[Aquanet] chalky clolours: cerulean blue

[Barry D. Lindley]

Hi, Pat-

Cerulean Blue is fairly opaque and inherently light-value, and its use in
watercolor, for me, is limited but very important nonetheless.  The hue
varies somewhat among brands, and my favorite is Winsor&Newton, which is
somewhat greenish.  M.Graham cerulean blue is nice in quality but decidedly
redder, and it is the coolness that I like.  Use only real cerulean blue -
avoid cerulean blue hue like the plague.

I will sometimes use it in skies, when I don't mind a little bit of opacity
and want to steer the color cooler (paradoxically, more tropical); in oil
painting, it becomes a very useful base color for sky.

My chief use in watercolor, though, is for rocks and the like - mixed
roughly with near-complements it gives a range of convincing chromatic
grays, with textural qualities that are great - I will mix a slurry of
cerulean blue and reds or oranges, and scrape and dab and spatter.

It can also be wonderful in shadows on flesh.

Its light value and moderate tinting strength make it very forgiving in
mixtures, apart from the mud issues that arise with opaque paints.

There are times when it works for just the right green, as well - with, for
example, quinacridone gold or lemon yellow - desaturated, textural greens of
mid- to light-value.

It is a good example of a paint which adds little to your hue capabilities
but a lot to your textural capabilities.  In a way, it shares some
advantages and disadvantages with the cadmium colors, although I find that I
can get along very well never (well, hardly ever) using cadmium red or
yellow, but I always like to have cerulean blue available.  Because of the
opacity you can get into trouble with it in places where you are better off
with the transparency of the phthalo blues. 

If you could get true manganese blue, you might be able to get along without
cerulean blue.  I find that manganese blue does some of the same kinds of
cool things - but the Mn Blue Hues just don't have the same feel.

Barry D. Lindley
Paintings and Drawings
www.aristotle.net/~blindley 

-----Original Message-----
From: aquanet-bounces at thedigitalbraintrust.net
[mailto:aquanet-bounces at thedigitalbraintrust.net] On Behalf Of pat davis
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 5:16 PM
To: aquanet
Subject: [Aquanet] chalky clolours

Hi, gang.

Since we've been discussing colours that may or may not be chalky, that 
brings up the topic of a pigment everyone seems to have- cerulean blue. 
I have it, purchased years ago because my instructor at the time said we 
needed it... and it has languished in my box ever since. Do any of you 
use cerulean blue on a regular basis... and if so, for what?

:-?
Pat

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