Pryolle red and the art of risk-taking

To be an artist is to be a risk-taker, experimenting with possible failure, ugliness and the feeling of paint wasted, for the potential discovery of something completely new, amazing, unique and original.

One of the key concepts behind my Adventurous Painters programme is about getting less fearful about taking risks, to approach painting as a joyful series of what happens if…..? experiments. This is how we find a journey into successful painting that is genuinely unique and personal.

I know for myself that when I’m familiar with something that works and is reliable, I can cling to it a little too tightly. It never works. The result is that I, and my paintings, get stale. That’s when it’s time to start experimenting again.

Alongside the current Adventurous Painters group, I’ve been making some ‘adventurous paintings’. This is something I offer in each module - the support and encouragement to make a group of paintings on panel or canvas in which we dare ourselves to take some creative risks. I generally work from a basis of three or four ‘foundation colours’ for any one painting, and in the spirit of adventure this time I chose colours I don’t often work with - including the combination of quinacrodine magenta and pyrolle red. My new adventure has paid off. I’m just loving the combination of these two colours, along with plenty of harmonised neutrals and deep blue / greens greys against which that pyrolle red truly sings!