WHICH?PIgment Characteristics Finally, some pigments are powerful, and some are weak and having said that, I’ve said it all. Unlike the total neophyte I was at the time, she who went to her first oil painting class with a mishmash of damaged tubes and samples given to her by reps (I had no intention of…
Tag: paint
Some pigments are coarse and gritty, some are fine and silky
WHICH?Pigment Characteristics What makes a good paint is very subjective. It has to please first the colourman making it. Secondly, the artist using it. It’s a bit like food… the chef might like it, and the client not. Or the client might find it perfectly delicious while the chef is, in fact, a bit disappointed…
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 born, some die
WHEN?Pigments in History A few years ago, the art world received this shocking piece of in-news one morning: Vantablack, an exciting new black pigment that had been all the buzz, had just been ‘bought’ by artist Anish Kapoor for his exclusive usage. A new colour is cause for much celebration and, by that, I mean…
Art paint binders today
WHAT?II. What’s in paint?B) Binders Are you not amazed at the difference between these two paintings by Andrew Wyeth? Same talent, same subject, virtually the same angle, but the one on the left is painted with tempera on masonite and the other with watercolour on paper. The density of the board, the finesse of the…
Is there a possible definition?
WHAT?I. What is paint? All of this said, can there even be a definition of paint? “Paint: A coloured substance which is spread over a surface and dries to leave a thin decorative or protective coating.” The Oxford Dictionary, obviously, has only been to the hardware store! You would hardly think of a Singer Sargent…
in bed with mona lisa 