The Easiest Color to Paint?

Just recently, I was at the Farmer’s Market in Dublin, GA, when an older couple stopped by my table. As they were looking at my paintings, the wife half-whispered to her husband, “You should ask if he could do one of your car.”

Having done a few vehicles, I couldn’t help but ask what kind of car he had. Believe it or not, it was on old Nash Metropolitan. If you don’t know what one of those are, here is a photo. It was a sub-compact before the word was ever coined.

We got to talking about his car, which is always fun to do – talk with people about their classic cars – and I asked him, “How does it ride?” “Like a two-wheeled cart,” he replied.

But when we got to talking about doing a painting of the Metropolitan, he said, “I don’t know, it would be a hard color.”

“Oh, really? What color is it?” I asked.

“White.”

I laughed and said, “That’s no problem, white is the easiest color! That’s the color of the canvas! All I have to do is add shading.”

And that’s the honest truth! Granted, if one wanted to get really picky and demanded that the color of the white be identical to the white on the subject of the painting, then we might have an issue. As you can see in the painting of the lift truck I did for EMC, the tricky part was to recreate the curves and create depth with shadow. I didn’t have to worry about whether the “white” was actually Windsor or Distressed Eggshell.

So, yeah, I like painting things that are white. Maybe the old gentleman will give me a call. I hope so. My painting skills have improved since I painted the bucket truck.

I might even try something daring, like a snow-covered field. Because, after all, white IS just white, correct?

I make myself laugh.