Misty High Desert Showers

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C1590

"Misty High Desert Showers"

(Warner Valley, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Centurian Oil Primed Linen Panel

4" x 6"

Click here to make this your Own

(Take further Note: the images and incidents herein occurred in December 2014.)

Although there were intermittent stars during the night, by 06:15, when I arose, it was overcast and a light rain.  Coyotes yipped and yowled to the northwest, just as they did as I prepared supper the previous evening … towards the Rabbit Hill, no less; the Coyote Hills are the massif to the south from the Rabbits.  As I ate breakfast I was taken by the peach coloured strip of sky low along the horizon to the left of Poker Jim Ridge, and glowing through the soft desert rain … perhaps a promise of clearing; it was essentially the same view as painted two days before (seen here), but a different kind of rain.  Breakfast finished I did a rapid Oil Sketch using a big brush to quickly jot down the impression, as witnessed by the brushstrokes; it’s always interesting to see how much one can do with a large brush in good condition.  I used about a #6 bristle bright, for the whole thing, save for my monogram; one learns to judiciously use the corners for the smaller details.  I am learning that one goes through Oil brushes at a much more rapid pace by far than with Watercolour brushes; brights* soon become ragged filberts*; Watercolour brushes, especially the larger ones, can last for decades, well taken care of.   

After I had completed that sketch I had lunch, hoping that the day would improve and cast some interesting light over the landscape, so that I could perk up the sketch of the CCC hut published in the last post, but it was not to be; the rain did stop, but the overcast remained, so I continued on and completed that sketch, and dabbing in the deer as I mentioned in the last post.  Thus it remains more or less a reference study. 

Even though I am still in (just) the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, I have yet to see any antelope; coyotes, some birdlife and deer, but no antelope.  I wonder what is the best time of the year for their sighting.  A Great Horned Owl hooted off towards the mountain to the east, while I prepared supper, replacing the coyote choir of last night and the morning’s serenade.  I cooked at my campsite tonight as it was warm and calm, and stars appeared through various sucker holes to the southwest … over the Coyote Hills across the Warner Valley.  I have a tent neighbor several sites away, and almost a caravan neighbor in another, but after supper, the latter, left and headed up the mountain.  They could have a problem maneuvering the caravan in the snow at the Hot Springs campground, if that’s where they were headed, but perhaps they were instead passing through the antelope refuge, and heading for Steens Mountain.  Since Christmas is only two days away, tomorrow I shall go into Lakeview, the ‘tallest town in Oregon,’ to top up my supplies and my gas tank … oh, and my water supply as well! 

No imprimatura was used, just the white of the Oil Priming, and the Pigments used were, Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, and Winsor & Newton Cobalt Blue, Venetian Red & Cremnitz White.

* A bright is a short flat squarish brush, and a filbert is a flat brush with rounded corners, so the tip is rather oval in shape.

December Rain Showers in the Warner Valley

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C1588

"December Rain Shower"

(Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Winsor & Newton Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

Click here to make this your Own

(Take further Note: the images and incidents herein occurred in December 2014.)

After the delightful though brief glimpse of the stars through the sucker holes in last night’s cloud, the rest of the night was overcast and a quarter inch of snow had accumulated on the truck.  I was at work finishing up yesterday’s painting by 09:00, refining the huddle of buildings and vegetation that make up the headquarters of the National Antelope Refuge, here at Hart Mountain.  And the rain came sweeping in … and the wind … at times obscuring the HQ, but most of the time obliterating the distant Beattys Butte, and even the closer mass of upland on the right where lies Lookout Point. 

Upon finishing the sketch I drove the mile to the HQ and entered the ‘Open 24/7 Visitors Center,’ and corrected my entry in the log about how many days I had been in the Hot Springs CG.  I used the indoor head and spent some time musing about the weather outside through the windows, working out my best course of action.  The rain was obscuring the view of Hart Mountain, which I had considered sketching; the rain might freeze on the descent back down to the Warner Valley, up which I had ascended a week earlier; the rain might turn to heavy snow back at the Hot Springs CG, and keep me there longer; so the best course of action seemed to be descending the 1400’ back to the Warner Valley, and to camp at the CCC campground at the base of Hart Mountain, which was still just inside the Refuge. 

Thus I gingerly made the descent; my fears of rain freezing on the road proving unfounded, and the driving rain had now turned to individual squalls moving periodically across the landscape.  After exploring the as expected empty campground, I began another painting; this time of rain showers over the Warner Valley.  The view is north from the CG with the northern extremity of Hart Mountain being the cliffs on the extreme right of the sketch, and Poker Jim Ridge, being the lower high ground immediately to its left; the road up to the plateau behind, and down which I had come, lies between the two.  I’m not sure whether Poker Jim Ridge is considered part of Hart Mountain or not, but it forms part of the same escarpment that forms the eastern edge of the Warner Valley.  I wonder how often the lakes in this valley actually have water; I would like to see them when that might occur, filled with wildfowl, as in times of old (actually not so long ago, but the current extended drought, hereabouts, has aggravated the situation).  You might wonder where the drought is, with all this talk of snow and rain in these postings, but the accumulations have not been great, and if that which falls is rain instead of snow the accumulated snowpack up in the higher mountains is not as normal; and the accumulated snow pack up there is what sustains these regions, by its slow and measured melt, during the warmer months of the year.

With dark coming on I repaired to a roofed picnic area, with walls at one end and prepared supper.  Although windy, the main wall blocked a good part of it, and my body the restless gusts that crept around the barriers, so that supper was more easily managed than if I had been out in an open site.  I would finish the painting in the morning.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Lead White #2, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt Blue, Venetian Red & Cremnitz White.

The Distant Snow Shower

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C1587

"The Distant Snow Shower"

(Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Ampersand Gesso Panel

5" x 7"

Click here to make this your Own

(Take further Note: the images and incidents herein occurred in December 2014.)

All night the wind blew; not gale force, but hard enough.  It was not as cold overnight as I thought it would be, so my ice bucket was only partially frozen; still, it was better than if I’d left it in the cooler overnight.  My campsite is in a very slight dip, and so with the slightly warmer conditions, my wheels spun as I tried to leave to paint; if it had been colder I would have had no difficulty getting out.  So, I emptied my 15 gallons of spare fuel into the tank … what a job … took over an hour as I experimented with various methods of doing it best; nevertheless the job got done.  Each of my three containers still held a little petrol in the bottom, since I couldn’t get an angle for them to empty completely, so I poured from two into the third and drained that one as far as possible; I must get some sort of funnel to get every last drop in future.  With the petrol in the tank, and not weighting down the far back of the truck, and a little judicious spade-work, and 4-wheel drive, I got out without further difficulty.

By the time I got out of the Hot Springs valley, it was 11:30, so I ended up driving through the HQ about a mile or so on the road towards the Warner Valley, parked and had my lunch, and studied the scene before me.  Snow showers passed by occasionally in the distance, with a good one forming up as I set up for painting.  I worked on the sketch during the afternoon, while further snow squalls came and went, sometimes over me, and decided I would have to come back in the morning to rework the buildings and trees of the HQ complex.  I quite like the Beattys Butte massif dimly showing on the horizon, just to the left of the snow shower, and about 20, or so, miles away; it had been in sunlight not long before, but this gloomy apparition, as depicted, better caught the spirit of its impending disappearance beneath the obscuring swirl of the squall.  Just beyond the heights on the right is where I did yesterday’s painting, below Lookout Point.

With the morning’s slippery exit from my previous campsite in mind I took a site closer to the plowed exit road, and on level ground, for the night, and prepared my supper in a light snowfall … de-rigueur these days; diced ham and mashed potatoes with mushrooms, corn and broccoli – mmmmm good!  While I ate supper the cloud had cleared away leaving the whole sky brilliant with stars!  Five minutes later while stowing away my frying pan and stove, the cloud swept in again leaving sucker holes full of stars … fickle.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Lead White #2, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt Blue and Venetian Red.

Forty Miles of High Desert

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C1586

"Forty Miles of High Desert"

(Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Centurian Oil Primed Linen Panel

with additional Coat of Rublev Lead Ground

4" x 6"

Click here to make this your Own

(Take further Note: the images and incidents herein occurred in December 2014.)

I awoke at 05:43 hours and by the position of Jupiter peeking through the Aspen branches I ascertained that it must be close to morning.  I pulled my long-John shirt into the sleeping bag to warm up for awhile before I began to dress.  It takes close to an hour to wash up ‘me pits & bits’ (as they say in Blighty) with my solution of witch hazel and isopropyl alcohol, and gradually clothe myself in the myriad of layers necessary to be comfortable on frosty Winter’s mornings, all in a prone position, in the back of my SUV!  When I finally emerged from my cocoon, the sun was touching the top of Warner Peak across the Hot Springs Valley, and while breakfasting I was able to watch the Sun-line gradually sliding down the mountain slopes. 

So where to go today?  I drove out of the Hot Springs Valley, past the site of yesterday’s two paintings, proceeding towards the road junction at the Refuge HQ.  A couple of miles on my way I passed the Blue Sky Road upon my right, and noticed there were tire tracks in the snow; of course I followed them, as the road is of reasonable quality, but not plowed in the Winter.  I knew that 12½ miles down this road there was to be found a grove of Ponderosa Pines, which I hoped I would be able to make it to.  About a mile or so before the Pines I paused at the top of a hill down into the valley across which was the grove … would I find the hill too slippery to return up the hill?  I made a couple of tests before proceeding, especially in light of my recent mudfest (here).  There was a lot more to the grove than I expected, and I determined that in a drier time of the year I would return and explore and paint here, especially as there is another campground here (closed in Winter), but as I was worried about the imminent ascent on my return journey, and the Sun making the road possibly more slippery, I took a few swift photos and headed back.  I took the hill in 4-wheel drive, with no real difficulty as long as I did not pause on the incline; I breathed easier, nevertheless, upon attaining the crest.  On the way back I checked out a short side road leading to an Aspen grove, within which there is a private structure on a few acres of private land within the middle of the Refuge.  I think a painting from the road leading to this grove is on the cards, at some future date.  Later I discovered, that in spite of the vehicle tracks on the Blue Sky Road, this road was deemed closed in the Winter … perhaps the fact it was not plowed is the tip-off … oh well!

Today, however, I was struck by the view, from below Lookout Point, towards Beattys Butte, with Steens Mountain beyond.  Today there were more of the tops of Steens Mountain below the cloud level than in previous days.  The distances involved in such vistas continue to strike me, and again I sought to relate the 16 miles to Beattys Butte, and the 40 miles to Steens, with just a few strokes of the brush to depict the intervening sunlit and cloud shadowed spaces across the wide landscape between the foreground and the far mountains; always a daunting task.  A longer painting panel would have been nice, rather than the standard panel sizes I have, but for a longer panel there seem to be no stock frame sizes available … for once I envy the French, since their art suppliers seem to have a stock set of longer canvases and frames that fall into a marine category, which we in the English speaking world could well do with! 

Very windy that night as I placed the ice bucket of my cooler outside the truck to freeze overnight, before I turned in.  I think I will need to pour my cans of spare petrol into the tank in the morning, before heading out.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Lead White #2 & Flemish Lead White, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt & Cerulean Blues and Venetian Red.

Absorbing the Landscape

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1585

"On the Hot Springs Road"

(Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Centurian Linen Panel

with additional Coat of Rublev Lead Ground

4" x 6"

SOLD

(Take further Note: the images and incidents herein occurred in December 2014.)

After completing the Oil Sketch in the last posting, it was lunchtime. While eating I studied the scene off to my left; somewhere down there was the Antelope Refuge Headquarters; probably behind the hill to the left and down on the flat.  Poker Jim Ridge arose a few miles distant; the road from the Warner Valley comes up between it and the main ridge of Hart Mountain.  Beyond Poker Jim Ridge the hills are lower and stretch away to the north, perhaps thirty miles or more, before losing themselves in the low cloud … not as far as Steens Mountain.  The road goes from the Hot Springs to the Refuge HQ.  For me part of painting or drawing is to impress upon my mind what I see, and to come to terms with the Landscape.  The High Desert and the Mountains of the West are still new to me … even after the years I’ve been in Oregon, and probably will be for a long time to come, but every painting and drawing that I do teaches me more and more about this land. 

And so in the afternoon, I worked on the above Oil Sketch with Poker Jim Ridge on the left and the plateau stretching away to the distant hills in the North … all of what you see is part of the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, save for the far distant hills beyond Poker Jim Ridge.  And I have yet to see an antelope!  I would, but not this day.  I love these kinds of days, where there is a mixture of cloud and sun, thus casting shadows intermittently across the landscape.  In a vast landscape such as this, these shadows help to break up the landscape, and add great interest to what could otherwise be a rather flat and two dimensional view, especially in the middle of the day; the cloud-shadows help to give a sense of distance.  Absolutely blue clear-sky days have their own charm, but I really find them best when I am within a forest and need the light to see to paint, or if I am doing something other than painting, and the temperature is not too hot, being a cool weather chap.  A case in point would a pristine clear day in April, many years ago in Toronto, and the blue sky seemed to go on forever and ever, and the temperature was in the sixties Fahrenheit; I will never forget that morning.  But I digress.

As I finished working for the day, a mini-blizzard blew in from the South, lasting 45 minutes, and reducing visibility to a hundred yards or so, after having a 40 mile view just minutes before!  T’was perfect timing, as I scribed my Monogram to the sketch.  A couple in a car passed me towards the Hot Springs as the mini-blizzard began, and were over by the Springs as I came down the hill towards my campsite.  They did not remain the night; maybe they were from the HQ.  The accumulation was about a half an inch, and abated as I began to prepare supper in the twilight.  And so another day … a good day absorbing the landscape … came to an end.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Lead White #2 & Flemish Lead White, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt & Cerulean Blues and Venetian Red.

Bird Counters … Encountered

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C1584

"December … High Desert"

(North Slope of Adams Butte … towards Steens Mtn.)

Oil Sketch on Fredrix Canvas Panel

4" x 6"

SOLD

(Take further Note: the images and incidents herein occurred in December 2014.)

As I was leaving the campground this morning, I was surprised to meet a bloke and a couple of ladies, having not seen anyone since the snow plow driver the day of my arrival at Hart Mountain.  They were on an annual bird counting program; I think for the Audubon Society, but I could be wrong about that.  They had no knowledge of the forecast for the next few days, so I was stuck with only the daily weather information, which was only loosely applicable to this area.  I left them to their count, while I went on my way.

After painting in the hot springs valley for the past couple of days, I made it to the top of the hill before I stopped the truck to begin painting.  The view past a rocky spur of Adams Butte, just a few hundred yards off, with Steens Mountain, forty miles distant beyond, with its tops lost in the cloud, had caught my attention.  The miles of intervening distance is depicted with just a few horizontal strokes of paint, and the lower slopes of Steens Mountain, below the cloud, with just a few more.  If you were intimately knowledgeable about the area, you would know the distances involved and the geographical features depicted, and that might enhance your enjoyment of the painting, and those few strokes of pigment hopefully serve to indicate some large, but indeterminate distance to some highlands or mountains beyond, whether or not you know that it is Steens Mountain forty miles distant.  The bird counters passed by during the early stages of the painting; I wonder how their numbers and species compared to previous years?

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Lead White #2 & Flemish Lead White, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt & Cerulean Blues and Venetian Red.

Footprints on the Snowy Road

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1583

"Footprints on the Snowy Road"

(Warner Peak, Hart Mountain, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Fredrix Canvas Panel

4" x 6"

Click here to make this your Own

(Take further Note: the images and incidents herein occurred in December 2014.)

Less than a quarter inch of new snow fell overnight, and the Moon shone through thin cloud at times during the wee hours.  For the second day I did not leave the Hot Springs Valley, but remained to paint pretty much in the same spot, but turning 9o degrees left and painting towards the southwest and the second wing of the campground, nestled in the shadow of the left-hand hill, and with the Warner Peak of Hart Mountain beyond.  I pushed the blue of the sky and the shadows to give a greater contrast with the warm light on the snow in the morning light … maybe a bit too far, but we are at about 6500’ where the sky is darker, especially against the brightness of the snow, and it does serve to remind me of those contrast on that morning; and besides … that is part of what this is all about – taking notes in paint.  Painting thinly over the Imprimatura allowed the warmth of the Venetian Red to glow through the top layer of white of the snow, with thicker strokes of paint giving a bit of topographical sense to the terrain.  I put the footprints in later in the day after I had returned from a walk down the road.

There were myriad tracks of various critters; the coyote tracks seen in the snow on my first day were now mere depressions, due to the inch or more that that has fallen since then, but sometime during the night a small herd of deer had come from the left (past my campsite) and crossed the road in the above sketch, and if I had put them in would have appeared within the shadow area in the foreground; they would have been too confusing to have stuck them in; but I remember them, and maybe in a larger work.  There is so much life hidden away out in this High Desert landscape … besides the deer, antelope (I’ve yet to see any), and coyotes, there are plenty of rabbit tracks, and various rodents.  The latter seem to race from tuft to tuft of sage or grass, where there are many entryways into safety below the snow; I can visualize them down there, feasting on the different grasses and plants, visiting family, friends, or paramours, and with the occasional tussle with rivals; no doubt after one too many at their local mouse saloon; and later, rolling home when the pubs have closed, providing sustenance for the watchful owls, and wandering coyote; all this from a few tracks in the snow!

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna & Lead White #2, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt & Cerulean Blues and Venetian Red.

Winter Willows

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1582

"Winter Willows"

(Hot Springs, Hart Mountain, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Panelli Tellati Canvas Panel

With an additional coat of Williamsburg Lead Ground

6" x 8"

Click here to make this your Own

(Take further Note: the images and incidents herein occurred in December 2014.)

There was a further ¾” of new snow on the roof of the truck this morning, and although there was a chill easterly wind, I felt it was a warmer morning than yesterday.  I only drove from my campsite to the beginning of the plowed road leaving the campground, when I was brought up short by the early light hitting the Winter Willows along the creek, with the snowy ridge of Hart Mountain against the blue-grey clouds beyond; never got any further; remained here and painted instead of driving off in search of somewhere else.  The actual Hot Springs are beyond the willows.  

I chose a 6” x 8” (15 x 20 cms) Panelli Telati canvas panel that I had given a further coat of lead in oil ground over the factory acrylic priming; it took the paint nicely.  I proceeded with an imprimatura of Venetian Red (W&N), lighter than some of the recent ones I have worked over, and for pigments used the usual suspects: Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna & Lead White #2, with Winsor & Newton Venetian Red and Cobalt Blue, and at the end of the painting used a mixture of Cadmium Red & Yellow with a touch of Burnt Sienna for the brighter tints of the willow.  I proceeded a bit differently on this work, in that after sketchily drawing in the design with Cobalt Blue, and painting in the sky as normal, I then blocked in the panel pretty much completely with tints of a blue-grey mix from the mountain ridge to the foreground, to set the values of the snow.  Over this values block-in I then went back in with the details: willows, rocks, junipers, etc. Twice during the session I lost the tops of the ridge in light snow showers.  Finally I brushed in the lighted area of snow and willows, which contrasted nicely against the earlier dark valued block-in of the snow. 

Spotted an American Magpie, and a couple of raptors of some description, while painting.  Radio says snow coming in, but sounds more serious in the northern Cascades; I have supplies and the snowplow is only 5 miles away … I would only need to await its arrival, in the normal course of its working, should serious snow fall hereabouts.  A lovely quarter inch fell while preparing supper; nothing to worry about.

High Desert in Winter

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1581

"High Desert in Winter"

(Beattys Butte, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Ampersand Gesso Panel

4" x 6"

Click here to make this your Own

I finished the Oil Sketch, “Winter Aspens” (posted last time on the blog), and drove 11 miles to the above view, startling a coyote near the Refuge HQ on the way.  The main mountain in this view is Beattys Butte, but the massif includes 3 or 4 other peaks behind, one of which is Mahogany Butte, for those of you who might be familiar with the area.  I had a bite to eat while I studied the scene.  The flat, white area in the middle distance is the dry bed of Flook Lake, and I am near the entrance to a two track road that goes down there and beyond; worth exploring in the dry season … I’m now experienced in what roads are best left for another time, thanks to the mud-fest. 

Cloud came in slowly from the southwest (off to the right in this painting), while I worked and so I reckon there will be no Geminiids visible tonight.  Just as well, since a good night’s rest is in order, now that I’m daily painting.  Beattys Butte, and its attendant massif, is about 16 miles away.  I have addressed the issue of perceived distance before, and no doubt will again, but it is so interesting to look out over great distances in landscapes such as this, and realizing how distant certain features actually are.  To the left of me, as I paint, Steens Mountain lies about 35 miles distant, with its heights lost in cloud, and behind me there are distant hills 50 miles away. 

After finishing this sketch, second of the day, I drove back to camp in the twilight, and on the Hot Springs road, after passing the HQ, a pair of coyotes came running down the road towards me, and without stopping they split and continued on both sides of my truck.  I got a good look at the one on the driver’s side; healthy, and with bushy fur … all decked out for Winter.  I stopped and inspected their footprints, as they rejoined and ran on down the road.  Yep; same footprints as I have seen before and decided were coyote tracks, at my various track sightings. The Owls were hooting closer tonight as I prepared supper, with my red light headlamp on my head, in the darkening sky and with a light snow falling as I cooked.  It doesn’t get any better than this.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red; the Pigments used the usual Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna & Lead White #2, with Winsor & Newton Venetian Red and Cobalt & Cerulean Blues.