Mixing a New Favorite Color

I hear tell there are artists who have every available color at their disposal, ready to add to the palette as their imagination wishes. But how do you know in advance what color you might want? What if you purchase—spending a considerable amount of money, quite often—tubes of color and then decide you don't really want them after all, or maybe you do want them but only a smidge once a year or so, and there lies a tube of unused, expensive paint?

I do know for sure that I like and use and will use in the future these two colors, Verditer Blue from the Holbein line and Titanium Buff from Gamblin. The blue from the tube is the brighter smear you can see on the left of the palette, and the buff is that tiny bit of beige you can spy on the right. They are good on their own, but what II absolutely love is when the two are combined in almost equal amounts. They create this lovely, soft, dreamy light-but-not-obnoxious blueish green.

This is the kind of blue that really gets me, much more so than the bright stuff. It fits my mood on any day. I often select colors for painting by asking if I would wear them, and I would definitely wear this. Not only is it great as is, but it can be lightened and darkened quite nicely as well. I used this for a while and then added warm white for a lighter version and then a bit of Payne's Gray for a darker version, and voila—the sea.

You may spot some scratches in the upper left-hand portion near the horizon line. That's a poem by Emily Dickinson that came to me as I stood back and looked at this painting, which, by the way, is cold wax and oil on a 24" x 36" panel. When it dries, I'll put it in the gallery here on my site for a better view:\

I think that the Root of the Wind is Water—

It would not sound so deep

Were it a Firmamental Product—

Airs no Oceans keep—

Mediterranean intonations—

To a Current's Ear—

There is a maritime conviction

In the Atmosphere—

#EmilyDickinson #poetryinspiration #GamblinOils #HolbeinOils #VerditerBlue #Titaniumbuff