Margret E. Short Fine Arts

Portland, Oregon artist Margret Short - a modern day master of 17th Century Dutch art using the chiaroscuro technique to create still life and floral paintings.

Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?

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I read an interesting tidbit in the Parade Magazine, Sunday Oregonian, April 19, 2009 in the Ask Marilyn column. A reader asked about carbon dating cave paintings made with paint composed of minerals. Marilyn replied that carbon dating can determine the age of artifacts made of organic matter such as cloth, bone, and wood. If painting was done in charcoal it could be dated because the charcoal was made from charred bones or maybe tree limbs.

However paints made from minerals such a azurite, cinnabar, or lapis cannot be dated with carbon dating techniques because there are no organic components. But Marilyn mentions if an artifact is made of both rock and wood then the wood could be dated which might determine the age of the object. She also goes on to say that dating archaeological artifacts is a very complex problem but is of great importance to historians.

Chiaroscuro Painting

Oil painting with the chiaroscuro technique illuminates the focus area with a strong light. All other areas are painted with less detail, lower values, and intensity of color giving a mysterious appearance. By putting one or two objects in the important focus area, a strong but simple composition will emerge. Combining these oil painting techniques with a selection of superior natural pigments and oil paints result in the beautiful and evocative quality known as Chiaroscuro Painting.