Australian Ghost Gum  | Matisse acrylic paint

Australian Ghost Gum was originally introduced to match the soft whites found in the trunks of the ghostly trees that are common in the semi-arid parts of Australia. Many landscape artists have found it an ideal white when working with landscape because so many of the very light colors are naturally muted. Just as dark shadows have a lot of color in them so do the natural whites. In nature colors tend to be muted and are rarely strident. Because Australian Ghost Gum has a subdued ochre based character it works well with the restrained colors of the natural landscape. Despite the landscape related name, Matisse Australian Ghost Gum has another life as an an ideal off-white mixing white for all kinds of paintings genre from portraiture and figure work to abstraction. The color has a soft quality well suited to mixing skin tones yet is equally at home as a mixing white when painting flowers or fabrics. It is opaque and absolutely permanent.