Almond

Almond
Oil on gessoed board
28x50mm

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Almonds are Mars Orange. I've just got a particularly nice Mars Orange from Old Holland paints. Old Holland is very expensive but it's one of the few artist paint manufacturers who actually still grind the pigment in linseed oil. Most makers now use safflower oil which is cheaper and because it's less yellow the paint looks brighter in the tube. Unfortunately, it does not produce the same kind of tough elastic film that traditional linseed oil makes, and is a bad drier. Paint layers applied over the top of older layers will crack with safflower and I wonder how many of today's paintings will still be around in a hundred years time.

Just for entertainment purposes I have listed this one as a $1 reserve auction on NZTradeMe. I'm going to sell a painting if it kills me.

sold