Nigel Shipley



Oil and bitumen on board 50 X 60 cm 


Bitumen paint is made to repair a leaking roof. It is dreadful stuff to work with, sticky, stinking and as black as can be. It is like the dregs of a barrel of crude oil, but when dried on a painting it can be a sublime, rich, and deep black.  Pure black like Japanese lacquer, but with a velvety softness. Oil paint applied in a thin wash over a pure white base acts like a sheet of coloured glass through which light passes and reflects back off the white base.  This can illuminate the colour from behind and make it glow.  




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