[Northkeep] Re: Winsor & Newton Designer's Gouache Colors

[ravenrux at cox.net]

I see you too are ninja :)  Very clever ninja trick, disguising yourself as a harmless looking water bearer and accomplished calligrapher.

Masamune 
From: "Zubeydah the Wanderer" <zubeydah at northkeep.org>
Date: 2003/09/30 Tue AM 06:11:42 EDT
To: The Barony of Northkeep <northkeep at ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Northkeep] Re: Winsor & Newton Designer's Gouache Colors

greddi66 at juno.com writes:
> I am wanting to expand into Illumination (Scroll Painting) and wanted to know what the best starting colors to get.  I not good at color mixing, so I would like to start with the closest colors possible.  I might be thinking about Heraldirc colors?
> Ron

Here's my Super Secret Ninja Blending Tip:
The trick that I use when mixing colors, is to make sure that if I am using 
one type of primary colors, that the secondaries I use are variants of 
that... I'm not sure how to explain it well... but... If I am doing a scroll 
that is primarily Blue... I make sure the red or green or other tones I'm 
using have a blue base, rather than a yellowy base. If it doesn't have it 
normally... I add a dab of the blue I'm using. That gives the colors a 
'consistant' base, so they don't have that 'angry conflicting' look to them. 
It's either a 'hot' (yellow based tones) or a 'cool' (blue based tones look. 
(Please keep in mind, I've been an art model, but never an art MAJOR! :->  ) 

As for which colors to use: The Beginner's Kit they've got is pretty cool. 
The tubes I use the most: 

Zinc White
Alizaran Crimson
Golden Yellow
Viridian Green
Windsor Blue 

The Green and Blue tend to be real dark, which makes it hard to see the 
black linework on the charters, so I usually start off with a glob of white 
and add the blue to it (yeah, I know, it should be the other way around), 
until I get a blue that isn't too light, or too dark. 

Don't be afraid to play around and practice with your blending colors! Just 
remember that the primary palette of the midaeval scribal dude was the 
condiments: Mustard yellow... kechup red... Relish green...  Take a look at 
books of scrolls, and hold up your brush close to the picture, until your 
blended color looks like what's in the book. (worked for me!) 

hope that helps, 

zubeydah the wanderer
Founding Member: Northern Region Waterbearing and Cheerleading Squad
Evil Creatrix of Things Chocolately
and occaisional dabbler into painty chartery sorts of things 

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