Hi Peter

‘m so glad to hear you’ve been experimenting! And what you say is exactly what I love to see, people trying things out and finding their own favourite neutrals. I agree, a pre-mixed neutral can be a useful thing, but the warmth or coolness you can get from your own mixes is bound to be better. And as you say, some pre-mixed neutrals dont feel at all neutral to me, either! Nice work. I hadnt thought of adding the Chinese white either, so thanks for that tip.

Ah! Nothing as exciting as feeling responsible for a lightbulb moment, Im very flattered. Glad the chat about neutrals has proved helpful. X

Thanks Lizzie, such a helpful article and so well explained. Reading your response to Lavender was a lightbulb moment for me.

Hi Donna
That’s a valid and useful; point to make. And avoiding shine of soft textures can help actualize the texture. Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it. x

Hi Lavender

Ah, yes. Well, the thing is that you can combine your correct prior knowledge with the stuff about neutrals. What you’ve learned about shadow reflecting the surroundings is, of course, correct. It makes sense, right? Of course shadows echo what light and colour conditions are going on. So what about these neutrals? Neutrals are another tool in the box of tricks that get used with trickier colours. They’re a cunning way of dealing with colours that can go horribly wrong if you make a shadow from a darker version of that colour. When mixing paints, dark yellow becomes an orange, a green, or a brown, yet the shadow on a pale daffodil petal is neither of these colours. I guess the use of neutrals is a fudge to cover the limitations posed by physical mixing of colour vs the optical light and colour that we see in nature. Using neutrals helps preserve luminosity, and keeps the painting un-muddied. And another good point you make – it’s not specific to botanical illustration. It’s a tool to use when you’re painting any subject that would end up looking muddy or “wrong” if you used physical paint in a darker hue. I suppose what you raise is a bigger issue altogether; the way that painting an object can replicate that object…but only so far as the physical materials we use (paints) are capable of doing so. As we can’t paint with light (what an idea, I love it!), recreating the physics of light mixing and reflection is, necessarily a fudge. And I see using neutrals as a tool in our efforts to manage this task. Thanks for a really interesting and valid point, I enjoyed having to think about it. Hope that makes at least a little bit of sense? X

Oh good, so glad to be of help! X