Portrait Studio Wall Color

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Joan Breckwoldt

Dear Mr. Whitaker,

I am one of your (many, I'm sure) silent admirers. I have been reading your posts, studying and admiring your portraits, and most recently printing them on my new printer to put up in my 'studio'. I am happy to finally take the opportunity to tell you how incredible your work is and to thank you for your many posts that have been so helpful to me.

I went to the paint store this morning to get a quart of paint to paint a background for my 'studio'. I will share with you and the forum what I found:

I went to the local Benjamin Moore store and had them mix up a quart according to the formula above. Well, it was close, but had too much yellow in it, making it too green. After some conversation with the salesperson, I found out that Benjamin Moore has recently (in the last 18 months) brought back the 'old' colors. The store I was at is computerized and has the info on a CD now. So, he was able to look up the number GN-25 and mix the original paint color. This second mixture was what, I believe, I was looking for, a dark greenish grey.

I asked the salesperson to write down the formula for anyone who doesn't have a Benjamin Store nearby, or if that particular store isn't computerized (as the salesman said some of the stores aren't).

Benjamin Moore & Co. GN-25
319-3B (that's just the base color, and it also means 'eggshell' finish)

UTC Gallon Formula
OY 1x 24.50
RX 0x 2.25
BK 2x 6.00
GY 0x 12.00

I bought two large pieces of foamcore, 60" x 40", from our art store and have painted one side of each of them. It's not really practical to paint my 'studio' walls since it's half studio and half computer room, and the walls are covered with bookcases and windows anyway. The color is, as you say, sometimes grey and sometimes more green. It's pretty dark though! I am anxious to put a model in front of it and see what happens!

Joan

Dear Joan,

I finally received your excellent note and included color wall paint samples. I think the mail carrier dropped them into my next door neighbor's mail. She's the Dean of Moore College of Art here in Philly (Dona Lantz). After a couple of weeks she found it and sent it into my mail slot. I bet you thought it dropped off the edge of the world somewhere!

Anyway, you sent two very nice wall colors. The Benjamin Moore GN-25 is more of a gray-green and the other card marked "Formula Bill posted" happens to match my wall color pretty exactly. It's the same formulation.

I scanned them both as promised with my Gretag-MacBeth Eye-One-Photo color spectrometer and have posted the results and nearest Photoshop color equivalents below. Note I do not have a dual color picker in Photoshop (as the montage suggests), but that would be so cool (are you listening, Adobe?)!

Thanks, and enjoy,

Garth