Burnt Sienna
Vincent Wells, my old art teacher, was an eccentric old buffer. While his passion for art was never in question, his teaching methods were dubious to say the least. Lines, shapes, perspective and colour all passed me by. But one thing he said has remained with me to this day: burnt sienna. It was the way he said it; imagine a cross between Frank Muir and Brian Sewell and you won't be far off. If I can shoehorn the word into everyday parlance, I'm a happy man. Whether it be choosing a floor covering or a lacquer to paint the garden fence, dropping it in to conversation always makes me smile. As it did today when Matt Priest and Nigel Clark of Dodgy were describing the colour of their new album, Stand Upright In A Cool Place on The Word podcast. No, not the colour of the sleeve, the colour of the songs and the vibe. Brown and gold they said. Burnt Sienna I said out loud - to an empty room. And I grinned like an idiot.
Combining self-penned modern day folk songs like Raggedstone Hill with their trademark jangly, dreamy backdrop, the boys who stayed out for the Summer are now the men coming home for the Autumn. That's not my quote by the way. Anyway, have a listen to this and see if you agree with the livery of this cracking new tune.
Dodgy: What Became Of You
I seem to remember 'burnt sienna' being uttered in an IKEA tv ad celebrating the opening of Scotland's first store.
ReplyDeleteImagine an ad spoken in Glesga parlance by some stereotype west of scotland hard men discussing 'drapes'
Mmm, I enjoyed that, thank you. Thought it had quite a '70s feel to it (in a good way). Burnt Sienna indeed, with maybe a touch of Crimson Lake, Raw Umber and Rose Madder too...? (I love those evocative paint names - and the thought of the Frank Muir/Brian Sewell enunciation made me smile too.)
ReplyDeleteI'd have expected a reference for Burnt Sienna to be slightly lighter.
ReplyDeleteNow some while back whilst pondering the "Misty Emerald" vs "Spring Meadow" - I said to my wife. Look why don't they just come up with a system based on the RGB settings on monitor displays then it would be Red 150, Green 250, Blue 150 and we'd all know what was what.
She gave me one of those withering looks (Paddington Bear stares we call them) and just carried on. I raised it again later on the way home and she sighed and said "You know you have absolutely no soul or romance - the name is evocative of the image you area trying to create"... "Is it?" I mumbled... lost me somewhere there ;-)
The opening line of Golden Brown by The Stranglers wouldn't quite be the same, would it?
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