i like brown paint ....

today, the story of brown ....

go here, to look at the flickr set i made with some of my paintings where brown is a dominant feature ... go ahead, i'll wait ... go study them ... which is your favorite? are there any where the browness of it doesn't work for you?

while at art camp (got back more than a week ago, but i'm really milking it for all its bloggage potential) ... while at art camp, allison my artsy pal who traveled with me ... had some red issues ... and i joined her in trying to figure out the problem .... none of the reds were suiting her ... they were too pink, too orange, too purple.... just not fire engine red enough ... red is tricky, we determined ... and allison then painted papers with each and every red ...

that's a pic of all the red papers .... all different, huh?.... which is true red to you, we asked, and each had a different answer ... red is in the eye of the beholder ....

but this is a blog post about the color brown ...

allison: i need to challenge myself

me: paint with brown ( mighta been kinda snarky cause her art never has brown .. even her dogs are blue.... )

allison: brown? brown? why brown?

me: you want a challenge ... that's a challenge ... but you don't have to ... do yellow ...

allison: no, i CAN do brown.....

and allison grabbed a tube of brown paint out of her brown bin ..... and started painting papers, just like her red experiment ... that one looks like poop ... so she got another brown out of her bin ... that looks like poop ... and another squirt and some painting ... that looks like baby poop ... poop, poop, baby poop, gross poop, more poop ... does all brown look like baby poop, e?

well, no .... i in fact love raw umber SO much that i have bought the biggest jug of it available on the market .... i usually buy my fluid acrylics in 2 ounce bottles .... a titch bigger if i know i adore the color ... because fluid acrylics are pretty pricey .... but raw umber? i'd buy it by the gallon if it came that big .... i use it as a final coating on lots of paintings to give an even tonal finish (tip o' the day, though it's a rerun) ..... so ... i love raw umber golden's fluid acrylic ... love it ... want to marry it ... true blue through and through .... the one true brown of goodness ....

so ... does all brown look like baby poop, e?

no, it doesn't .... i LOVE raw umber ... have you tried that? what are you using .... and she took up the first tube ... burnt sienna .... and the next tube, different brand... burnt sienna .... and the next tube .... burnt sienna ... ok ... a jar ... burnt sienna .... and a fluid acrylic ... burnt sienna .... on the tenth or so brown she picked up ... she said ... this one isn't even open yet ... (wait for it) .... burnt sienna .... MORE baby poop .... and without a beat or another breath she said, it is baby poop i hate it here you take it .... like she was giving me a gift .... a brown baby poop gift ...

i don't want your baby poop paint ... the only brown i like is raw umber ... get your burnt sienna away from me .... and she flung it over onto my table .. here, it is yours ....

if you were me, what would you do?

a) throw it back

b) throw it away (i'm only just thinking of that option now)

c) put it in my own brown bin to end the brown-ness of the moment

d) grab a bucket, make a sign, set up a raffle to see how many people we could con into putting their name in for the most unloved and unlovable paint?

yup ... d .... start a raffle ... our new best friend, joan, was the first to join .... and then no one else joined ... and we found out she'd been threatening people ... they couldn't join the raffle cause SHE had to win .... so we made the raffle more tempting ... with mints (altoids, the curiously strong mint, actually ... oh my gosh, SO distracted ... altoids website has an arcade) ... and other not so fabulous things, like mini cereal boxes without cereal, and a squashed granola bar ... which i still think would taste just fine...... and ... as much as joan told others not to join, we had nearly 100 entrants ... 100 people willing to give that poop brown another chance .... or maybe they were partial to altoids like me (cinnamon are my way favorite) .... but joan told everyone she had to win ....

one day in fact, joan ran in, said : i REALLY need some brown paint ... and she snatched that brown right out of the raffle bin of gloriousness .... stolen ... not even surreptitiously (i did not get that spelled right on the first try) but brazen and loud .... and out she dashed with the brand new unused baby poop brown paint .....

we had a dilemma .... 100ish people were actually expecting us to draw for this raffle .... before our last lunch, i dug through the 100 names and found joan's .... ok ... i picked joan's name out of the bucket ... and i only cheated a little ... or ... well ... entirely .... and i felt bad about it ... so ... we made another bag of raffleness (no other altoids to give away, but we did have another squished cereal bar) ... and we real and true picked a name out of the hat ... i think it was an irene .... is that right? .... so we went to lunch and asked cute chris to announce our winners .... and we announced irene's name, oh! i thought joan was going to cry ..... and then he announced that there was another raffle prize too ... and he announced joan .... and joan came up to get her prize ... and was told she had to be in charge of the raffle next year .... ha! .... and she took her bag of goodness and was giddy with glee .... i won, i won, i won ...

so, too many burnt siennas, a goofy new friend, an unsanctioned raffle ... and a raffle to look forward to next year at art camp ... tra la la ...

do you like brown?