Mixing Colour

I name the colours I create. Even if the colour red comes straight from the tube and already has a name – they say pimento I say tomato, ha! I like to make colour collections though it’s a pretty tight group and I enjoy being the gate-keeper deciding who can join. Nico Green is one of my favourites, it’s a kind of staple, a friend to everyone.

I usually make small amounts of each colour, mixing new batches as I go, sometimes saving the dregs to use another day. I have a strong sense of what Nico Green is, its personality, its origin, when and how it can be applied. But each new batch is slightly different, this week I used slightly more yellow than normal, and perhaps a little less black so that it glowed a little more than last time. These changes don’t bother me. Actually, I enjoy seeing the little slippages as the colours falter from one day to the next. How I remember a colour to be is important, my memory is a piece of my creative machinery, quietly and surely influencing process.

Bored grey was an important colour for me in 2020. Denim Blue and Teapot Black are trending and Garage Pink often gets forgotten. I’ve started writing a kind of door list.