A Colour A Day: Week 17

A Colour A Day.  Week 17: 13-19 July

Jo Volley writes…

Over the last week I have had the privilege to work with 7 colours produced and sent to me by Ruth Siddall.  To receive these little packets of pigments through the post and work them into paint has been a pure delight.    

Ruth says of them. “These colours are all based on lake pigments made from American plants and an insect, the cochineal beetle. Three are wood dyes (logwood, brazilwood and osage orange), Aztec marigold was made from dried flowers, the avocado lake was made from a dye extracted from the stones of the fruit. Annatto (or achiote, achiotl) is a spice made from seeds. The latter was used as a ink in historical Mexican painting, and also as food colouring and a cosmetic.”    

All are bound in gum arabic on W&N watercolour paper and read from left to right.