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With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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What to do when colours you've used for years are superseded, withdrawn by the makers? Once upon a time, when I used mostly Rowney artists' quality oil paint, I bought a large quantity of the less expensive colours, particularly Mars Red, Yellow, Orange, and Brown. I've used them in many paintings and am now running low - of course, there are alternatives: Venetian Red, Light Red, Indian Red, the Umbers, and a whole lot of new colours from various makers. Old Holland has a Mars Red/Orange, I think they have a Mars Yellow, Winsor and Newton do a Mars Violet Deep, other makers call that Caput Mortuum; Old Holland also has a Mars Brown. But R owney, now Daler-Rowney, seem to have rationalized (ie, reduced) their range; or have re-named colours, sneakily.... I'm sure these always rather deep and some might say drab colours, which have nonetheless served me well, have been replaced by more colourful alternatives, but - what are they? The only way to find out is buy a range of reds,browns and earth yellows, and while that might be quite exciting, it's also going to be quite pricey. Still, I can't really blame manufacturers for discontinuing colours if I last bought a job lot of them around 30 years ago - that's not a great business model, really......... If you have favourite earth colours in oil, though, I'd be fascinated to know what they might be? http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk

Peter Davison

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I have recently discovered Gamblin's Translucent earth Yellow as an alternative to Yellow Ochre and am having fun, and some pleasing results, experimenting with it.
Moi 17

Linda Wilson

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Winton Indian red has been very useful to me when painting American landscapes. Also Jackson's Indian Yellow. I also use Jackson's Flesh tint for landscapes, but don't use it for portraits!
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Flesh tint - yes; I have a tube of Rowney Flesh Tint which is almost as full now as it was when bought somewhere in the region of 35 years ago; I suspect there might be some lead white in it, it's so heavy - and extremely thick. I realized the moment I opened it, I would think - can't pretend to remember - that it was going to be pretty hopeless for figure or portrait work (though some use it as a base, I believe), but another artist told me she used it to paint sandy beaches. I'm not so sure it's a lot of good even for that. I shall look up Translucent Earth Yellow - and I do use Indian Red, which happily is an earth red you CAN still get. Indian Yellow is certainly rather delicious - and I've been having some fun with Michael Harding's Yellow Ochre Deep, and Burnt Umber this evening - I haven't used every Burnt Umber available so don't know if there are others as strong as this, but stone me, it's powerful! Not only that, but it seems to dry remarkably quickly - Burnt Umber is a quick dryer anyway, but an undercoat of it dried overnight, diluted with just a little painting medium. Any more for any more? http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk

Fiona Phipps

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Have you tried Old Holland's Persian (Indian) Red Robert, I use that quite a bit...a little goes a long way and mixed with Old Holland's Parisian Blue makes a superb dark, almost black without the deadness.

Peter Davison

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I sometimes use flesh tint (W&N PW4, PY42, PV19) to add a pinkish tinge in skies. Also like Gamblin's Brown Pink as a translucent Mars Red/Perylene (PR101, PR149).