Bold colours

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If painting a room with opaque emulsion / latex paint it doesn’t have to be flat and monotone! In this room I applied the first coat with a large mineral brush covering all areas with the paint and brushing into the drying edges. After doing that, the room quite frankly looked terrible! But the secret is to soften it and this is done by diluting the second coat with acrylic medium and applying with a small brush. The result is a subtle two tone colour effect which is especially nice when strong bold colours are used.

The Worshipful Company…

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In England, very little is known of the painting trade prior to the 13th century. It was at this point when ‘guilds’ began to form (an association of artisans or merchants who controlled the practice of their craft in a particular town) and amongst them were the Painters Company and the Stainers Company. With the consent of the Lord Mayor of the City of London in 1502, the two guilds merged and became The Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers. The guild regulated the quality of the craft and acted as protector of the trades secrets. In 1606 Parliament granted a bill to enforce protection from outside competition such as plasterers. The Act legislated for a seven year apprenticeship and barred plasterers from painting. The enforcement of this Act was sought by The Worshipful Company until the 19th century.

Ted Ochre

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Red was your colour.

If not red, then white. But red

Was what you wrapped around you.

Blood-red. Was it blood?

Was it red-ochre, for warming the dead?

Haematite to make immortal

The precious heirloom bones, the family bones.

Extract from the poem ‘Red’ by Ted Hughes (married to Sylvia Plath when she committed suicide in 1963)

Haematite is an iron oxide and the name is derived from a Greek word meaning blood.
Ochre is clay that is coloured by varying amounts of haematite.

Lemniscate

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A figure-eight shaped curve whose equation in polar coordinates is ρ2=a2 cos 2θ

In algebraic geometry a lemniscate may refer to any of several figure eight shaped curves. The word comes from the Latin “lēmniscātus” meaning “decorated with ribbons.”

In lazure painting it is the ‘brushing out’ technique of the translucent glazes.