Making oil paint is a slow and labour intensive procedure: not the most pleasurable pursuit for my fidgety self. When you've finally filled a tube with your glossy, hard earned pigment however, it is THE most satisfying thing. Today we made Cadmium Red, one of six colours we'll be producing in Methods and Materials: by adding linseed oil to loose pigment and then 'mulling' the paste (a mull is a glass implement, which you use to grind the paste in a figure of eight movement. That's right, I've got it down), you arrive at your sumptuous mixture. The whole alchemic process took up most of the day, leaving me with only two hours to actually paint - hence the unfinished nature of this little study, done on ply wood. My aim within such a short time frame was to experiment with bolder, more minimal brush strokes than usual (best achieved with the pomegranate I think, though the photograph doesn't really show this).
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