WHICH?Pigment Characteristics In the elitist Art Pigment Club, all members, whether pigments or lake pigments, belong to two categories. The idea being, probably, that you don’t mix with the wrong crowd, as these refer specifically to the pigment’s origin, regardless of its structure or chemistry.You are either Organic or Inorganic and either Synthetic or Natural….
This said… there’s indigo!
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics This being said… there’s indigo! As you might know, indigo is a plant, but there are more than 750 species of indigofera shrubs, herbs, and even trees, so it might be just a little challenging to identify, although, of course, if you crush a few leaves in your hands, these will turn… blue!…
Secondly, some pigments are pigments, and some pigments are dyes
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics Did I mention that pigments are small particles (practically) insoluble in either oils, resins or water? Of course, I know I’ve just said this, but as you’ll now hear—and although that’s virtually their only common denominator—even that is not always accurate. Because some artists’ pigments are not pigments, they are dyes… in disguise….
Firstly, some pigments are pigments we can use and some are pigments we cannot…
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics Firstly some pigments are pigments we can use, and some pigments are pigments we cannot use (to make paint.) This being said, I am not here to restrict your creativity or imagination. If, in the steps of artist Amikam Toren, you wanted to make a statement, pulverise your teapot to shards, mix the…
Pigment Characteristics (an intro)
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics I think it’s now time to introduce you in-depth to some of the kids in this class. Because, when you see them neatly stacked in similar little jars on shelves, it is hard at first to comprehend, besides their variety of hues of course, what powerful and different chemistry is sitting there looking…
6) Post-Modern pigments… from the 1950s till now
WHEN?Pigments in HistoryThe sixth circle Some pigments are coined Historical, some Modern, and some should be (in my humble opinion) called Contemporary or Post-Modern. Historical is a term that is definitely given to pigments known before 1704—when perhaps the first ‘modern’ synthetic mineral pigment, Prussian Blue, was created entirely in a lab (and entirely by…
5) Pigments from the industrial colour revolution of “The Long Nineteenth Century” (1798-1914) and beyond
WHEN?Pigments in HistoryThe fifth circle “Nothing is perhaps more peculiar than the process by which one obtains Prussian Blue, and it must be owned that, if chance had not taken a hand, a profound theory would be necessary to invent it” humbly admitted in 1762, the chemist Jean Hellot. If we discard then the discovery…
4) Renaissance pigments to… the eve of the Industrial Revolution
WHEN?Pigments in HistoryThe fourth circle You might be surprised at the number of centuries/art periods I have chosen to group into this circle. Yet, compared to the astonishing explosion of new pigments in the previous centuries, the Renaissance/Baroque/Classical/Romantic periods can hardly claim but a handful. I’m not debating the number of masterpieces produced during those…
3) Pigments in Medieval times to… the Primitives
WHEN?Pigments in HistoryThe third circle Some would argue that the innovation most critical to medieval painting in Europe was the synthesis of Vermillion—a truly alchemical affair! Imagine combining mercury and sulphur to create a black form of mercury sulphide, which, once pulverised and sublimated by intense heating, turns into a divine red that could be…
2) Pigments in Antiquity
WHEN?Pigments in historyThe second circle a) From 3000 B.C.E. to the end of the last Egyptian Dynasty Eventually, many centuries + the 3000 years of Egyptian rule later, well… it might seem that not much has changed at first glance! An inspection of the colours available to a pharaoh or his grand vizier shows pigments…
in bed with mona lisa 