Re-inventing the wheel.
I have been using burnt umber to create shadows, I’ve been mixing it with blues it just works for me. Personel colour choices, that I know I can control and get the right result.
Its almost orange if you use it thin on its own, but it makes great shaded tones. It makes a warm in the distance on a sunny day look if you mix it with blues. It is my most usefull colour. Raw umber has a green-ness to it, but burnt it turns almost orange and very transparent, even when you use it thick it is see through.
Then I read it was a key colour for Italian renaisance painters in creating a sense of depth, and gental transition from light to dark.
I felt like I had been the only one to work this out, but it turns out I’ve reinvented the wheel!
Perhaps all art is like this. Rembrant uses Raphaels figures in a composition, who in turn had used a classical statue. I am sure you can think of many examples.
This wont stop me using burnt umber though. Love it.
