November Brochure
 
We receive questions from our Members on a wide range of topics to do with colour and technique. A selection, together with my answers, will be reproduced in each newsletter. Michael Wilcox
Q. A deep wine red, almost black, is another which is eluding us. Occasionally the general brightness of the colours is a little diminished. Many of the painters are very experienced, so clean palette and brushes are always without question
Help please
A. I would suggest that you add a little Phthalocyanine Green to Quinacridone Violet. This will take the Quinacridone Violet (a violet red), all the way to a deep black as both are very transparent and close to being complementary in nature. On the way you will produce some very useful ‘clean’ deep red wine mixes without taking the violet-red too far out of character.
Q. For painting in oils, do you recommend any particular type of canvas for practice and for serious work? Also, is Masonite a suitable substitute?
A. I would suggest a good quality primed cotton canvas for practice and a primed, properly stretched linen canvas for serious work. Masonite, or Hardboard as it is also known, contains a great deal of acid which will affect colours such as Ultramarine Blue. Strictly for practice work perhaps.
Q. Other than Ultramarine, there are no dark hues in your paint range, they all seem to fall in the midtone or light range. Doesn’t this limit the tonal range?
A. Not at all, with a knowledge of colour mixing the fullest tonal range is readily available. Any colour can be lowered in value by adding its complementary. If a complementary pair are also transparent they will mix all the way to black. Better to work with a palette on the light to mid range of values and darken naturally, giving flexibility, than to introduce dark hues which have limited application as they can ever only give low values.
Q. What colours should I mix to make Lavender?
A. Taking the colour to be a light, dull blue-violet I would suggest that you mix a violet-red such as Quinacridone Violet with Ultramarine Blue. Mix until you have a violet that definitely leans towards blue. Then, to make this colour both lighter and duller, add white paint, even when working in watercolours.
The watercolour purists will be less than happy with this approach but, as I have said elsewhere, certain colours can only be produced with the help of white.
Applying, as in this case, the blue violet thinly onto white paper will give a quite different type of tint. When used with care, and over small areas, the use of white to produce tints as well as to dull a mix is, in my opinion, sound practice.
Q. I add water to each of the watercolour paints I intend to use for a given painting and then let them dry out after I am done - so the pigments stay in the palette for future use. Is this sound practice or should I remove the paint when I am finished ?
A. Although watercolour paints can be re-wetted for use without a problem (as long as they are kept clean), constant re-wetting can, if a lot of water is used, wash away much of the binder (gum). This will only be a problem after constant re-wetting and if the paint is applied at all heavily.