s the way we roll. We won’t mention that thing that Winsor Newton did to my Cobalt Green. All wrong. All wrong I say. But they did not ask me. Hmph.
Tell me you are not at least a little in love with a favorite pen, or a particular maker of paper… yep. See what I mean? Don’t start with the Moleskinerie or the fabulousness that is Kremer pigments…the sable that is Series 7.
A new fresh sheet of paper…
Excuse me I drifted.
Cobalts and cads, sediments and stains, all over the world people are at work mining and grinding and binding them just for us. Did you know that lapis comes from Afghanistan? Makes incredible blues. And did you know that Graham paints are bound with honey and hand made? Ochres so rich, so bountiful. Sigh.
And on it goes.
We have today and five more Mondays left in this year…hm…Lots of paint to spread…so I took a little head count yesterday, wrote some letters…Tick Tock…Lots of parts to being creative. I took some time for renewal so my brush is rearing to go.
How about you? Ready to spread your creative self around? Do you love the stuff you get to use?
As a side note, I have to say thank you to Alex Fayle and the simple interview he asked of me…sometimes the lesson is in doing something hard to do…( the artist smiles.)
Comments
6 Responses to “Color To Order”
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not good to get attached to particular brand colors unless you stock up on a lifetime supply..
Got any W&N Naples Yellow to spare?
How many more Mondays is it?
I’m missing the count-down..
Hi PB,
I love WN Naples Yellow, have they messed with that too?
5 We have today and five more Mondays after this..
I almost bought some watercolour paints yesterday. A friend suggested I try a “date with my creative self” as suggested by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. I chickened out…. Come to think of it, they were really cheap and the colours didn’t have pretty names that might have enticed me to buy.
Those oil paints in your photo (they are oil right?) remind me of my mother’s studio. I loved the smell of her paints, and then, pressing my fingers on the dried blobs on her palette.
all I can say is Raw Sienna Moss.
s
@noew hello…this is the Marines…LOL….:)
Hi Davina,
Those are watercolors, but the oils have the same names and then some… Caput Mortem. Mars Violet Ahha.
I fell absolutely in love with those smells you are describing about when I went into my first artist’s cottage at oh 9 or 10 years old.
I think the names should be engaging. Half the fun.