[Aquanet] a question of scarlet

[patchapin at mindspring.com]

Snurt! Leave it to Pat Davis -- "a Puritan at an orgy" pretty well describes 
some things that can happen, for sure.  Or the reverse --

When I got to Nevada and recovered from the initial culture shock, I went 
hunting for subject matter that would be more apt to sell in this area. 
T'was then I noticed what Pat Davis noticed, only reversed --

My favoured palette for years was pretty much the same intense colours, and 
they were suddenly out of the question.  The desert has red-purples, not 
blue ones; yellows verging into tan take a huge part in almost anything 
here.  My favourite blue, Prussian, doesn't work at all.

Colours I haven't messed with in years, or their counterparts, had to be 
dragged, kicking and screaming, back onto the palette -- ochres and sepia, 
terra verte, siennas.  Zoisite, which normally would be my vote for the 
World's Ugliest Colour. And even so, gouache keeps rising like the dust in 
the landscapes.  Scary, at least at first.

pat chapin
www.patchapin.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "pat davis" <peedee at nucleus.com>
Cc: "'aquanet'" <aquanet at thedigitalbraintrust.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2008 3:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Aquanet] a question of scarlet


> Earlier today (?) patchapin at mindspring.com wrote to Paul:
>>
>> After looking at your web site, I think I see one firm reason why we
>> like different reds -- your location and light, looking at your great
>> landscapes (and I must say, I really liked your 'add a bit of fantasy'
>> ones, watercolours that need a second look, a grin and some thought!),
>> probably give you different things to see and paint in different
>> colours as opposed to where I am.
> Wow! Pat has it right here. I know that one of her favorite blues is
> phthalo blue, a colour I almost never use if I'm looking for something
> realistic in my area. For realism here my standby is ultramarine blue .
> (I can sense Pat cringing from 1000 miles away).
>
> I also note that I see a lot of English landscape painters using colours
> that just would not work for most days here. Too many grays. I also
> notice that when someone from one area goes to another, it's hard to
> make the adjustment sometimes. I have seen the paintings of one noted
> British landscapist (that's a real word, right?) when he visited some of
> the Mediterranean islands... and his paintings still looked like he was
> seeing them thru the lens of an English winter. His dreary, gray English
> landscapes to me were wonderful, full of atmosphere and drizzle, but his
> Mediterranean landscapes had all the joy of a Puritan at an orgy.
>
> FWLIW
> pat
>
> Aquanet mailing list
> Aquanet at thedigitalbraintrust.net
> http://lists.thedigitalbraintrust.net/mailman/listinfo/aquanet
>
> Check out the Aquanet web site:
> http://www.aquanetart.com