RIGHT Andrew
Gifford at work in
his Brighton studio
BELOW RIGHT
Cathedral of the
Saviour through the
Tree, Last Sunlight,
St Petersburg,
oil on canvas,
114x110cmKnow your palette...
You don’t want to
overcomplicate things
This isn’t misplaced arrogance but rather an
acknowledgement that all the knowledge in the world
won’t help you if you don’t practice. Andrew – “Giff” to his
mates – is 50 next year and he has spent much of the last
three decades honing his plein air painting skills in places
as far afield as Jerusalem, Kerala and Hong Kong. At the
beginning of the year, he planned a long trip to Russia.
“I thought I’d just been painting hot places and I’d never
done a series of snow paintings,” he explains. “For me,
Russia is snow, that’s the vibe. And I thought if I was doing
that, I should probably take more white than I normally do.”
Giff travels with two white paints: a tube of Michael
Harding’s Titanium White and a couple of less-pigmented
white for using in mixes. His favoured palette of oil colours
also includes Cadmium Yellow Light, Indian Yellow, Yellow
Ochre, Transparent Iron Oxide, Cadmium Red, Magenta,
Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Green, Sap Green, Phthalo Blue,
Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Van Dyke Brown and Lamp
Black. Each colour has been carefully tested over time.
Some paints were introduced for specific uses, such as
Indian Yellow, a “really translucent colour” he uses for
warm glazes to capture “that time of day when everything
goes that golden colour”, or Lamp Black, which he saves
for painting figures in a landscape as it “sets them aside
from everything else and gives them a presence.”
Phthalo Blue is another he “can’t live without” when
painting transitional skies. Pointing out of the window, Giff
notes how most blue skies actually shift from a red-biased
Ultramarine Blue at the top, down to a green-biased
Phthalo Blue that gives him the “zinging quality” he craves.
His most recent addition was Michael Harding’s Magenta.
“When you mix it with blues, you get these incredible
purples and you can create great shadows in snow.”
Giff underlines the importance of getting to know the
subtle differences between the same colours across
different brands. “For example, Michael Harding’s Sap
Green is a very translucent green that I mix with Alizarin
Crimson to make great darks, whereas Daler-Rowney’s
Sap Green is a chalkier colour which does a totally different
thing.” Familiarity is key then. “When you’re painting
quickly en plein air, you’ve got to know your way around
the palette. You don’t want to overcomplicate things.”
Artists & Illustrators 31