Sunday, April 8, 2012

dove foot red




Mourning doves have such pretty feet. What color is that? The field guides say they have reddish-pink feet but as an artist I wasn't quite satisfied with that descriptor. If I were to paint a mourning dove, what color would I choose? It's not a Barbie or even a Pepto-Bismol pink. What is it?

I went on-line and did some research. I think the shade of red that is the closest match is alizarin crimson. What do you think?

The ancient Egyptians once fabricated the color by crushing the root of a rose madder plant. They used the resulting powder in paints and textiles dyes. If the pyramid-builders revered the color, I can only assume they would have liked mourning doves as well, or at least, their pretty feet.



Alizarin crimson




1 comment:

A Colorful World said...

I agree with your color choice! Now I want to look at the mourning doves' feet here and see if they are also very red. I don't think they are. Boy, I got BEHIND with your posts. Have been reading the book! I hope you don't mind but I want to post about you and your blog and of course the book. Will that be all right?