Pyrrole Red Dark
“There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend… One day the black will swallow the red.”
Red. It’s a directional, emotive color. It’s anger and passion. Blood. It holds your gaze. A stop sign. A red light. You can’t help but notice. Red forces you to stop and see. To take pause. Its power to hold attention makes me wonder how this force can be harnessed in our art? How do we use it to effectively hold the gaze and pull one in among the sea of distractions? What is too much? What is enough?
To begin with this vast color, I decided to focus on one particular red: Pyrrole Red Dark (Golden, PR264), the most lightfast red in my palette. This single-pigment red has excellent lightfastness. Apparently, reds can be quite fugitive or impermanent when exposed to light over time. The lightfastness rating on a tube indicates how impervious it is to UV light.
This red is a nice, rich red. It seems to fall in the middle. Not too cool, not too warm. To see how far I could take this color, I experimented with mixing and layering, using just this red with white, black, and its opposite, green.
Making some tints with Titanium and Titan Buff, and shades with Ivory Black, Mars Black, and Hookers Green. The results are quite pleasing. The shades take on a coolness. Nice grays are made with the Hookers. I especially like this red mixed with the Titan Buff. It warms it up in a soft, pleasing way. I ended with a swirling circle of red right out of the tube, letting the pure color shine.
Blood Moon Rising (2026), Acrylic on paper, 12” x 9”
Blood Moon Rising (acrylic on 12” x 9” paper) evokes a portent, an omen. A backlit city in the foreground engulfed in flames. The pinks add a bit of hopefulness. Then I’m taken to space where galaxies collide.
What does red evoke in you? This red in particular? This painting? Please share in the comments below. This is just the tip of the iceberg on the color red. More to come…