Walter Darby Bannard (1970)
Art Now: New York, Vol. 2, #7 (1970).
Since 1957 or 1958 my basic working materials have been rectangular stretched canvas and liquid alkyd resin paints in a large selection of pre-mixed, finely differentiated colors. In these dozen years I have painted in terms of color and with an eye to the sensuousness of the colored surface. Recently I have felt much about the liquid quality of paint, and this probably shows in the paintings.
Cherokee Blanket #2 was made with 4 different colored paints applied in 5 layers: grayish bluish green flat, grayish yellowish orange gloss, grayish reddish orange gloss, bright orange flat, and then the first color in gloss. All the colors are a similar value and vary more by hue difference than by light-dark difference. The grey-green is a subdued compliment, or "opposite," to the 3 oranges. The 2 grey-oranges "escort" the bright orange, one on each side coloristically (yellowish and reddish), standing back because of their grayness. The color combination was carefully worked out before the painting was begun. Once applied, the colors took on some further variation according to conditions on the canvas.
My materials and my attitude toward color and paint have not changed too much in the last 5 years. A change in "style" has usually been a change in method of paint application. The paint on Cherokee Blanket #2 was poured or dabbed on with soaked gauze diapers. Cardboard templates were used to impose an armature for the color.
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