ASH PINK | Matisse acrylic paint

Matisse's Ash Pink is a soft and subdued earthy pink with some surprising uses. It is a blend of Titanium White and a special red oxide chosen because it makes just the right pink. It is highly permanent and can be used with confidence. It is similar in color to a traditional house painting color called pink primer which in the old days was made from red and white lead. Pink primer was used because it was opaque and had a mid tone color that covered well and could work with a variety of tones above it. Ash Pink could be used in a painting in the same way since we all get mistakes that need covering up but that is only the beginning of what this versatile pink off-white can do.

In some ways this color has very similar uses to Magenta Light but where the Magenta Light is best suited to lightening the brighter more pure cool reds, magenta, and violet colors, Ash Pink is perfectly tuned for doing the same job with earthy reds, and earthy violets. It makes beautiful pinks with Venetian Red or Red Oxide or Permanent Maroon. These pinks are the dusky sorts of colors found in roses or in clouds at sunset. Mixed with Raw Sienna it gives golden or salmon sorts of colors. Mixed with Ultramarine it makes exquisite soft blues and blueish mauves Try mixing it with Cobalt Teal and you will discover beautiful soft grays. This unassuming color is full of surprises.

A very practical use for this color is for painting lips. Start with Mars Violet and mix with Ash Pink and maybe a touch of Venetian Red depending on the person. This gives the unique sorts of colors found in lips. Lipstick might require experimentation with Matisse Rose Madder or other brighter colors depending on the shade of lipstick but for the natural color of lips a softer more earthy color is required. So much of the natural world is made of earthy sorts of colors that the colors that make them are particularly valuable on the palette. With that in mind it pays to choose soft earthy versions of any colors used in mixes with Ash Pink. Mineral Blue and Venetian Red made lovely mauves with Ash Pink. Going in another direction, Ash Pink added to Chromium Green Oxide makes the sort of greenish grays found in many of the Eucalyptus leaves that are so common in the Australian bush.