One of the benefits of hand-made paint, is the ability to customize
paint any way one desires. Working with a fairly limited palette, I find
myself frequently mixing the same colors in the course of a painting.
Why not streamline things, by having these colors conveniently
available, premixed in a tube?
The
first example was inspired by a tube of "Naples Yellow" I had on hand
from Old Holland. This is not a true Naples Yellow, not even close. I
found it very useful however, for painting flesh tones. Old Holland
lists the pigments that makes up their colors on every tube of paint.
The color in question was a mix of Synthetic Yellow Iron Oxide, and
Titanium White. My color was very similar, combining a pale French
yellow ochre, mixed with white.
The next example was a different
kind of experiment. My intention was to see if I could create an close
replacement of Vermillion/Cinnabar, for situations where I didn't have
the genuine article. The exact qualities of the color cant be duplicated
so I would call this an approximation rather than a substitute.
Vermillion
has the contradictory qualities of being both intense, yet capable of
subtlety. This makes it excellent for the tints used in flesh tones.
Cadmium red by comparison, comes on strong, yet fades much more quickly
in mixes.
Modern imitations usually rely on Cadmium Red for the
base color with small amounts of Synthetic Organic red to improve its
chroma in tints.
My mix was a combo of Cadmiums for an orange
red, with a bit of Synthetic Red Iron Oxide for earthiness. I was aiming
more for Cinnabar than Vermillion. I mixed in a bit of Calcite to give
the pigment some added transparency and body. I didn't have a sample of
the raw pigment on hand, so the final result was based on my personal
impressions of the color
.
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