Paint Mixtures Vermillion Red and White

1/13/2022

I fell in love with vermillion red when I started the painting Red Still Life. Red Still Life is a painting I talked about it in last week’s video blog. I fell in love with vermillion red when exploring different reds for the painting; warm reds, cool reds, vibrant reds. 

All I remember is being blown away by the brilliant character of this one, vermillion red, this new discovery. I was on the far reaches of new territory. It seemed more vibrant than cadmium red, my eyes ate it up like the most delicious of colors, my optic nerves vibrated with its brilliant red sensation. Up until that time I had been working mostly with cadmium red light and alizarin crimson, the boiler plate warm-and-cool reds. 

All of this delving into color is like diving deep into a rich, sensual, swirling mine of sensory experience that has an all-encompassing depth and breadth. It is a source for all creators of art. 

In my reading up on this I discovered who has used vermillion red, and not surprisingly among so many other artists, Edgar Degas used it in La Coiffure, also something I talked about in last week’s blog video.  

AND in the video blog before that one I showed a picture of Vermeer’s, Girl with a Red Hat, and sure enough Vermeer used that red too. 

So maybe unknowingly I’m onto something. Something like Vermillion Red is just one of those colors that artists love at some point or another or maybe forever.