I’m not really a red person. It’s interesting that I live in the land of The Reds, Ohio State, and cardinals yet I don’t use red in decorating or wear red very often. You may even notice that red shows up in my paintings only as an occasional accent, but my paint palette holds five variations of red pigment! That’s because when you add backlighting to red, it becomes pink!
When we were early artists, we were taught to make pink by mixing white tempera paint into a small amount of red tempera. The resulting hues were chalky, Pepto Bismol-like variations of baby pink - a symbol of the color rather than the spectrum of pinks seen in nature.
With an introduction to the gentle beauty of oil paint I learned to create realistic pink flowers, sunsets, fabrics and rosy faces. Pink became a regular addition to my paintings for years to come. But it was with watercolor that I began to infuse pink light into most subjects.
Many watercolor hues are transparent, each layer impacted by a brush of color placed earlier. White comes from watercolor paper itself. You might say that a watercolor painting is “backlit” by the paper, much like a photo can be backlit by the sun. Backlighting makes colors glow and watercolor glows like no other medium. A wash of soft peachy-pink shines through a painting much like a blush. Warmth radiates from a sheer glaze of golden yellow while cool lavender tints soft shadow light - colors created by a touch of pink.
I have a favorite “secret ingredient” pink that has been a part of my palette since my thirty-something daughter was small. Holbein’s Opera added just the right amount of brightness to the pinks I would use to create whimsical characters based on her rosy cheeks and sweet smile.
A little color play revealed that Opera pink gives greens earthiness, oranges brilliance, and browns luminosity. Lavenders and purples created with Opera are a little too “sweet” for most of my paintings, but lovely when toned down by a touch of a golden yellow. Sometimes I’ll use Opera as an underpainting, thinly washed over white paper then glazed with a warming yellow. Backlight.
I learn so much from painting, especially lessons for a daily walk in the presence of the Creator. Art is, after all, one of His languages. Thinking about the influence of pink glazes on white paper has given me new appreciation for the message in Hebrews 3:14,
“For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”
In this context, confidence means
setting under,
support,
assurance.
Similar to white paper glistening through top layers,
sparkling color created by an underpainting of pink,
backlight shining from under a painting.
Support from inside, the assurance of outer glow.
Time shared with Christ, each day beginning with Him,
setting Him under everything that matters to us.
Assurance to the end.
“But Christ dwelling in the soul is a wellspring of joy.”
Backlight.
