Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 6”
What's the Madder? I am talking about rose madder lake, a very expensive, crimson-like pigment, which I have in my paint box but never seem to have had an opportunity to put on my palette (until now). I was at the market on Saturday and these radishes called out to me. "Paint me, paint me!" they shouted. Radishes don't always agree with me, nor I them, but this time they were making sense. Wegman's has an automatic misting device in their produce department, and, as if on queue, the spray nozzles came to life and applied a dazzling sheen to these guys that intensified their color and sealed the deal. If I needed another reason, other than the classic, Christmasy goodness of the color scheme, the tips of this vegetable, just before going white, are a distinctive rose madder hue. I had to have them, if only to pull out that dusty tube and give it a little squeeze. Why did I buy the pigment in the first place? I had heard of its beauty and during a half-off sale at my local art emporium, dropped a tube in my basket. This place marks their prices in code - pigment such and such is "Code A", another "Code B" and so on. When I got to the counter, I found out what "Code E" was. Even half off, the small tube of pigment was $35.00. What the hell, I bought it anyway, and there it has sat until now. I could have faked it with alizarin crimson, but why?
From Horse Feathers:
Student: Oh, Professor, you're full of whimsy.
Professor Wagstaff: Can you notice it from there? I'm always that way after I eat radishes.
