| Author | Message | ||
  Linda |
So, does anyone know about Schminke masking? I read in the book "Glorious Garden Flowers in Watercolor" (has yellow roses on cover), that Schminke masking will not lift pigment, implying one paints, masks over the paint when dry, then washes over the mask, then removes the masking and it won't lift the paint underneath. Is this really true? What's your experience? | ||
Lex |
Fortunately the industry in general has shifted toward including pigment codes on the labels. Schmincke's are probably the most helpful since they also include simple graphic codes for transparency and staining qualities. How accurate these ratings are is subject to debate, but it's a helpful guideline and a good start. From what I'm seeing virtually every paint manufacturer (watercolor and oil) now includes pigment codes (and sometimes the pigment names as well) on the labels. Only my old favorite, Sakura Koi, does not - but I've decided to use these paints only for pieces I intend to have reproduced in some fashion and not those that will be displayed where light may affect the colors. As for Alizarin Crimson, we'll never see it eliminated. Oil painters love it dearly despite the lightfastness issues - there is nothing else quite like it. And, in the relatively thicker applications used in oil, lightfastness is somewhat less an issue. For watercolor there are many variations of quinacridone - there's bound to be at least one that's a satisfactory substitute for Alizarin Crimson. Either way, standardization in naming paints is long overdue. I hear many good things about Holbein paints (watercolor, gouache and oil) for example, but also hear concerns about their fanciful color names. Kinda pricey too. | ||
Linda |
"it's also very helpful to yourself and to others to use the color index name -- that funny code of letters and numbers, PB60, PV19 and so on." That's drollere August 6th. Please, tell your artistic friends about this subject, and how necessary it is that we as an artistic community educate each other. Soon, by the power of our collective wallets and informed choices, we will change alizarin crimson into alizarin crimson hue! Then no more will someone's precious painting turn dull, drab brown, then fade within a matter of months! The pigment numbers on the tubes of color are the ONLY truth in labelling to be found on the products we use today, and even then we find mistakes. Names of colors mean nothing, or very little, as I'm sure some of us have found, painfully for the poorer artists. We still have a long way to go in labelling, for transparency, staining strength, granulation rates, etc. I have been asking consistently, wherever I shop, for pigment numbers. I'm known as a particular painter, but one who shops extremely well. Please join me, ask for pigment numbers. By our sheer numbers distributors must soon comply. Anyone who has the guts to put their inner selves on display for all to see deserves to have that effort last. Wouldn't we all love to touch one's children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren in some way? We can, with our creativity, but we are squashed by poor pigment choices like alizarin crimson. Let us learn about lightfastness. Let us share information on single pigment formulation handling. Let us boldly mix the tried and true combinations with clarity! Let us protect our comrades from merchant overkill. Let quietly expire the desire to find that last magical and elusive one color that will make me into Monet! and instead, cultivate the unique gifts within each other, the individual operating with knowledge and assurance. We begin with learning all about pigment numbers. | ||
Lex |
Well, folks, I've added a couple of small tubes of Schmincke since my last post. Rather than reproducing a color swatch here (which you can find elsewhere on the web and which will never quite match the results you get using your paper, your brushes and your water) I'll just describe 'em. Phthalo Green (PG 7) - This stuff truly is brilliant and transparent so don't worry about the catalog description being mere hype. I could not duplicate this transparency using the rather opaque Vanadium Yellow and faily opaque Delft Blue, altho' those pigments lend themselves well to a flexible range of greens. But if you want a truly transparent green I'll recommend Phthalo - it can be toned down using a transparent brown, which brings me to... Madder Brown (PR 206) - Okay, okay, we've heard the warnings about Madder Brown being an unknown entity at best and non-lightfast at worst. Schmincke claims to have addressed this problem by substituting Quinacridone for their old Madder Brown formulation and gives the new paint four stars in their proprietary five-star maximum lightfast scale. Naturally I can't comment on lightfastness. But the paint is ideal for nudes, landscapes and similar subjects where a non-granulating, transparent reddish brown is desired. (Believe me, I'd know whether it will granulate. Our well water is so mineral rich you can get bruished taking a shower.) A light wash or brushstroke is almost peach-red in color - not at all brown - deepening and becoming more brown with repeated glazing. The trick is to glaze over dried areas - adding more pigment to wet Madder Brown doesn't deepen the color significantly. Schmincke also rates this Madder Brown as semi-staining. I haven't tested this since I seldom lift colors. However, it does rework when sopping wet very nicely, which is probably a fair indication of its moderate staining property. BTW, I can't comment right now on Schmincke's claims that their Phthalo Green is non-staining because I haven't attempted to lift or rework any yet. I've also tested a tube of Sennelier Burnt Umber (good ol' dirt, PBr 7) and it looks like dirt should look. If you want a lovely deep neutral brown (not red, not green) that granulates in mineral water and lifts easily (tho' not completely) for reworking, it's worth a try. Smells good too - gardeners will love it. J I note that Sennelier is a better buy than Schmincke and is available thru Cheap Joe's. I plan to try some Holbein soon, which Cheap Joe's stocks but which is unavailable in my local store. | ||
gloriajeff@innernet.net |
P.S. I know how to spell "search", Had a brain lapse! G. | ||
gloriajeff@innernet.net |
After reading all these converstations about the pigment "secret decoder number" I spent the whole morning surching for then on my tubes and was surprized how easily I could now indentify the same color with a different name by a different manufacturer!! Thanks! Never paid attention to that before. G. | ||
Lex |
Well, I gotta give credit where due...it was perusing the hotfoot...oops, my bad (J)...handprint website, among a couple other sources, that helped teach me the value of going by pigments and not color names. Yup, lots to learn. No point in banging my head against the same wall when there are so many walls yet unbanged. | ||
drollere |
my bad: daler-rowney uses PO73 (a similar DPP pigment). PO71 is also used by rembrandt. | ||
drollere |
i've enjoyed lex's postings. he demonstrates what you can learn if you really look at and evaluate your paints ... many artists never bother to do that. it's also very helpful to yourself and to others to use the color index name -- that funny code of letters and numbers, PB60, PV19 and so on. for example, the post that recommends Schmincke's "Transparent yellow, Transp. orange, and Transp. Brown" (the actual names are *translucent* yellow, etc.), leaves us in the dark about what those paints actually contain. once you know those are PY150, PO71 and PBr41, you can easily look for alternatives. PY150 is also offered by daniel smith; PO71 is available from daler-rowney ... but PBr41, to my knowledge, is only used by schmincke. pigments vary across manufacturers, however, so the finished colors are not exactly the same. | ||
piper |
I found a Grumbacher Thalo Yellow Green in the old Wilcox guide. According to the pigment numbers it contains PG7 (Pthaolcyanne Green) and PY3 (Arylide Yellow). Maybe you can locate a green which matches those numbers, or check out the Grumbacher brand. | ||
gloriajeff@innernet.net |
Dazey, Just looked up American Journey's skip green in the Cheap Joe's cantaloge and it does look similar to the shade I used to have. Thanks. Gloria | ||
dazey |
have you tried American Journey's Skip's green? it is a great yellowish thalo green. | ||
gloriajeff@innernet.net |
Lex, I had an old tube of pthalo green yellow shade and it was a great color that I could use right out of the tube for spring foliage but can't find it anymore (I think it was discontinued or maybe just an odd color not carried in the art store I patronize -the one that never gives me FREE samples) if the pthalo green you have leans towards yellow or if you mix it with yellow you might be able to duplicate the color that I had which I think would be right up your alley. I should get a tube myself and see if I can get that illusive pthalo green yellow shade color by mixing. good luck on your experiments. gloria | ||
chris |
Schmincke makes three colors that I find useful for glowing color: Transparent yellow, Transp. orange, and Transp. Brown. Give them a try if you can. I have trouble finding them now. | ||
Lex |
Gloria, I'm wishing I'd gotten in on Schmincke's 1998 special offer when you could get six 5 ml tubes for thirteen bucks - and there was no white or black in the set. But I'm impressed enough so far that I picked up a tube of pthalo green (not quite as expensive as a similar sized tube of W&N artist's quality stuff, but not cheap either) from the dealer that gave me the freebie set. I've never used pthalo green before and even tho' I can mix green from the vanadium yellow and delft blue, it's an opaque green. The pthalo is supposedly transparent, so that'll make a nice alternative. I'll probably post another experiment this week. | ||
gloriajeff@innernet.net |
Lex, thanks for your color experiments with the Schmincke paints. I bought a sample kit last year that had the three colors you mentioned ( I always miss out on the freebies!) but never had time to experiment with it. Also your picture is great. Love the vibrancy. Ha Ha, drug dealing paint samples, too funny. | ||
Lex |
Thanks much, dazey. A couple of local artists who looked at a variety of my stuff recently seemed to keep flipping back to what I've done in this style. It's fun for me and if others happen to like it as well, so much the better. J | ||
dazey |
Lex, I love the freshness, exhuberance, and enthusiasm of your paintings. Please keep posting them, they are full of life. I think your style has great potential in the marketplace. There is something about the boldness and simplicity of your designs that is very appealing. | ||
Lex |
Here's a piece I did this weekend using the three-tube freebie set of Schmincke paint. The pure Delft Blue, Ruby Red and Vanadium Yellow can be seen, in that order from left to right, on the bottle and wine glass, their red "echoes" and the yellow background. All the other colors were produced by mixing in the palette. And other than the background toward the top no attempt was made to create color effects through layering or glazing. This was done on 140 lb. Arches rough. My only complaint is that the red, which was dabbed gently into prewetted outlines, didn't bleed into the soft edges I wanted. That could be because this was done on the reverse side of an Arches sheet that had already been heavily worked on the front side. The style of the piece is something I've worked on for the past couple of years. It's based on my screwy notion of how to represent the way light refracts through clear glass and creates different colors. Usually these pieces are strong on color, using the objects only to give the viewer something recognizable to hook into, with composition an afterthought. This one's entitled "Spill The Wine".  | ||
Lex |
Yup, the three-tube freebie set isn't really perfectly spaced to be used as a conventional set of primaries. The blue leans too far toward violet (tho' in light applications it resembles pthalo blue to me) which becomes apparent during blending. And the yellow leans greenish, which also doesn't become apparent until blended. The red is nearly dead center so it's predictable; but it's a powerful pigment and not easily applied in light strokes - it's pretty all or none with this red. But, hey, for free, I ain't complaining. And with the above characteristics in mind during blending I've been able to get some real purty colors. | ||
Kukana |
Hey Lex, I got a free set too. All those Oriental one brush stroke paintings on yupo that I posted in the original posting area that I did were with these paints. When I was working with them wet on the pallete I thought Yuk! but they dried fairly transparent and lovely. I don't know if I love them enough to buy them but they were nicer than I expected. I guess my biggest objection was that the colors I got, just like your set, are not colors I generally use so I was not as familliar with them. It would have been a better test for me to have three primaries that I know better. | ||
Lex |
My local dealer was kind enough to give me a three-tube trial set of Schmincke Horadam Aquarell paints this weekend. Apparently they receive a few promotional sets of a red, blue and yellow pigment in 5 ml tubes. The set included Vanadium Yellow (PY 184, listed in the Schmincke catalog as Bismutvanadat - my old Wilcox guide doesn't list this pigment); Ruby Red, PV 19, Quinacridone Red); Delft Blue (PB 60, Indanthrone Blue). All three are listed as new to the Schmincke catalog I picked up the dealer (could be as old as 1999). But besides being a convenient way to promote new formulations, the three are also conveniently spaced to blend into some nice colors as the accompanying graphic shows. So far I've done only some swatches and a couple of quickie color sketches but I really like this stuff. The consistency is, well...are we all tired yet of buttery...creamy...? Oh, well, I'm not. They wet beautifully, get along just dandy with the cheap test paper I used and rewet very cooperatively after having dried on the palette. The yellow is listed as opaque - which it is - but I had no difficulty creating nicely transparent greens, oranges, light browns and greys using the Vanadium Yellow. If you like a light, brilliant slightly greenish yellow, you should be pleased with this one. Schmincke says the Delft Blue has strong tinting characteristics and this appears to be accurate - a little goes a long way in blending. It's pretty far from cyan so don't expect any brilliant blues but it's a very useful color to my tastes. The Ruby Red and Schmincke's Permanent Carmine both are formed from a single pigment, PV 19, Quinacridone Red. The catalog lists differences in transparency and staining qualities. Don't ask me, I dunno. But I like it - the pigment is very close to magenta, making it very useful in either direction on the color wheel (or whatever color scheme you prefer). Which brings me to blending - these three pigments blend like the three gorgeous sisters on "Charmed" (okay, I'm not talking about the actresses, just about the characters they play J) Not only are they quite useful on their own...together they are formidable. The orange and green in this graphic can be varied considerably. So far I haven't been able to get a very different shade of purple, probably because the Delft Blue already leans toward the violet end of the scale. But check out the four swatches on the left - two distinctly different shades resembling sienna, a greenish grey and a darker nearly neutral grey - all achieved quickly and easily with only a little experimenting. Better still, I was able to reproduce these colors easily the next day by eyeballing the wet mixes on the palette. Ten very usable colors out of a three-tube freebie set. Okay, so the stuff gets expensive one you're hooked and hafta buy it. Guess that's why drug dealers always say the first one's free. Hope this is helpful to someone...  |
