Friday, June 20, 2008

A color like dried blood


Although I wrote earlier this month that I would not purchase another tube of red watercolor, I ended up doing just that after reading about the fugitive nature of Alizarin Crimson at Handprint. I decided to purchase two colors which were suggested as possible substitutes. As you can see below, the Daniel Smith carmine (PR176) does look a lot like Alizarin, but the perylene maroon (PR179), a brownish red, does not. To me it looks like dried blood, a color which is not particularly attractive. I’m sure there are many possible applications, but it’s going to take some experimentation on my part. It's very dull.

But as I was sipping my morning coffee it occurred to me that the perylene maroon is the exact color of the Chinese leather Mahjong box which sits on an end table in my living room.

7 comments:

tschiller said...

Your blog is inspirational. The way you express yourself and paint your way through life is wonderful. Thanks for the blip of freshness.

A Brush with Color said...

How fortuitous that it mimicked the color on your box or we'd perhaps never have seen it! Charming!

Tess Kincaid said...

The "color of dried blood" reminds me of the movie "The Red Violin".

Perfect color for the Chinese box!

mARTa said...

Your blog has been such fun recently with your fabulous May Italiano posts (which still remain so much fun to go see!) and the red series. I personally think the color of dried blood is beautiful and think I might be browsing the DS tube chart for some new reds!

Anonymous said...

I've only found one thing the perylene maroon is good for: shadows on strawberries and watermelon. Other than that, I agree that it is an ugly color and seems to create mud when mixed with other colors. I almost always regret using it and have just cleaned out my palette and won't be putting it back in.

Robyn Sinclair said...

I really like the Perylene Maroon, Sharon and it's beautiful on the wooden box. I have a MaimeriBlu colour called Dragon's Blood (Sangue di Drago) which is particularly useful mixed with other colours - mostly though I love it for its name.

I've just reorganised my links so I don't miss so many of your posts.

Bunny said...

I LOVE Daniel Smith Perylene Maroon.
It's a fabulous color--it reminds me of the 1940s!
If folks are giving any away please email me and then send it my way!

Not every color needs to be eye-blindingly BRITE!

:-)