April Evening

This unusual sky occurred a few times over the last weeks. Not quite a sunset, but a break in the storm clouds on the horizon producing a band of orange light several hours before sunset.

During the recent controversy concerning the use of cadmium pigment in artists paints, I had a look at possible alternative colours in the event of a total ban on the use of cadmium. I bought a tube of Indian Yellow as it looked a little like Cadmium Yellow. As it turned out, the ban was applied to general industry only and not to artists paints, so cadmium yellow is safe for the foreseeable future.

I used Indian Yellow in this painting where I would normally have used cadmium. Its a strong yellow/orange colour similar to Cadmium Yellow but a little more orange. Its very transparent and so is a good glazing paint. However, in mixes it looses its brilliant golden colour to produce dull secondaries. Notice the left end of the orange band above. In this painting it suits the situation as it does not need to glow as in a traditional sunset subject. As an ‘all prima’ painter, I will be careful in using this colour if I need brilliant effects. I can appreciate how this colour would be great in traditional oil painting. Used as a glaze over pink, for example, would make a sunset glow.

This painting uses only 3 colours, Indian Yellow, Alizarin Crimson and Prussian Blue plus black and white. There is no medium used, only White Spirits. The size is 16″ x 12″ and was painted in a single session (wet on wet).

Here’s the video.