April 9, 2019
A while back I mentioned that translucent oil colors are an essential part of my painting technique. Here’s the scoop! All oil paints are more or less translucent or opaque.
In the earliest days of art making oil paints were made of ground up rocks and nuts and berries and bugs and other colorful materials, that when mixed with some kind of vechile, made paint. Some oil colors are still made exactly this way.
The difference that I’m interested in is whether paint lets light go through – is more translucent, or stops all light – more opaque.
In the early stages of my work I use only translucent colors. I like the effects I get when I put one translucent color on top of another. It gives the painting the color complexity and visual tension or harmony, depending on the combination of colors, I strive for in my work. Toward the end of the painting process I often turn to opaque colors to add a heavier impasto and create further complexity. That thick – thin contrast is also something I strive for in my painting. But that’s another subject.
Can you imagine a Rothko painting without the magic of layer upon layer of translucent colors? Without translucency Rothko’s work would not exist!
FYI: Gamblin Perylene Red is hands down my all time favorite translucent red oil color.
Let’s keep in touch,
Marshall Noice
Learning about colors gives the viewer an entirely new dimension to appreciate when enjoying a painting. All of a sudden one begins to consider the where did that color come from and how in the heck was it made. I am glad you suggested Simon Winchesters book Color, never can I take color for granted again. It is magic stuff.