Brush Stoked and Keen on Green

I finally got around to buying new brushes on Monday after forcing out every last stroke from my old faithfuls. I christened them today. I'd forgotten the joy of using new, pristine brushes and I have vowed to make sure I do this more often. It makes pushing paint along the canvas surface that much more enjoyable.

Speaking of paint, I have been using a lot of green paint lately. It is actually my favourite colour but until recently I had avoided using too much of it, if any, in my paintings, possibly due to a theory that I'd been told in the past. I can't remember who told me, but it was more than one person on more than one occasion, that green was not a popular colour in painting. I think the way one person phrased it was "paintings with (too much) green in them don't sell." I was fairly young at the time and only just starting to use colour in my work, so I must have stored that information and subconsciously took their advice on board.

Looking back, I have started introducing more green/s into my work particularly over the last 12 months, and further more, some of these greener works have actually sold. I don't know where these people got their theory from, or whether there is even a skerrick of truth behind it. I am sure there are people who despise the colour green and wouldn't buy a painting with any shade of it whatsoever, but this could perhaps apply with any colour. I must say, having worked in galleries before, I was often sickened by the amount of people with thousands upon thousands to spend that would want to colour coordinate a painting with there furnishings and decor. I remember one woman even bringing in her interior designer and fabric swatches of her new sofa and holding them up to the painting she'd had her eye on to see if they worked together. I was so disgusted by this that I had to get my co-worker to deal with her. I can't remember whether she bought the piece or not, I just remember thinking that she should buy the painting because she loved the painting, regardless of how it worked with the sofa. I know there are collectors who buy works they may not particularly like for the purpose of investment, but to match a piece of furniture...

Getting back to green, when I look at some of the so called masters of the field, there were many artists who seemed to explore and exploit the colour. After all, it is the colour of nature, it is also the colour of balance. Van Gogh was a big fan of green, it also featured heavily in the works of Die Brucke artists Kirchner, Pechstein and Heckel, and Matisse seemed to find it non-offensive. The list goes on, but I must also give special mention to Picasso's Weeping Woman.

If it was good enough for these chaps, (and so many others), it can't be all that bad, even if it doesn't match your sofa.