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Originally Posted by Sharon Knettell
Alizarin has been an important red in portrait and figurative painting, even though it was known to be somewhat fugitive because of the perfect match to the deep rich wines that are found in the shadows of human skin. It is also a wonderful cheek colorant.
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Human skin is as varied in colour as the reds available in oil paints today.
Sharon, I am not arguing for argument's sake, and I have actually gleaned a great deal from your (and other's) discussions of paint and art products. So I do thank you very much for that. I think that one should pursue one's interests if they are really enjoyed i.e painting material research in your case. But this is where my point lies. I believe in a sort of gracious hedonism when it comes to life. Leave unnecessary suffering to your school years where you were forced to adapt yourself to someone else's idea of how to be and what to do. If you can't happily fit yourself to the world (and someone else's palette prescription), then make a change so that they fit to you. But this goes for the pursuit of the seemingly impossible too - the perfect heavenly red; the perfect heavenly image. If it thrills you, it thrills you. This suffering of choice, this toil, then, becomes your hedonism.
I am championing a person's own personal choices and his/her right to practice them. I think that working according to received rules is valuable only if it directs you further towards your own personal vision. If a rule has any truth and relevance about it then it will come into effect in your work anyway. I may, after running out of whatever paint I am using at the time, come around to alizarin and wonder how I ever lived without it, but not now. And for you it's the opposite, and I respect that very much. I think that to achieve as much of a state of grace and glory through art as one can, one should be both unbudging and also open to change when needs honestly be.