I like trying out new products. So if I can afford it I tend to buy a colour that looks appealing, a brush that is in the sale or a linen I have never used before. Sometimes it is a disappointment, often it is just ok, and now and then you hit the jackpot.
Vasari’s New Cyprus Umber Yellow Genuine
I know Vasari is not a brand for everyone so this recommendation might well fall on deaf ears. But since I love Vasari I sometimes buy a colour that just looks gorgeous. I am pretty aware that I don’t need any new colours (once you got your basics you really don’t ‘need’ anything else) but now and then you come across a colour that becomes a staple colour. And besides, it is fun to try out new sweets.
Vasari’s Cyprus Umber Yellow Genuine is part of a new range of colours which came out this year. It is just gorgeous! It is a transparent warm yellowish brown that is so subtle it is to die for. I used it in the picture below in combination with Vasari Bluff to mould the facial features a little. Very subtle, very sfumato, very warm.
*Find Cyprus Umber Yellow on Vasari’s website
Have you tried it? What do you think?
Thank you for another great article.
Some of my recent finds are Lead White 2 by Rublev, a really beautiful ropey lead white.
Also, have you ever heard of painting on Acrylic mirrors? David Kassan swears by them saying as no oil paint is completely opaque the light bounces inside the painting and makes the paint more luminescent. What do you think? I tried it and it think it does make the paint more luminescent, but i find it strange working on a sanded acrylic surface.
Hi Neil, thanks for commenting! Lead white is hard to get in Europe these days and I must admit I didn’t like it the first time I used it so I passed it on to a friend. Not my cup of tea – so very different from Titanium!
I heard someone recently mention Kassan working on mirrors – not quite sure how it works but am sure it should look beautiful, especially with slightly transparent paint! I’d imagine the surface is very smooth indeed? Interesting…
Hi Sophie!
I’m amazed you don’t use lead white. What did you not like about it? Most portrait artists swear by it. I find titanium makes paint super chalky, do you not find that?
Also on the note of detail brushes. I got a tip from an fantasy artist called Justin Gerard, he uses a number 1 or 0 Griffin acrylic brush for detailing. I’ve used it too, it holds it’s point pretty well and is slightly stiffer than sable so if take thicker paint. Although I imagine its quite close to the handling of the Onyx brush you were talking about 🙂
Hi Neil, I found lead white behaving completely different from the other oil colours. And I didn’t find it practical to have one colour ‘work’ differently from the rest when I am painting. I don’t really like Titanium either, in fact generally don’t use white at all as I have never found one I liked.
I will definitely try the Griffin brush, thanks for the tip!!