Some of the most useful colors I have found for this project are the lovely green earths. Green earth is a generic term used to describe a family of colors. Verona green, (mined near Verona, Italy), epidot, Bavarian and Bohemian, nicosia, celadonite, terre verde, and vagone are a few. For the most part, each one is slightly gritty. These natural … [Read more...] about Living Green
Historical Pigments
Full Steam Ahead
March 1st is just around the corner and full steam ahead it is! Pictured here is a detail of painting #5. The detail is showing a very small portion because this is the "stool climbing canvas" and will be the largest in the exhibit. As some of you know, I started taking piano lessons a few years ago. This introduction to music opened vast … [Read more...] about Full Steam Ahead
Impenetrable Goo
Last Thursday evening I finished painting #4. Each one gets a little larger as I become more familiar with the handling and brushability of the paints. Unquestionably, these historic pigments are profoundly different from the modern ones. Paints without a wax binder or other stabilizers are "long", meaning slightly runny and not in any … [Read more...] about Impenetrable Goo
Color Junkie
The past several weeks I have been busy with color making. Pictured here is genuine Vermilion, a color I could never do without. Because you know my style of painting, you know I favor the warm tones especially reds. This particular pigment has been used since antiquity and is made from natural cinnabar. It has been found in ancient China, … [Read more...] about Color Junkie
All for Beauty
As I have mentioned in previous posts, many pigments were really nasty and very poisonous. Two yellows, called orpiment and realgar, both made by alchemy, are extremely poisonous and for this reason have gone out of use. Other pigments were poor driers or not permanent and thus lost popularity. So the list narrowed, and it is now published … [Read more...] about All for Beauty
Sea Snail Masterpiece
Since embarking on this project, I have researched many publications with specific information about pigments and their history. Much is known today about pigments of the past because of scholars such as those in the Rembrandt Research Project (RRP). This committee set about to discover and determine which of Rembrandt's paintings were authentic … [Read more...] about Sea Snail Masterpiece