top left: flake white + vermilion Robert Doak (tube) top right: cinnabar Monte Amiata Italy Sinopia + flake white (dry pigment with linseed) bottom left: flake white + vermilion Rublev Natural Pigments (dry pigment with linseed) bottom right: cinnabar Rublev Natural Pigments + flake … [Read more...] about Comparisons
vermilion
Monks Seeing Red
Very early manuscripts document both the manufacture and use of vermilion. Some called this indispensable color the prince of reds which was more brilliant than the natural cinnabar. Theophilus (Roger of Helmarshausen)the Benedictine Monk, described the alchemical synthesis in his technical handbook De diversis artibus (On Divers Arts … [Read more...] about Monks Seeing Red
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