Ellen Easton
Was Ellen E. on Wet Canvas
- Messages
- 160
I had never heard of this paint color till I got it in a set of Sennelier watercolors. I swatched it and fell right in love with this beautiful warm red brown color.
Fast forward a year or so and I hadn't actually used it in a painting yet. By chance, though, I learned that the earliest uses of it went way, way back in history. When I learned what it was originally made from, though, it was kind of sickening to me, even though I know it's not made that way anymore.
The reason it was called "mummy brown" is because it was made by pulverizing parts of mummies! OMG!
Thankfully, they eventually ran out of mummies they could make a pigment from so my little half pan of caput mortuum is undoubtedly not actually made of mummy dust. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
At last, I've overcome my squeamishness and I used it in a painting. I posted a picture of the painting I used it on over in the September painting challenge posted by PaintBoss. She posted a gorgeous picture of a brilliant sunset as one of the images to choose from to paint. I thought the wonderful deep reddish brown would be a good color for the dark sillouette at the bottom. I think I was right because it does have a really nice red-brown color that I think the bright sunset glow would bring out of that area
So anyhow----I posted the link to the Wikipedia page if anyone is interested or curious about "mummy brown" or caput mortuum.
I hope I posted this in the right area but if not, I hope a mod will move it to where it rightfully goes.
Fast forward a year or so and I hadn't actually used it in a painting yet. By chance, though, I learned that the earliest uses of it went way, way back in history. When I learned what it was originally made from, though, it was kind of sickening to me, even though I know it's not made that way anymore.
The reason it was called "mummy brown" is because it was made by pulverizing parts of mummies! OMG!
Thankfully, they eventually ran out of mummies they could make a pigment from so my little half pan of caput mortuum is undoubtedly not actually made of mummy dust. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:
Mummy brown - Wikipedia
Caput mortuum (pigment) - Wikipedia
At last, I've overcome my squeamishness and I used it in a painting. I posted a picture of the painting I used it on over in the September painting challenge posted by PaintBoss. She posted a gorgeous picture of a brilliant sunset as one of the images to choose from to paint. I thought the wonderful deep reddish brown would be a good color for the dark sillouette at the bottom. I think I was right because it does have a really nice red-brown color that I think the bright sunset glow would bring out of that area
So anyhow----I posted the link to the Wikipedia page if anyone is interested or curious about "mummy brown" or caput mortuum.
I hope I posted this in the right area but if not, I hope a mod will move it to where it rightfully goes.
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