Noble Vermillion

When it all goes right…

Noble Vermillion is a square painting that was created with a primary palette of pink and lime green enamel paints. These two colours are an absolute smash hit in my eyes and no matter what you do with them you are almost always guaranteed to do something rather wonderful.

These two primary focus colours are further complimented by subtle additions of light blue, yellow and a hint of black through the centre. The technique is a firm favourite of mine – the spin machine. A self-built rotating platform that uses centrifugal force to scatter paint in an out ward, explosive manner. I never get tired of using it.

About the name

The name refers to a mythological bird that represents the south and summer in Chinese culture, symbolic of fire and life cycles. The Vermilion Bird is elegant and noble in both appearance and behavior and although my painting isn’t reliant on vermillion (orange/red) for its appearance I am nonetheless led by a title that suits the painting brilliantly. Take a look at it and tell me that doesn’t remind you of a bird in flight.

Spin away!

The main body of the painting is that huge mass of pink (also called telemagenta on the side of the paint cans) that I applied at the very beginning, along with a generous dose of lime green. I put on the colours by brush before applying the other accent colours.

I think I span the painting twice, no more than that, before assessing that it was done. The result of this process has given us a abstract painting full of movement, full of life and bursting with colour. Did I also mention that it has a thousand tiny details? Well it has and you can exactly what I mean in the close up photos on this page. You can also hang it in any one of four orientations if you so desire.

I’m showing it in one because that’s the one I prefer the most but you can experiment if you decide to buy it.