Hoarding for the Artist

Apropos of nothing, can I just share how much I dislike napthol red? It’s OK in masstone, but the second you try to mix with it, everything turns to a disgusting pepto-bismol pink. You can’t kill that pink. It takes over everything, even duking it out with pthalo blue. I have a tube of Old Holland that I bought a few years ago when I was ignorant about pigment numbers, and although it’s called something like Scheveningen Red Medium, it turned out to be just regular ol’ napthol red. I feel like the rube in the Jack and the Beanstalk story.

Here’s what I mean about napthol’s barfalicious pink tint (photo at left taken from the Daniel Smith website, because that’s the first nap red I happened to find when I looked for an image in Google.)

Now on to what I really wanted to post about. It’s hard to get over the idea of a canvas being precious. I am guilty of over-thinking my art and when I go to put something down on canvas, I get bottled up, thinking that I’ll fail at what I want to do. I subconsciously try to combat this tendency by buying huge numbers of canvases, reasoning that if I have plenty on hand, I won’t feel hesitant to use them, but it’s only semi-successful. I still have to practice positive self-talk—such as “Go ahead, dorkasaurus, the canvas factories will make plenty more.” Those blank canvases have so much potential. Having to deal with the actual is much harder—but ultimately more rewarding.

I’m lately forcing myself out of my canvas hoarding by doing imprimaturas on every surface I buy, almost as soon as I buy it. When it’s got a layer of paint on it, suddenly that support seems less untouchable. It’s certainly unreturnable and helps me get into “might as well go ahead” mode. I also use this imprimatura coat to try out my gazillions of colors and remind myself why I bought them. Today I did imprimaturas on six or seven canvases, using various tubes I hadn’t played with in a while, and some new ones. A short list follows….

Gamblin Chromatic Black plus titanium/zinc white: Beautiful neutral (leaning to blue/cool) gray. I bought this after hearing Robert Gamblin talk about it during the Pasadena Art Methods and Materials show two years ago. Texture is long and smooth. It really is great; I’ll use it again for imprimatura and grays within pictures.

Blockx Ivory Black plus titanium/zinc white: Almost the same color as the Gamblin, strangely enough, but much shorter and thicker paint, I wouldn’t use it again for imprimatura, but would use it during painting, for daubs and short strokes.

M. Graham Cobalt Blue: I adore this color and I really like this brand’s long oily texture. Imprimatura over a previous imprimatura of ultramarine blue and flake white that came out too brushy and thick on a gessoed panel.

M. Graham Indian Yellow: I was amazed at the orangey fire of this yellow. I want to use it in an a split-complementary palette soon—it’s just so powerful, yet transparent. Paint was a bit thicker than M. Graham’s usual—perhaps the nature of this pigment. Not a great shade for imprimatura but clearly a keeper, for other jobs.

Williamsburg Nickel Yellow: This is the yellow I love—soft and subtle, but definitely there—and the consistency I love—long and oily. Still opaque, though, which is good. I think it’s too delicate for an imprimatura, but I can’t wait to use it in landscapes. Threw some Grumbacher Cad Yellow light against it for contrast and noticed how much *more* opaque Cad Yellow is. Yellow is tired of being second banana to red in the brightness arena. Yellow, your time has come.