A blog “pamphlet” (or “book”) is different from an ordinary blog “post” in which entries appear in reverse chronological order. (The first thing you see is the last thing written. ) Nested in this post (called a “page” by WordPress) are a series of chapters, in chronological order (The first thing you see is the first thing written like in a book). You can access new chapters by clicking on the title of the next chapter at the end of each “page” (chapter) that you read. Or if you want to skip to, return to a specific chapter, or see if a new chapter has been added, look under “Pages” on the right hand column (illustrated at left).
There is also another pamphlet called “The sky project” about painting skies and clouds (see side bar)
Introduction
One of the most interesting ideas I ever came across was the report that, when James Abbott McNeill Wistler taught, he didn’t look at his students’ painting.
Whistler
He looked at their palette instead. If he didn’t dictate to them what paints to use, he would have noticed that most people use paints that were suggested to them by friends, teachers, or books (and today the internet). What is missing is the knowledge of what the problems are that need to be solved to lay down a useful palette. This little internet equivalent of a pamplet attempts to suggest how it might be accomplished.
One way to frame the problem of designing a palette is to consider that in scientific studies we can be shown to see about 10 million colors in one viewing situation. Our computer monitors produce even more colors. We start with approximately 168 pigments used in watercolor paints (which Bruce MacEvoy recorded here) to try to capture those 10 million colors. It is from this field of 168, you have to make a choice. I should add that the number of pigments is dwarfed by the number of watercolor paints sold. Daniel Smith has currently 200 different paints for sale “and more coming every day.” Some of these are metallic or use other material not usually included in pigment counts.
Here’s a watercolor palette from 1830 -40 that was in an antique Rowney rosewood box sold by Green and Stone in London.
The top row has cobalt blue on the left and cobalt turquoise on the right. In between I think there is a chrome orange and Indian red. The bottom row has yellow ochre on the left, followed by burnt sienna (that’s probably the real thing not an artificial iron oxide), and what looks to me like vermillion red. The rest I can’t either read the labels or figure out what they are. There probably is a black and a green. Pretty dull palette considering this was probably a very high end choice. The pan colors were made in a mold and have what look to me like zodiac figures embossed on them.
I want to make it clear at the outset that I do not endorse any particular palette or believe that the “right” choice of paints will make a painting. James Castle made art on the back of brown paper bags with stove soot (that is, carbon black) for pigment, a stick for a brush/pencil, and his saliva for a vehicle. He has been exhibited in museums and his work is still for sale here. I do believe that knowing what you’re doing can helpful.
the color index of a pigment
When mentioning many different paints containing pigments, it’s best to describe the pigments in terms of their “color index.” There is a list of identification numbers and names given to individual pigments (and dyes) that are used in art (and other endeavors) by a joint project of the English Society of Dyers and Colourists and the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists. An entry in the Color Index, which is now only online at this location (and costs about $280 to access) has three parts: the pigment’s use (dye or pigment represented by the letter P or D), the color (indicated by a pigment code and a number) and a constitution number (an unique number based on the sequence it was added to the list). I shall not use this last number, and it is rarely found on pigment labels. However, although it may be hard to find and in very tiny numbers, the pigment code(s) and number(s) can almost always be found on the label of a paint, and you do not need to use the official site to find out information about the pigment online.
The Pigment codes are:
PB=blue
PBk=black
PBr=brown
PG=green
PM=metal
PO=orange
PR=red
PV=violet
PW=white
PY=yellow
So, for example, usually a paint labelled by the manufacturer as “French Ultramarine Blue” has in it a pigment with the Color Index Name and Number of PB 29 (77007), so it contains Pigment Blue 29 which has been given the number 77007 when added to the list. If it doesn’t have this number on it but another number or numbers, it isn’t made with genuine French Ultramarine Blue pigment.
Below is “Indian Yellow” from DaVinci. Notice that it is a convenience mixture and not the original pigment. The original Indian Yellow did, in fact, come from India where it was produced from the concentrated urine of cows fed exclusively on mango leaves and water. The cows were terribly undernourished, and the process was declared inhumane and outlawed in 1908. Victoria Findlay in her book “Color: A Natural History of the Palette” reports being in India and stepping into cow dung from cows that had been eating Mango leaves and noticed the color on her boots was a beautiful Indian Yellow.
The formatting of the information is not clear. Benzimidazolone orange is PO62 and is marketed as Winsor Orange and by DaVinci alone as Benzimida Orange. Arylide Yellow is PY97 and often marketed as Hansa Yellow. The point is you could mix this yourself.
I had to ask Bruce MacEvoy what the “H5G” and “FGL” following the names of the pigments means, and he e-mailed me that it was like “XT, honda SRX, star wars C-3PO, iphone 3G, that kind of thing. pigment is (an) industrial product.” Thanks, Bruce!
Also notice the mention of “lightfastness.” Watercolors used to be kept in a portfolio and taken out to be shown to visitors by their owners. Now that they are often hung in bright light, certain of the famous old paints are now said to be “fugitive”, that is fade. It’s best to avoid them. It’s not that oil paints don’t also have their problems (Velasquez did not paint green skies), but watercolor paints are more susceptible. Some watercolor artists, for the most part, make prints of their originals and that is what they market. In that case, lightfastness is not a critical issue.
There is, sometimes, a variation in this pigment code in which a pigment is described with a “N” at the beginning. This is a pigment made from natural (e.g. “n”atural) substances. For example genuine Rose Madder is NR9 (natural red nine.)
In the most recent Dick Blick catalog (8/10) their house brand watercolor paints have below the color swatch the “pigment content” expressed with the color index numbers and in a side bar on the next page what pigment the numbers refer to. This is a terrific improvement because you can see the mixtures easily. For example, their “Gamboge” is a mixture of two yellows PY3 (Arylide Yellow) and PY42 (Synthetic Hydrated Iron Oxide.)
In case it’s not clear,” pigments” is not a term to describe a paint. They are powders that are combined with other things to make paint. Some of my entries on making your own watercolor paints discuss all the ingredients that go into the final product, the paint. In practice what this means is that paints from different manufacturers with the same pigment are different enough for individuals to have strong preferences for a particular paint from a specific company.
acknowledgements
Much of this information has been obtained by my study of Bruce MacEvoy’s wonderful opus magnus at www.handprint.com. which I highly recommend you consult as well. I have structured this pamphlet based on his “four problems” of choosing a palette: darks, mixing convenience, avoided monotomy, and dealing with saturation costs.
Bruce MacEvoy by Bruce MacEvoy
Of course, errors and misunderstandings should be assumed to be mine, and, once again, for a more rigorous exposition of the various topics I recommend consulting Handprint or Bruce’s blog (here).
James Gurney has a post that features pictures of famous artist’s palette here.
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