Yes, And They Say We’re Gonna Have To Pay What’s Owed

So here’s azo orange’s debut painting. I went for a triple painting as I wanted to see how the orange would work with the cerulean blue and a triple painting would give me the change to test out all three complementry pairs in my MGraham collection. Lord Sugar’s firing gesture has been in my waiting for a while and was in the right proportions to fit into one of these panels.

This is a set of three two layer posterised paintings. The whites and borders were reserved with masking fluid and masking tape respectively. Then the first layers from top to bottom was azo orange, yellow ochre and sap green. The second layers were cerulean blue, dioxazine purple and burnt umber. I did do a quick test before starting to check which way round to have the green and the brown in the third painting. I tried to make all six washes interesting by starting wet and then charging in drier versions of the paint; I guess this is evident in a few places.

Of the three colour combinations, I think the blue and orange worked best, giving an interesting grey in which both colours are still visible. Maybe things might have been different had I applied thinner layers of the purple and the brown. Oh, and the bottom painting has a definite mint choc chip feel to it.

Anyway, I think this painting has not only been a success in itself but has justified my decision to bring in azo orange as the sixth member of the team. This one is up for sale, with the price to be found here. This painting also also gives me the opportunity to tick off another line in my quest to create a series paintings with names that make up the whole of the lyrics to Telegraph Road. I could have gone for one of the lines about job losses but thought I might be be able to match them to some closed factories at some point. The line I’ve given to this one is much more tricky and I’m relieved to have swallowed that frog early.