The earth reds

I think this makes the blog look more scientific, don't you? In academia they have a phrase "physics envy". That afflicts the social sciences who are often trying to appear more like the "hard" sciences that get respect for their all their precision and measurable results. I may have a little physics envy here too.

My earth red is usually just burnt sienna, but there is a whole family of them and I will discuss a few. Earth reds are iron oxides, like the ochers we discussed last night, really they are just a red version of the same earths. There are also iron oxide colors made in the lab. My burnt sienna is made from synthetic iron oxides, many of the commercially available paints are. I am perfectly happy with that. Incidentally Winsor and Newton makes a particularly nice burnt sienna

I use Burnt sienna because it has a nice warm glowing red that leans towards golden and is moderately transparent. It is permanent, dries rather quickly and handles well. I often lay in whole paintings in Burnt sienna because it is a good color to have underneath a painting. When I draw or mass a painting onto the canvas, what I am indicating is mostly the darks. I want to use a color that I wouldn't mind percolating up into my darks occasionally. Burnt Sienna is as basic a color as is possible and has been a standard on artists palettes for centuries. There are a lot of allied colors, here are a few.

Transparent oxide red; this color seems to have become very popular lately because of Richard Schmidts book. I believe he recommends and uses the Rembrandt version. Every companies version is different, wildly different, in this color. It is a little redder than burnt sienna, but quite close to it, and is of course very transparent. That's a nice quality and I have experimented with a few tubes of it. However it only comes in small tubes and at ten bucks a tube (high for an earth color) I am happy enough with my big tubes of sienna. I only use the big tubes. I go through a lot of paint.

Mars red; a deeply colored red, like the old oxblood color that penny loafers come in. I pull this out on occasion but I can mix it myself and would have to add it while retaining the sienna.This is a synthetic iron oxide.

Indian red; is another iron oxide red it is a deep brick red with a slightly bluish tone. It is very opaque and covers extremely well.It is permanent and handles well, but I find it heavy. I have to be careful when I use it because it is surprisingly strong for an earth color. I have worked with it a bit when studying Edward Seago as it was a constant on his palette. Again, when I use it, I add it to the "visitors' section of my palette as it is too different from burnt sienna to be its replacement.

Venetian red is transparent and has a pinky tone it is also rather powerful for an earth color. This is sometimes called light red.

Terra Rosa; is like its name implies somewhat rose colored, it has a warm yellowy undertone. Very similar to venetian red.

These similar colors range from warm and yellowy, to deep and cool. They range from transparent to opaque. You might want two on your palette, at either ends of their range. They are dependable and relatively inexpensive, versatile pigments.
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I am beginning to work out the arrangements for a California workshop. I am thinking the Napa valley in mid-October. But the details are not yet finalized, I will let you know more soon.If that works for you let me know, if it doesn't, let me know what does and I will see what I can do.I am also planning to be in Southern California too.