French Cockerel

This one did not end up as a fish. I’m using Khadi paper, 600lb, which doesn’t need stretching. I believe its made in India from old textiles and has a rough and slightly uneven surface which I love, but it’s not easy to stretch, so nowadays I use the heavier weight. Its not startlingly white, which I prefer; and it also takes a certain amount of punishment and doesn’t mind being washed down and worked back into. Favoured colours at the moment are blues: cobalt, ultramarine, old holland deep blue (as close to black without being black as possible, though why not use black when you need it; if its good enough for Manet…..) and cerulean. Earth: burnt sienna, raw sienna, yellow ochre, raw umber. Reds: alizarin crimson, napthol red. Yellow: Old Holland Scheveningen yellow deep, and light. Yellows can be very opaque, the cadmium in particular, (which works beautifully as an “explosive” colour when fed into another colour while its till wet) and these are clear. St Petersburg/White Nights do a wonderful clear green (called Green; they keep their titles simple, unlike Old Holland) which is gorgeous, though I think the Russian paints would not get five stars for permanence. This is a small painting, just 180mm square. The picture above is the work in progress, the one below is the finished piece.

Le Coq