Numbers by Painting VI

  

 Two, Four, Five, One.

I found a little time in the studio to work on the Numbers by Painting series. I laid on a layer of Payne’s grey  to darken the outside areas of three of the pieces. On One I dry-brushed the Payne’s grey onto the raised edges of the circle, dropping the touches of cad red behind the dark layer so that it became more internal to the ridges of gel medium. (I used Windsor and Newton’s Liquin Gel, which seems to be pretty reliable for impasto work.)

On Two, I added a ragged on layer of the same Payne’s grey to build up the surface a bit more, and put some Titanium white into the circle. I love the rich dark blues Graham’s Payne’s grey gives up when it’s thin, and the lovely velvety rich blue black when it’s thick.

The symbol for two resembles the power button on my computer, and has very ancient roots. It’s found in Neolithic and Mesolithic rock art all over Europe in association with cup marks that have been ground into the stone.