Although no Madder Lake pigment was used in this painting the notoriously fugitive rose colour did suggest the title for this latest one to be developed from observations of puddles in the park. Lake pigments are manufactured by precipitating a dye, the madder root in this instance, with an inert binder, usually a metallic salt. Although the word lake derives from lac, a resinous secretion, rather than a body of water, the association of a small puddle with a lake was appealing when part of the interest in this series is with the ambiguities of scale. The binder for the rose madder pigment has to be white and before that metallic salt, chalk, white clay and crushed bones, were used. Crushed twigs and leaves immersed in puddles therefore seemed like another reference to the precious madder root pigment.
Madder Pool 100x140cms Oil on canvas
