Experimental Abstracts, May Wrap

What do you call a group of octopuses? Trick question, octopuses is the answer, or perhaps octopi. But what do you call an octopus with three arms? I think it would be called a tripus. At any rate, this underwater scene made good use of yellow ochre (PY43) and burnt sienna (PR101) with some phthalo green (PG7) accents. After establishing the outline, the shapes were created wet in wet, then a background was filled in.

Consortium of Tripuses, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, May 2021 (No. 2675b)

 Paint landscapes in Montreal long enough and you get to appreciate the green spaces, not to mention the orange pylons. Some of the pylons have blue, purple and even pink. Apparently they cost $1 per day for the city to rent, so may as well get our money's worth. The theme of the painting is green space, and how it is challenged by development.

Green Space, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, May 2021 (No. 2673b)

 

This was essentially a palette cleanser, the new caput mortum needed a little TLC. A variety of red orange and maroon was added to compliment. Caput mortum is a marketing name, the pigment is a finely ground iron oxide red that appears as a dark dusty maroon, but the name suggests that it is made from the remains of Egyptian mummies. Whether or not this story was true at some point is anyone's guess, but it makes for good fiction. 

A lot of names of paints are carry overs from the past, like ivory black (not made from Ivory), Indian red (not from India), Turner's yellow, Payne's grey etc. (not the same pigments those artist used), and so on. Incidentally, I have boycotted Indian red due to the inherent racism of the name, even if it supposedly refers to India the country, many sports teams have come under flack, and the football team with a similar name has finally agreed to change it. I think it is time to change the name of a few paints to get with the times. Indian red and Ivory black are the two I am thinking of, it seems unnecessary to cling to those dated names, one has the negative connotations, and the other name refers to a history (and present time) of an illegal ivory trade that threatens elephants and rhinos. I finally purchased Ivory black, but have always referred to it as 'bone black' in the blog which I will continue to do so.

Earth Lines, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, May 2021 (No. 2674b)