“Dope” Yellow

I’ve begun a new painting featuring a 1946 J3 Piper Cub. After my recent immersion in Cub culture, I understand why the iconic airplane is the color of sunshine.

What exact color of yellow it is, is another story.

When I began my research I was thrown off by the use of “dope” to refer to paint (plasticized lacquer I later learned). I may start thinking of my paints that way. “Hey! I’m going to mixup some new dope colors.”

Then there is the issue of the artist’s oil paint color Yellow.

On my version of the color wheel, Yellow sits at the top, with blue and red flanking it. Politics anyone? Maybe we need a Yellow party? Actually, I think it should be called the Gold Party.

So, you have three versions of Yellow - one that leans Blue, one in the middle, and one that leans red. More commonly known as Yellow-Green, Yellow and Yellow-Red.

At the recent Cub Fly-In, I saw the two distinct yellows - the yellow-red Lock Haven Yellow and the yellow-green Cub J3 Yellow.

Notice the black lightening bolt starts behind the boot cowl on the yellow-green Cub. Evidently the new butyrate dope couldn’t be used on that part of the aircraft so the graphic changed.

I’m glad the aircraft in my new painting is Lock Haven Yellow - that yellow-red just glows against a blue sky.