WHICH?Pigment Characteristics Where goes the white when melts the snow?Shakespeare (perhaps) A long time ago, I read that titanium dioxide is entirely transparent. Only when ground, as the crystals get smaller and light scattering becomes more intense, slowly but surely do we begin to ‘see’ the pigment as white, until… we don’t! Keep grinding titanium…
Author: stillatthecentre
My passion for the moment is centered on art materials.... who does what, how well they do what they do and what goes into all these adult lollies in which you can indulge without putting on the slightest weight! I also enjoy meeting artists who have a special way of using their materials... travelling around the world and meeting all these creative and dedicated human beings.
Some pigments are glossy, some are matt
WHICH?PIgment Characteristics “Might’nt shiny black and matt black have different colour names?” mused Ludwig Wittgenstein in his Remarks on Colour. (But they do, dear Ludwig… just check above image!) And yet, open jar after jar of dry pigment and see for yourselves. As luscious as they are, all of them are totally matt. For sure,…
Some pigments are clean, some are… dirty? muddy?
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics Well, actually, forget just for this once my comparison to school kids… paint can be dirty business, yes! But pigments? Pigments are always clean. Of course, Colour is discussed here, but the confusion exists. When painters and paintmakers talk of a “clean” colour, they usually refer to the fact that it hasn’t been…
Some pigments are cool, some are… hot?
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics Despite hot chilli, pimiento, sharing pigment’s Latin root, in my opinion, all pigments are pretty cool. I know not of a freezing process, although pigments are often rid of impurities in successive cold-water baths, yet cold or cool, in reality, they will never be… All these ‘temperature’ terms—even a ‘burnt’ one doesn’t count!—do…
Some pigments are heavy as nightmares, some light as dreams
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics There is a famous question every kid in France has heard in his childhood, which goes thus: What is heavier, a kilo of feathers or a kilo of lead? The kid (not quite aware of the difference between weight and volume, which at five is quite understandable) usually answers lead. What’s weird is…
Some pigments are toxic, some you should even eat… or inhale!
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics Some pigments are toxic, even today, and when I mocked requests for “natural” pigments, I honestly didn’t mean to trivialise the efforts of those who carefully advise us that Cadmiums, Cobalts or lead-based paints can be dangerous to ingest—possibly even to touch. If paints based on these pigments are still around, despite their…
Some pigments are thirsty, some are hydrophobic
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics Some pigments are thirsty, they are not going to turn into paint before they’ve had their fill of oil… and some. Lamp Black might be the worst offender if offence there is. This is why comparing quality between brands, as is often suggested you do by comparing pigment concentration like so, could give…
Some pigments are expensive, some are ‘dirt’ cheap
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics There was a time, not so very long ago, when the effort, skills and raw materials used in the making of any object were intrinsically valued. Regardless of the beauty or how impressive the final product was. An intricate, well-knitted sweater you would wear for years even if it scratched a bit. A painted…
Some pigments have family, some are loners
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics As promised, now is the time to dive into the pigments we play with on our palettes that get their hues from their chemical composition. The Cadmium family is a most interesting, if confounding, example of this. Establishing the family tree of the primo-genitor, Cadmium Yellow, was quite epic, I can tell you, and…
Some pigments always sit in the front row, some at the back
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics OK, we need a break from ‘serious facts’, so here’s this classification, a bit of trivia on the side. Thought I would share—not to mock—the confusion of the beginner holding his little piece of paper and desperate to find some colours on the list. I have no idea why they’ve made it so hard…
in bed with mona lisa 