Page 11 - Paints

Tempera grassa, which Pietro Annigoni learned from the Russian artist Nikolai Lokoff, is a variation of tempera painting that some believe to have been used by artists in the 16th century, although there is little evidence so far to support this claim...

An interesting reference in a manual regarding the drying properties of oil paint has some application to oil painters. Some of the information is outdated and inaccurate, yet it does provide an easy-to-understand explanation of drying properties. I have edited some of the content to make it more applicable to artists...

Each day we receive many questions about how to make paint. One question that is often asked is regarding a "formula" for making paint...

Did watercolorists of the 18th and 19th centuries use mediums to brush and manipulate their watercolors? The evidence shows that they handled their colors differently from contemporary artists today. Here are some historical references on the use of watercolor mediums by British watercolorists of the 18th and 19th centuries...

Rublev Colours Artists' Oils let you experience what the old masters well understood—the unique characteristics of pigments. The pigments used by old masters in their paintings were ground from natural minerals and earths, fermented in dyer vats, and concocted in alchemist laboratories. Rublev Colours Artists' Oils give you the same pigments used by the old masters prepared with linseed oil as ready-made paints...

Rublev Colours* artists' paints are made in the United States by Natural Pigments that include Artists' Oils, Watercolors, and painting mediums for use by professional fine artists. Rublev Colours are different from other commercial artists' colors. One reason is we use natural and historical pigments like those used by the old masters. Another is we make them as they did before modern artists' paint manufacturing—without synthetic, modern additives...

Here is a typical recipe to make gouache paint. Gouache consists of water, pigment, and gum binder, the same as watercolor paint. The difference is primarily the addition of a white extender, which creates an opaque water-based paint...

To create a fresco, it is necessary to understand the process. In buon or true fresco, you paint with pure pigments on wet lime plaster. As the plaster cures, a layer of crystal forms over the pigment, locking it into the surface. The author, assistant to Dego Rivera, discusses the brief history of fresco painting techniques...

There’s a bewildering array of drying oils for oil painting. Where do all the different drying oils come from? How are they different? And how do you choose the right one for your painting...

Gel painting mediums come in a variety of thicknesses and properties, but their primary purpose is to change the consistency or appearance of paint. Think of gel medium as transparent paint so that when added to oil colors, it diminishes the opacity of the color while helping to maintain its consistency. Gel mediums increase the transparency of oil colors without making the paint more fluid, such as when adding drying oil to increase the transparency of a color. This is advantageous when you want a transparent layer of color without making the paint runny...

Congo copal is no longer available commercially (at least as it was available in commerce formerly), because the suppliers have long stopped trading due to strife in Africa since the last quarter of the 20th century. Trade of Congo copal was once controlled by the Belgian government, but as this region of Africa gained independence and the demand for copal resins diminished during the last half of the 20th century, the commerce of Congo copal has all but ceased...

Ackermann’s Superfine Water Colours were prepared and sold at Rudolph Ackermann’s shop, The Repository of Arts at 101 Strand in London, and also sold through print and booksellers in Great Britain. He published a list of watercolor cakes that appeared in 1801 and was appended to A Treatise on Ackermann’s Superfine Water Colours....