ASTM standards: Make sure the paint you are buying has a ASTM rating on the label. Most quality brands like Sennelier, Schmincke, Weber, Daniel Smith and Golden's to name a few, have that label on their paint. Some, like Daniel Smith, have colors made from minerals, like their Primatek paints, that are not ASTM rated or tested, but do their own lightfast testing and give you their results. The info on the label needs to contain that ASTM rating and a lightfast rating so you know how well that color will stand up to fading over time. Pastels are one medium that do NOT have an ASTM rating because there are NO ASTM standards as of yet for pastels, though they are trying to establish one.
If there is no ASTM rating on a tube of paint or a pastel you are using, you can run your own tests just by painting swatches on a surface you would normally use. Cover one side of the swatch so light cannot penetrate and leave the other side uncovered. Leave it in an area that gets direct sun and leave it sit for several months. Go back to it at a later time and uncover the covered side to see if there was any fading of the uncovered side. There are websites that go into this test in detail and much more scientific, such as http://handprint.com/HP/WCL/, but this is a pretty basic way to test the lightfastness yourself.
Stay away from student grade paints that aren't as heavily loaded with pigment (to keep the costs down) or even the correct pigment, some, to cut costs, will say something like "Cobalt Blue Hue." If you see the word "hue," read the label and read up on your pigments. The Cobalt Blue pigment is PB 28. It's usually an expensive tube of paint so if it's cheap, says HUE and is not PB 28, then you aren't getting the real McCoy. This also goes for mixes, colors like Sap Green are made with different mixes of pigments, depending on the brand. So if you like one specific brand of Sap Green, check the label first on another brand because you might not get the color you are looking for in the other brand. Learn your basic pigments!
When you purchase artist materials, you want to create art that's going to last your lifetime and beyond, right? Read labels, use quality materials and read up on materials. One good source for materials is Michael Skalka's articles in The Artist Magazine and he also writes the "Grammar of Color," which is a goldmine of information about color and materials. Michael is the Conservation Administrator at the National Gallery and is the Chairman of the ASTM division of Artist Materials. You can search for his articles on the web.
very interesting read... I was just reading something about this yesterday on wikipedia when I was reading up on watercolor painting and techniques. It's funny how there was never a "standard" for these color names until recently (the past 20 years) and that many of the artists of years past made (or had their apprentices make) their own paints. You almost get a newfound appreciation for all the work that went into their works.
ReplyDeletehere are some excerpts from the wikipedia article about paint colors:
Thanks to modern industrial organic chemistry, the variety, saturation (brilliance) and permanence of artists' colors available today is greater than ever before. However, the art materials industry is far too small to exert any market leverage on global dye or pigment manufacture. With rare exceptions, all modern watercolor paints utilize pigments that were manufactured for use in printing inks, automotive and architectural paints, wood stains, concrete, ceramics and plastics colorants, consumer packaging, foods, medicines, textiles and cosmetics. Paint manufacturers buy very small supplies of these pigments, mill (mechanically mix) them with the vehicle, solvent and additives, and package them.
Color names
Many artists are confused or misled by labeling practices common in the art materials industry. The marketing name for a paint, such as "indian yellow" or "emerald green", is often only a poetic color evocation or proprietary moniker; there is no legal requirement that it describe the pigment that gives the paint its color.
To remedy this confusion, in 1990 the art materials industry voluntarily began listing pigment ingredients on the paint packaging, using the common pigment name (such as "cobalt blue" or "cadmium red"), and/or a standard pigment identification code, the generic color index name (PB28 for cobalt blue, PR108 for cadmium red) assigned by the Society of Dyers and Colourists (UK) and the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (USA) and known as the Colour Index International. This allows artists to choose paints according to their pigment ingredients, rather than the poetic labels assigned to them by marketers. Paint pigments and formulations vary across manufacturers, and watercolor paints with the same color name (e.g., "sap green") from different manufacturers can be formulated with completely different ingredients.
Grades
Commercial watercolor paints come in two grades: "Artist" (or "Professional") and "Student".
Artist quality paints are usually formulated with fewer fillers (kaolin or chalk) which results in richer color and vibrant mixes.
Student grade paints have less pigment, and often are formulated using two or more less expensive pigments. Artist and Professional paints are more expensive but many consider the quality worth the higher cost.
the whole article has a lot of great information (and photos)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercolor_painting
Check out that Handprint link I posted as well in the body of this post, the author of the web site has been stripping watercolors down to the nuts and bolts.
ReplyDeleteI've been learning more about true pigments as opposed to what's in a tube because I have been dabbling in egg tempera and I was trying to stock up on my dry pigments. Try shopping for your favorite colors in the dry form, it's a whole new world out there.
so happy you mentioned that you have this blog! love it-
ReplyDelete