Flesh tint in oil

[Cynthia Daniel]

Originally posted by tabasco7 in the old forum:

Please post some tips on mixing flesh tints here.

## Would like formulas or proportions of tube paint for middle and light tones, rather than simple colors. I am using a base of 1 part cad. red, 1 part cad. orange, and 1 part burnt umber mixed together. I figure mid tone would be about 5 per cent base color to white ( titanium/zinc white combo). Sometimes i mix an additional part mars yellow to the base mixture. I use a three tone system on the the palette, mixing the middle tone first and then adding white to a light tone an burnt umber or burnt sienna to a dark tone. Sometimes i add a fourth tone with a little mars yellow added to the middle tone. I used to start out with a pure cad. red and mars yellow mixture, but this didn't seem to lighten up correctly with dead white.

## You can modify kitchen spatulas into painting knives. Get some of the 7-9 inch kitchen spatulas (preferably stainless steel ) and cut them into different shapes with a tin snip. After cutting the shapes, you can use a whetstone to remove burrs and thin the metal. if you can cut the shape somewhat like the figure eight, the knife won't be too stiff. Ideally the knife should be flexible enough to lay about a inch on the canvas when pressed. Also, several pieces shaped like a letter opener (down to about one eighth width) are useful.

## On the palette, mixing a drop of boiled linseed oil to one inch of tube paint seems to help apply the paint with the knife. Sometimes I mix a pinch of pumice to the white on the palette, before using the palette knife. At first, i lay the paint down just thin enough to be opaque on the canvas; also the thinner layers dry faster. After using the knife, you can use a bristle brush or a wad of plastic wrap to roughen the surface of the paint. Also, tapping the knife up and down will give some broken color effects. I've even used a wheel pizza cutter on the canvas to make some broken lines.