Scene Paint And Gels: Are They Compatible?
Below are a series of images featuring a beach drop painted by Rosco's Paint Product Manager Jenny Knott. Note how, thanks to using proper painting technique and Rosco scenic paint, the tone of the drop can be affected by changing the colors of the gel on the drop.

Here is the original beach image Jenny painted, lit under normal 'white' conditions. The scene has yellows in the sand & grass, blues in the sky & water and greens in the grass & leaves - all areas a lighting designer can accentuate using colored stage lighting.
 

Here is the same image lit with R312 Canary and R87 Pale Yellow Green. Note how using the gels has now turned the image lighter and conveys the essence of the beach during summer. Note how warm the sand looks and the yellow highlights that 'pop' in the grass.

Same image lit with just R99 Chocolate darkens the sky; it can be a moment when dusk is about to descend.
 

Same image now lit with R99 Chocolate and R65 Daylight Blue, darkens the image and makes it feel like the weather has turned colder - the darkening of the sky and clouds makes it feel that perhaps a storm is coming.
One of the key components needed in order to paint theatrical scenery is scenic paint. With today’s ever shrinking budgets it gets harder and harder to justify (to others and maybe even to yourself) why you should spend the extra money on theatrical scenic paint.

One of the most important reasons for using theatrical scenic paint is the effect it has on stage lighting.

If your green paint is made up of several different color dispersions, which is the way most people buy house paint nowadays, both the scenic and lighting designer might end up with a surprise on day-one of tech rehearsal. That’s when the stage lights hit the foliage area of the backdrop for the first time. However, if the green paint is only made with green pigments the lighting designer (who was counting on the foliage being green when the light plot was conceived) will have predictable results come tech-week.

If the colors of the paint are pure, then a lighting designer can more effectively affect mood and time of day by using Roscolux color filters. It's worth noting that Rosco scenic paints all use single-source, artist-grade, dry pigments to create their color not liquid color dispersions like you find in the tint machine at your local paint store. What this means is that instead of mixing multiple colors together to achieve a single color (squirt of red here - squirt of yellow there), we use one or two pure, artist pigments.