Although I have done a certain amount of reading about colour since I took up art seriously, I don’t think that I had a sound a grasp of it until I went on the ikon-painting course at Mirfield, last week. Of course, I was aware of the origins of the “earth colours” in natural soils, and substances such as iron oxide. Many years ago I visited the ochre quarries in southern France, while on holiday there. Naturally, I also knew about the importance of lapis lazuli. I have to confess that when it came to contemporary colours, however, and the complex chemistry on which pigment manufacture has been grounded (I suppose ever since the invention of “Prussian blue”) I have found it all rather uninviting. Substances such as “quinacridone” and “phthalocyanine” hardly invite closer acquaintance. All this changed during the past week, when our tutor (Peter Murphy) gave us brief explanations of the origins and composition of some of the colour we were using. I had not really appreciated how important it has been for artists that natural stones of one kind or another could be ground very fine to yield such a surprising range of colours.
Yesterday I mentioned my appreciation of the quality of the material we were using on the course. It was interesting to discover that the blue which figured in most of our images was based on a semi-precious stone known as azurite. What is more, it was positively startling to be told that this is actually more expensive, gramme for gramme, than gold!
I was particularly impressed by the symbolic importance of these things in the process of ikon painting. The finished product brings together ingredients symbolising all aspects of creation, from the egg used in the mixing of the pigments, to the rocks from which these are constituted, to the water used to help the adhesion of the gold leaf to the board, and the wood from which these are constructed. The unity of the finished product is symbolic of the unity of the created world. Reflection on these things made painting into much more than an exercise in colour theory.