Pigments
Pigments are the colorants used in paints, inks, plastics, fabrics, cosmetics, and food. By mixing pigments with a binder you can create your own acrylic, oil, tempera, watercolor, and other paints and inks.
When we think of Mars, we think of the red planet angrily growling at us in the night sky. Its earthy red color is linked to blood and the Greek god of wars. The planet appears distant and non-threatening to us. But Mars is closer than you think. And it is in more colors than red. Mars is a group of synthetic iron oxide colors in a range from orange-red to violet, yellow, brown, and black. The variations of the iron oxide pigments are distinguished by a color descriptor, i.e., ‘Mars red’. Read the article for the complete story of Mars colors...
White pigments consist of natural or synthetic inorganic pigments. Inorganic pigments are easier to disperse in most paint vehicles than organic pigments. Nevertheless, many white pigments undergo treatment to improve their dispersibility, lightfastness, and weather resistance. White pigments are used for white colors, tinting colors, and covering tones in paint...
The first project of the newly formed Inter-Society Color Council (ISCC) Project Committee on Artists' Materials was “a study of the pigments used in the manufacture of artists' paints as well as the labeling practices used by these manufacturers.” The committee membership and the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) D01.57 subcommittee were virtually identical. It was composed of artists, conservators, analytical chemists and color scientists, and artists' paint manufacturers and their chemists...
This is a revised table initially published in 2007 with current information on commercial oil colors as of November 1, 2019. The information in this table is compiled from public sources, such as manufacturers’ literature, product labels, and distributors’ websites. The information is subject to change. Please consult with the manufacturer for the latest pigment content of their paint...
Making stack process flake white (or lead white made according to the "old Dutch method") is time-consuming and prone to variations in the resulting pigment. These variations are not surprising and were well known from literature and historical documents of the process by manufacturers of lead white. It was a major issue of the process that manufacturers dealt with in various ways. This article describes the reasons for the variations and how these may be useful to artists...
Natural iron oxide pigments, or iron oxide earth pigments collectively referred to as iron oxides, comprise both oxides and oxide hydroxides of iron. Hematite (α-Fe2O3) is the most common iron oxide in red earth pigments, and the iron oxide hydroxide goethite (α-FeOOH) is the most frequently found iron compound in yellow earth pigments. Umbers are brown earth pigments containing both oxides of iron and manganese...
Fluorescence is a phenomenon where a substance absorbs light at a specific wavelength and then re-emits the light at a longer wavelength. This re-emitted light is known as fluorescence. Fluorescent pigments are substances that can fluoresce and are widely used in various applications, such as in art, science, and industry.
Fluorescence occurs when a molecule, called a fluorophore, absorbs a photon of light at a specific wavelength and then re-emits the light at a longer wavelength. This process is known as fluorescence and is caused by the movement of electrons within the fluorophore.
Fluorescent pigments are made up of a variety of different compounds, such as fluorescent dyes, fluorescent inks, and fluorescent plastics. These pigments are used in many applications, including art, science, and industry.
There are several types of fluorescent pigments, each with its unique properties. One type of fluorescent pigment is called a “dayglow” pigment, which...
Lead sulfate (British spelling, sulphate) formed the basis of several white pigments that were made on a large scale in the 19th and 20th centuries and sold under a variety of names, such as "Patent White Lead," "Non-poisonous White Lead," "Sublimed White Lead," etc. Some of these pigments did not consist entirely of lead sulfate but contained other minerals, such as zinc oxide, barite (barium sulfate), magnesia (magnesium carbonate), etc., in varying quantities...
Teresa Oaxaca has been using transparent pigments for about a year and a half now, and a blog post of this nature has been on her to-do list ever since. Seldom very popular (unless the paint tube is labeled the ever famous "transparent oxide yellow"), little known and less understood, most people question why someone would want to go to the trouble of producing, let alone painting with a weak pigment. In the age of cadmium and other bright hi-keyed pigments, earth colors have come into question. Why not mix it down? Why settle for a lower chroma...
It is no coincidence that the palette in the self-portrait by Michael Sweerts is practically identical to the palette described in detail by Roger de Piles in his 1684 book Les Premiers Elémens de Peinture Pratique. Sweerts was a contemporary of de Piles, and it appears that his palette was laid out in the manner practiced throughout western Europe in the 17th century...
This is a tutorial on preparing the grinding tools and dispersing pigments into the water to make your water-based paint. This technique can be used to prepare dispersions of pigment in water to be mixed with gum arabic solution for watercolors, egg yolk for egg tempera, casein solution for casein paint, animal glue for distemper, and use in fresco painting. The same technique can be used to disperse pigments in preparation for making pastels and pigment sticks...
The palette described by Roger de Piles in his seventeenth-century painting manual, Les Elémens de Peinture Pratique, describes a pigment in French, brun rouge. What is brun rouge? Are there modern substitutes? It is easy to mimic a hue with a combination of pigments, but much more difficult to imitate the undertones and nearly impossible its consistency in paint. The latter can only be done successfully using the same pigment, at least as far as we can determine from literary sources...