Artist Anna Evans: We need to talk about Magenta

Welcome to the Colour Time Podcast. I am your host

Vincent Taylor. This is the

podcast where we speak with professionals who work

with colour. Very often on the

show I'm chatting to folks within the film and

television industry because of

my background as a colourist. But the

goal of this podcast was to speak to

people in all sorts of disciplines who work with

colour and today we're gonna

do that. Today we're chatting to an amazing painter

Anna Evans. Anna is based

in New Zealand. She works with beautiful beautiful

colour. Check out the show

notes that'll link to her work but you're gonna

love this conversation. Let's go.

Take your seats because the hourglass is about to

turn. We are entering the world

of the micro podcast. Explore the craft, creativity

and science of professionals

who use colour to tell stories. Welcome to the

Colour Timer with Vincent Taylor.

Anna, hi. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for

having me. Absolutely. I should say

Kia ora because I actually grew

up in New Zealand but you are a New

Zealander but you're not a New Zealander. What's

your background? Yes. I was

born in Rochdale, England which is northern

Manchester and I migrated to

New Zealand Auckland area as well when I was 11.

Yeah so you're pretty much Kiwi

now right? Yeah well I feel like a

Kiwi but you know I guess culturally

identity wise I'm a migrant, long history of

migrants. Long history of migrants.

I migrated all around the world.

Well I'm gonna, two seconds before we

started the recording I said that I

have in the past sometimes started

interviewing people and forgot to start my sand

time out and I almost forgot

this time so I'm gonna start it. Are you ready for

the game show to begin? Here we

go. Now I discovered you or I kind

of actually my wife sent me a video of

something you had done. You were an artist, you're

a painter and she showed me this

really cool video you did talking about primary

colours. Now primary colours are

red, green and blue. Red, green and red, yellow and

red, yellow and blue. I'm

thinking of video. See I did

it already but you're saying

but you're saying no. You're saying you got a

different opinion. No yeah I'm

saying the primary colours are

cyan, yellow and magenta and they're the

subtractive primary colours. So

the primary colours you just first

mentioned red, green and blue are the additive

primary colours and the ones that we were

taught in primary school was red,

yellow and blue and the other ones I

dispute. So tell me about that. Why? Okay so I

guess this all started way

way way back in time when I was

probably about four or five and we were

learning primary colours at school and the teacher

gave us the red, the yellow

and the blue and told us that we can make green

with blue and yellow and yeah

we could make green and we can make

orange with red and yellow and we could

make orange and she told us that we can make purple

with blue and red but that's

not what happened because well she

had probably given us a warm red a

vermillion or something and a warm blue

and so when they mixed together they

made this kind of like almost I would say it would

be like a more darker brown

version of what I wanted like a kind of deep maroon

burgundy brown dried blood colour.

So I was never very happy with that and I always

wanted to make those really

vibrant pinks and purples that we get and then

years past years past I learnt a

bit more as I got older about

painting and mixing colours and then I was

introduced to a teacher that showed us that if we

used a cold red and a warm

red the cold red and the cold blue would give us

something closer to a purple but

it still wasn't quite right and then I started by

that stage I was about 15 or

16 and I was looking up on the internet all about

colour and my dad who happened

to teach science had one of those I guess they're

like slip things you shine

the light through and then I found out all about

red green and blue and how the

secondary colours of red green and blue are cyan

yellow and magenta and how that

related to print so all went through that process

and then I found out that

yes sure enough all the colour printers are cyan

yellow and magenta. Oh my gosh

what a journey. And it made perfect sense from

there that if we just go and

get magenta and blue we can make

beautiful purple so I managed to get

some paint and sure enough yeah I was

able to paint purples and pinks which is what I had

always wanted to do. What was the thing that you

was that like a kaleidoscope you

mean or what was that you're saying your dad had?

No so in in the physics department

and they have like I think it's called a slit thing

basically you shine light

through to see the light waves and I guess the

waves and the light shines

through and when you mix the colours up you can

even do it with light if you get

three torches with red green and blue light and

combine all the light together

it will show the white because all the light mix

you'll know that yeah and then

you get like red and blue and it will give you

magenta and then you get red

and green and it'll give you yellow so in light

that's how it works and so

what's happening is that the secondary

colours when they're mixing is making

the pigment primary colours so they're kind of

inside out versions of each

other. Yeah it does it does. I think it's to do

with because light how light

bounces off an object so when the Sun's shining

down and we're seeing something

that I guess to us appears green what's happening

is it's absorbing all of the

stuff that makes it magenta and that light's

bouncing back yeah and it

becomes green so I think that's why they work

inside out of each other but

the same thing happens with subtractive primary

colours so when we mix cyan and

yellow we get green and when we mix yellow and

magenta we get red or orange

depending on how we balance it out

and then between magenta and cyan we get

blue as we know it like that kind of ultra marine.

Oh yes. I guess we call it.

Now yes see I told you this would go fast I'm

already looking at the sand

timer, I go oh I've got so many more

questions. To me at least it speaks

volumes that as a little girl you kind of went hang

on that's that's not right

or that or at least it at least it

planted a seed or put a little splinter

in there where you just went oh it's not that's not

what it should be or whatever

and you it's not the right colour. No and you'd get

teachers that would say mix a

bit of white in it and be like okay mix a bit of

white in it and then it just was

like a mauve-y beige brown it wasn't purple you

know what I mean so and I was

always one of those I was a bit like you know I'm

the imprint new clothed child

that's like no no Miss that ain't right that's not

purple this is brown what this

is just not purple and then

oh my gosh they hated you right

hmm that's what I was one of those like know it all

kids I guess to be honest but

you what whatever

whatever it was in you to keep exploring

that I mean I've introduced you as a painter and oh

my gosh are you a painter

I love your work it's so and and and here's the

thing about your paintings

that I love so much they're really

really bright and colorful but they're

not as well it's this really it's really hard for

me to articulate yeah yeah well

thank you I guess - I hope it was a compliment

it was supposed to be

No, no. I'll take it.

it's an interesting that my

work has definitely gone through a big transition

period since I had my little

boy just because time is super

condensed and you don't have as much and

also just I guess - since like you're become

a mother you sort of it's

like another adolescence in many ways you just go

through a change I suppose

and I guess that reflects in my work as an artist a

little yeah maybe you paint

you know your landscapes but a lot of

birds what is it about the birds that

draws you in oh well that's again um that almost

feels like a lifetime ago

because since I had my boy I have been painting a

lot a few birds but not a

lot a large body of my work was birds and I don't

know why I was drawn to birds

for the longest time I guess that was a sense of

freedom and and that there were

all these birds that are bright colored and they're

not really of a memory of me

from when I was a small child where they're those

more brownie kind of gray

colors of UK birds like the colors

in New Zealand are wildly different to

where I come from as a child

like Manchester's really industrial

browns grays the sky itself is kind

of more often than not dull and when I

arrived in New Zealand it's like

super bright and colorful and there's all

these crazy looking exotic trees and I suppose the

birds are kind of a way of

capturing how I would view New Zealand before

migrants like me came do you know

what I mean like it's a land that didn't have

mammals until humans arrived

and brought them apart from a bat so I guess the

birds are like the original

owners of New Zealand well going going back going

- Going back a lifetime ago...
- They were the ones that were here first

when I did do art history and I remember studying

don't ask me any names but I

remember studying some Kiwi painters you know

Europeans who came to New Zealand

and they were so struck by the

quality of the light and the colors and and

that really kind of changed the way that they they

painted or at least what they

explored I mean that sounds almost exactly like

you're what you're talking about.

Yeah well I guess it is because I mean I

obviously was 11 so it's I'm not

coming at it from an adult viewpoint

but it has always stuck with me the

intensity of light when I arrived here like I

remember the first morning we

woke up and it was an incredible sunrise it was

these beautiful pinks and oranges

and these gradients of just like an explosion of

magenta and orange it was

just the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen and I

was like well so this is where

we're living now oh cool this is amazing and then

later in the day we went out

and we went to Takapuna Beach and it was just

turquoise the water and I was

like whoa like I thought that this was something

from Treasure Island you know

because you'd see like - that's fantastic - but yeah a

lot different from where I

can I love I love I love watching you as you're

talking about color you just you

kind of light up for yourself and

it's wonderful it's really cool it's

probably my most favorite thing to talk about or

argue about well you said you

said that you know you haven't been

doing birds as much so so what have you

maybe moved on to another topic or yeah my latest

obsession actually has been

gardens yeah, obsession and

gardens and it all comes from again this is

related to color fascination with dahlias or

dahlias I believe they're

actually supposed to be pronounced as dahlias so

the way a dahlia grows yeah

potatoes potatoes well yes so what

I found out and this is what made me

obsessed with them is when you plant a dahlia seed

you have no idea what color

it's gonna come out or what shape so you I could

get a seed from a red dahlia

and when I plant it I don't know whether it's gonna

be a frilly double they call

them or like a single with one row of petals so

it's completely a surprise and

so when you plant the seed you have no idea what's

gonna come out and then like

between 70 and 90 days later you've got this

surprise flower and so I just

thought that's the coolest thing ever I can plant

like you know hundreds of

these things and I'm gonna have an explosion of

random colors and I don't

know what they're gonna be like and so I did it for

one season and I just fell in

love and then I just started growing

more and more and more and then I just

became obsessed with like crossbreeding dahlias and

then and then I was like oh

dahlias are cool and then there's all these other

flowers and so I just yeah

again that's after I had my son and I think it's I

started doing that because

when you're carrying up because I carried my boy

around I was one of those

mums that had the slings and he was just always

with me so gardening was like

this new creative outlet that I just fully threw

myself into and yeah when I

when I become obsessed with something I do...

When you're approaching a painting or when you're

starting a painting whether it be birds or the

gardens the plants the flowers do

you have a sense already of the colors that are

gonna go into that or do they

come as your painting? That's

interesting so like I've got this

work right here with me this one I did as a speed

painting so one of the things

I'm doing this year has been I really

want to speed myself up and get more

looser and fluid with how I paint so I've been

setting aside between an hour

and 90 minute sessions a day to do some paintings

and basically because that goes

so fast I have no choice but to just sort of like

be intuitive and let it go

so this is based on one of those

paintings which was yeah I was just

painting and then I thought I'll

put some purple in there and I'll make

this yeah I'll do some Queensland's lace and I'll

put some blue asters and things

like that and there's some salvia and and yeah at

that point is I think that

purple will go real nice with this

purple or this blue so it becomes a bit

about orchestrating but yeah it's I think it's a

bit of both like like I do

kind like when they come onto a canvas I know what

they're gonna be because I've

thought about it before but when they're in that

first study stage no it's a bit

more like I will play and see what kind of

instinctually comes out that's

amazing that's so fascinating yeah

it reminds me how I'm not even though

there's a guitar behind me I'm not

a musician but it reminds me of how

musicians talk about you know they've got their

especially jazz musicians you

know they've got they start off with something

structure and then it kind of

yeah yeah it turns into something else yeah like

it's like something influences

it's like you're responding to you'll do something

and then you've got to respond

to it and one part will inform the

next part and it just sort of builds from

there that's how yeah it's probably

quite like Jazz. yeah and are you is it

is it oil paint you use is that where you the

medium that you use or acrylic

no I'm using acrylic because again it's speed

factor time I've got my little

one around I'd love to get back into oils like I

used to paint with oils when

I was at university and um so one day

it's it's my dream when I finally get

this the shed studio properly skidded out so that I

can do it safely and have

things dry and away yeah yeah of course then yeah

do you do you yeah do you ever

have to push yourself to paint or is it the

opposite like you just want to paint

all the time how does that work with your drive I

want to paint all the time

I want to paint all the time and life gets in my

way that's that that's how I'd put it

but the cool thing about being a mom is I have

learned to be less indulgent on

one thing you know like like I'm with my work like

because I put my first point

of energy goes into him and then

everything else is from that so I've got

that's what the speed paintings are about yeah get

faster and looser and yeah

just see where it takes me take off

folks folks who have watched listen to

the podcast know that I'm terrible at sticking

exactly to the time but the time

has stopped but I've got one more kind of question

that I want to ask you it's

not a specific question actually it's it's more

about do you have a color

that you kind of tend to avoid you know like I used

to work with a guy on a show

and he just despised magenta and he'd start to see

magenta where there wasn't

magenta you know is there a color like that or the

opposite one that you always

just gravitate to?

Well that's that is

interesting I don't do it consciously

but I have noticed from my paints that the colors

that I use least of is red

red red or yellow and it might be that because I

use magenta instead of red

that I do if I need a red I will use

that of course but I can also I guess

mix something similar to a red with magenta and

yellow so it might be that

it's red and yellow those interesting probably

least used I think I'm more

drawn to the magenta blue green cyan side of the

spectrum I would say at this

point yeah what what but I don't hate any color

speaking of red what what did

you think of the latest reveal for the King Charles

portrait painting ah that's

an interesting one um I feel like the artist knew

the response it would have I

do feel that I feel like any artist

who's using pinks and reds in such a

bodily sense it looks very internal

inside body fluids I think that they

knew the - how that would

be provocative I think it yeah it's an

interesting one I don't I yeah it's it to me I mean

because when I it looks it

looks war it look it looks like war to me but that's

just because I view those

colors and associate them with horror like if I was

gonna make a horror movie

it probably have a lot of those colors in it yeah I

do yeah and I feel like an

artist would know that I wonder I wonder I wonder

if the artist to I wonder if

they have to if they have to say look this is the

style or this is where I'm

going to with this painting or or if

they're just left alone to do their

thing yeah I wonder that too I mean

there's been some I can't remember

there was some Queen back in the day yeah yeah yeah

when I say day I mean last century

yeah and I believe that they weren't happy with

portrait of done of her and

they didn't even pay the artist so I don't know I

may maybe maybe the artist

was like oh I'll take a punt I'll make

it look kind of out there and I'll at

least it's certainly got talked

about maybe now speaking of names being

remembered hopefully folks are gonna check out your

work because I've totally

totally loved talking to you and I knew I would I

knew I would I could tell I

could tell by that first video I watched I went oh

you sound so interesting in

the way that you you get enthusiastic about things

and you just don't stop I

love it I love it so thank you so much for for

jumping on the podcast with me I

really really appreciate it.

thank you Vincent

It's been lovely talking to you too. Thank You.

Anna, thank you so much you're amazing

that was a really good

conversation and and I love

your paintings they are so beautiful thank you to

my executive producer MixingLight.com

There's a high chance that you're

watching this or listening to

this via their website so you

probably already know what they do but if you

don't check them out they can help you all things

color and thank you to you

the listener thanks for you keep

chiming in and you keep leaving really cool

comments and asking some great

questions so so please please keep them

coming it's really really awesome and

yes again you can get t-shirts I know

it's ridiculous but people ask for them I'll put a

link in the show notes for

that as well you can get your very own

color timer t-shirt and impress your friends

Thanks a lot and I'll see you on the next one. Bye.

The color timer a micro podcast experience.