Broken

It’s been brewing for a while but I finally went to the shops yesterday to buy a transparent warm (orangey) red as a potential replacement for the semi-opaque light red currently sitting in my palette. Ā There was no quinacridone red on the shelves, so I went for the other possibility on my list: rose dore. Ā But what to test it out on though? Ā I didnā€™t fancy painting red/orange flowers or a red/orange landscape, so I thought I’d go for an abstract.

I started by dividing the page into six non-regular quadrilaterals with masking tape. Ā Then I painted some wavy lines over the paper with masking fluid as a way to link the six pictures together. Ā On a separate piece of paper I planned which primary trials to use in each subpainting. Ā I used all six transparent primaries (transparent yellow, Indian yellow, French ultramarine, Prussian blue, quinacridone magenta and rose dore) in six non-identical combinations with each colour appearing in three places.

And then I painted. Ā Each sub-painting started with one layer, then a dry-on dry second layer. Ā It wasn’t until the third layer was applied that I started thinking properly about what to paint. Ā After laying on a dry-on-dry third layer, I came back to each painting and, in places did some wet-into-wet using all three colours. Ā Clingfilm, aluminium foil and salt were used in variously places to add texture. Ā As a last step, I added some borders around each sub-painting with sepia, again trying to bring everything together. Ā Finally the tape and masking fluid were removed and what you see is what I ended up with.

I’m calling it Broken. Ā It looks like a painting with a message, so I’m giving it a name that sounds as if it really does have a message. Ā Which it doesn’t.

What do I like about this one? Ā The way it’s been irregularly divided up and the way the masking fluid lines divide it up in a contrastingly different way. Ā The first two layers in the middle top sub-painting (before the yellow layer) and the top right painting (before the red). Ā The hieroglyphics that the clingfilm added to the cloud space in the top-right sub-painting. Ā And whatever it is in the foreground of the bottom right sub-painting (which saved it). Ā There’s nothing I hate about this one, for a change. Ā Everything that’s bad about it will probably look OK through at last one person’s eyes.

For rose dore, though, the future doesn’t look great. Ā It’s in the top left, bottom left and bottom right subpaintings. Ā I found it to not be very bold, often getting talked over by the blues and yellows. Ā And when layered with either of the blues, it didn’t make purples – it made mud. Ā Once I’ve used up the 5ml tube I bought (probably in delicate flower paintings), I won’t be buying it again. Ā It was a good day for light red and quinacridone red.

And this one’s been sold to another actuary.

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