This page is under construction and will not be truly done until the book is fully published… Meanwhile, notes for each section can be found at the bottom of the sections.

Thanks for your patience!

Detailed notes/references of quotes in each section are available at the bottom of the same section, as I find that more interesting and fun than having to go to another page. However, many, many more books have accompanied my research… some very technical, some pretty obscure. Here’s a list of my favourite ones, not, as usually is the case, in an A to Z format as, again, I find going through lists like that very dull, and so I’ve arranged them in sections to help you find quickly which might be of interest to you.

As many of you, I can only imagine, my first dive into the world of colour and pigments was the delightful book by Victoria Finlay (2004): Color, A Natural History of the Palette. New York: Random House
Then, as I grew more interested, my go-to-bible became Philip Ball’s (2001) Bright Earth: Art and The Invention of Color. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, which I must have read at least four times as so much of the information flew over my head at first.

After that… what can I say? I dived into so many rabbit holes on the internet and in print that listing all of them might not be helpful. However, I have sorted the most relevant ones into a few categories to help you navigate the list.

PRETTY TECHNICAL but very useful

• The four volumes of Artists’ Pigments:
  Feller, R.L. (ed). (1993) Artists’ Pigments: A handbook of their History and Characteristics. (Volume 1) London: Archetype Publications / Washington: National Gallery of Art
  Roy, A. (ed) (1986) Artists’ Pigments: A handbook of their History and Characteristics. (Volume 2) London: Archetype Publications / Washington: National Gallery of Art
  West Fistzhugh, E. (ed). (1997) Artists’ Pigments: A handbook of their History and Characteristics. (Volume 3) London: Archetype Publications / Washington: National Gallery of Art
  Berrie, B. (ed). (2007) Artists’ Pigments: A handbook of their History and Characteristics. (Volume 4) London: Archetype Publications / Washington: National Gallery of Art
• Christie, R. (2015) Colour Chemistry, 2nd edition. Cambridge: The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Delamare, F. ( 2013) Blue Pigments: From Art to Industry. London: Archetype publications
• Delamare, F. ( 2000) Colour: Making and Using Dyes and Pigments. London: Thames and Hudson
• Eastaugh, N. et al. (2008) Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary and Optical Microscopy of Historical Pigments. (Volumes 1 and 2) London: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Perego, F. (2005) Dictionnaire des matériaux du peintre. Paris: Belin (Excellent for those that can read French, of course.)

GOOD BOOKS ON ARTIST MATERIALS IN GENERAL

If you’re into Old Masters advice… can’t beat Cennini, C. (c. 1400AD) Il libro dell’Arte. Translated by Thompson, D.V.Jr. (1960) The Craftmans’s handbook. New York, U.S.A., Dover Publications Inc.

And of course, the classics…

• Blockx, J. (1926) A compendium of Painting (translated from the fourth French edition). Self-publication, Antwerp, Belgium.
• Doerner, M. (1934) The Materiels of the Artist and their use in Painting. Harcourt, Inc. Florida, USA
• Mayer, R. The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques, Fifth edition Revised and Updated, 1991. Viking, Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, UK
• Speed, H. (1944). Oil Painting Techniques and Materials. Dover Publications Inc, New York, USA
• Although, to be true, I find these a bit dated and enjoy more the ones below.
• Gottsegen, M.D. The Painter’s Handbook, 2006. Watson-Guptill Publication, New York, U.S.A.
• Hayes, C. The Complete Guide to Painting and Drawing Techniques and Materials, 1979. Book Club Associates by arrangement with Phaidon Press Ltd, Oxford, UK (An oldie but goodie)
• Perego, F. (2005) Dictionnaire des matériaux du peintre. Paris: Belin (Excellent for those that can read French, of course.)
• Available online (and for free) I do like this one: Saitzyk. S. ( 1987) Art Hardware: The Definitive Guide to Artists’ Material, revised 1998 [Online]. [Accessed 13 November 2024]. Available at: http://www.trueart.info/
• Smith R. The Artist’s Handbook, 3rd Edition, 2009. Dorling Kindersley Ltd, London, UK

GREAT RESOURCES IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A SPECIFIC PERIOD/TOPIC

• Ancheta, M. (2019) Revealing Blue on the Northern Northwest Coast. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, vol 43, no 1, American Indian Studies Center, UCLA. © Regents of the University of California. Available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8s75k7jn
• Bucklow, S. (2009) The Alchemy of Paint, Art, Science and Secrets from the Middle Ages. Marion Boyars, London, UK
• Elkins, J. (1999) What Painting is, how to think about oil painting, using the language of Alchemy. Routledge, Oxon, UK
• Gage, J. (1999) Colour and Meaning: Art, Science and Symbolism. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, U.S.A
• Gage, J. (2024) Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, U.S.A
• Harley, R.D. (1970) Artists’ Pigments 1600-1835. Butterworth & Co. London, UK (Excellent but sadly out of print)
• Kirby, J. ed. (2017) The Diversity of Dyes in History and Archeology. London: Archetype Publications Ltd
• Livingstone, M. (2002) Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing, p.118 & 16
• Parker A. (2016) Seven Deadly Colours, The Genius of Nature’s Palette. Natural History Museum, London, UK
• Price, M. (2017) Renaissance Mysteries, Volume I: Natural Colour. Michael Price Inc, New York, NY, U.S.A.

BOOKS ABOUT COLOUR, just a few musts and some I really enjoyed (this could be an endless list!)

• Albers, J. (1963) Interaction of Color. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA
• Batchelor, D. (2000) Chromophobia. Reaktion Books Ltd, London, UK
  Coles, D. (2018) Chromatopia. Port Melbourne, Thames & Hudson Australia\
• Exkstut J. & A. (2013) The Secret Language of Color, Science, Nature, History, Culture, Beauty… Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, New York, NY, USA
• Gage, J. (1999) Colour and Meaning: Art, Science and Symbolism. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, U.S.A
• Gage, J. (2024) Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, U.S.A
• Gury, A. (2010) Color for Painters, a Guide to Traditions and Practice. Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, USA
• The Harvard Art Museums’ Forbes Pigment Collection ed. (2017) An Atlas of Rare & Familiar Colour. Atelier Editions Los Angeles, Cal. USA
• Paul, S. (2017) Chromaphilia, The Story of Colour in Art. Phaidon Press Ltd, London, U
• Steiner, R. (1970) Colour, Three Lectures given in Dornach, 6th to 8th May, 1921. Rudolf Steiner Press, London, UK
• Varichon, A. (2000) Couleurs: Teintures et Pigments dans les mains des peuples. Paris: Editions du Seuil
• Walter, P & Cardinali, F. (2013) L’Art-Chimie, Enquete dans le laboratoire des artistes. Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, Editions Michel de Maule, Paris, France

PLEASANT READS, which were also valuable to me if (somewhat) OFF TOPIC

• Bardt, C. (2019) Material and Mind. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press
• Brearley, L. et al. (2010) Gulpa ngawal : Indigenous deep listening. Melbourne: RMIT UniversityDelamare, F. & Guineau, B. (2000)
• Deutscher, G. (2011) Through the Language Glass, Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages. Picador, New York, NY, USA
• Gass, W.H. (1976) On Being Blue, a Philosophical Inquiry. New York Review of Books, NY, USA
• Gibson, J. (2014) Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, New York and London, Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group
• Ingold, T. (2007) Materials against materiality in Archaeological Dialogues 14 (1) 1–16 Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
• Meloy, E. (2002). The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky (1st Ed). Vintage Books, New York, NY, U.S.A
• Miodownik, M. (2014) Stuff Matters. The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape our Man-Made World. London: Penguin Books
• Nelson, M. (2009) Bluets. Wave Books, Seattle and New York, USA
  Tanizaki, J. (2001) In praise of Shadows. Vintage, London, UK

VERY USEFUL WEBSITES

• D.J.C. Briggs’ million links to colour books/articles etc: https://sites.google.com/site/djcbriggs/colour-online?authuser=0
• Just Paint, the Golden Artist Color’s superbly documented newsletter, is a tresure trove of information on paint and pigments too. [Online]. [Accessed 30 January 2025]. Available at: https://justpaint.org
• Bruce MacEvoy’s super excellent and informative blog, Handprint, although mainly about watercolours, is often relevant to all other paints and, of course, all pigments. [Accessed 12 August 2025] Available at: https://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html
• David G. Myers’ labor of love: The Color of Art Pigment Database, An Artists Paint and Pigment Reference with Color Index Names, Color Index Numbers and Chemical Composition. [Accessed 12 November 2021] Available at: http://www.artiscreation.com/Color_index_names.html#.X2YXZdbTXf
• George O’Hanlon and Tatiana Zaytseva, the owners of Natural Pigments, offer here some very thorough articles on many aspects of paints and pigments [Accessed 12 August 2025] Available at: https://www.naturalpigments.com/artist-materials
• Check out the good work that PIgments Revealed International does, its extensive libray on the subject, and join us for talks and more: https://www.pigmentsrevealed.com/

BOOKS SPECIFICALLY ABOUT DYES, PIGMENT MAKING & PAINT MAKING

• Delamare, F. ( 2000) Colour: Making and Using Dyes and Pigments. London: Thames and Hudson
• Gustafson, H. (2023) Book of Earth: A Guide to Ochre, Pigment, and Raw Colour. Abrams, New York, NY, U.S.A.
• Kirby, J. ed. (2017) The Diversity of Dyes in History and Archeology. London: Archetype Publications Ltd
• Kremer Pigmente Recipe Book (2023), is a self-published paintmaking recipe book by the German Pigment company Kremer, which you can order on their website: https://www.kremer-pigmente.com/en/shop/books-color-charts/english-books/992101-kremer-pigmente-recipe-book.html
• For those not too far from Vancouver and keen on natural dyes, The Maiwa School of Textiles offers some great courses. But for those ultra keen, they also offer an online course in: Natural Dyes: Alchemy, Chemistry, Craft by Tim McLaughline &Charllotte Kwon (fascinating but arduous!)
• Logan, J. (2018) Make Ink: A Forager’s Guide to Natural Inkmaking. Abrams, New York, NY, U.S.A.
• MacDonald, L. In Pursuit of Color, From Fungi to Fossil Fuels: Uncovering the Origins of the World’s Most Famous Dyes, Atelier Éditions & D.A.P.
• Mayes, L. (2025) The Natural Pigment Handbook, A Maker’s Guide to the Art, Stories and Recipes for Creating Paint. David & Charles, Exeter, UK
• Mayes, L. The Craft of Pigment Making , An Online Foundation Course by London Pigment. Available at https://londonpigment.com/products/the-craft-of-pigment-making-online-foundation-course
• Price, M. (2017) Renaissance Mysteries: Volume I: Natural Colour. Michael Price Inc., New York, NY, U.S.A.
• Ross, C. (2023) Found and Ground: A practical guide to making your own foraged paints. Search Press, Tunbridge Wells, UK
• Webster, S. (2012) Earthen Pigments: Hand-Gathering Natural Colours in Art. Schiffer Publishing Ltd, Atglen, PA, U.S.A.