As I asked for a quart of the same color, I handed Manong a can of leftover paint (a shade called Witchelm, taken from a calling card, concocted by a younger guy in this same paint store), still slightly wet. He took one look and a whiff and started collecting cans from the shelf. He poured white semi gloss enamel halfway in an old Dunkin Donuts coffee can. He started mixing in black, lemon yellow and some kinda yellow ochre or raw sienna. There was something methodical about his movements, the way he scraped off dripping paint from the side of the can with a square inch of cardboard, the way he bobbed the metal stick to mix. When he was pretty satisfied that it was the same shade already, he poured the rest of the white paint and added the colors again - I wasnt sure if it was art or science. There was nothing precise about the amounts he was mixing, no ratios, no measurements. But the color was so accurate that it just had to be precise.
Just how did he know what the 1st guy put in the original can? I tried to remember what Teacher Alfred said in art class about colors... primary colors, complementary colors.... Crap, its been so long since I held a paint brush, I can't remember. What comes to mind instead is an episode of Blue's Clues where Steve and Blue mix colors - blue and yellow make green, red and blue make purple, purple and blue make violet, red and purple make magenta, yellow and green make chartreuse, blue and green make aquamarine... there's a song....
Manong has been mixing paints since he was 17, so used to the smell and the shades. He dabbed the old paint and the new paint side by side on the cover and showed it to me, with an expression to say - matter of factly not boastful, it was the same.
As I left the paint store, I was in awe of the skill. Strangely, I felt a pang of longing to mix my own paint.
Carmine Paint Center, Kalayaan Avenue, Quezon City
P.S. I just have to say, Manong's mix was can number 2. The original can of paint mixer guy was a young dude. I gave him a calling card to copy and he got the color easily. Can #3 (yup, kulang parin, duh) was mixed by a different guy. It was off, had more yellow, lacked black. I watched him as he mixed and i knew his mix was wrong. Now, why in the world didn't I say anything? And why in the world did the painter still use it, despite seeing the difference? Now, my counter is 2-toned and the wall is yellower than i'd like. grrrr. Lesson #1, buy the correct amount of paint the 1st time. Lesson #2, always have the same guy mix the paint and lesson #3, test first and correct the color as needed!!
