Page 13 - George O'Hanlon

Ochers are natural iron oxide earths found in many parts of the world. They are among the most lightfast and stable pigments used in the arts. Iron oxide pigments produce a wide range of colors, from black through shades of purple and red in the anhydrous oxides to yellow, orange, and brown in the oxide hydroxides. While iron oxide produces the color in ochers, other minerals—such as quartz and clays, for example—are also present.

The simplest way to create an impasto surface is to apply large amounts of paint, usually with a brush or palette knife. Commercial oil colors have a heavy consistency, which can be achieved by working directly from the tube and applying the colors in thick layers. Opacity and built-up texture are usually interrelated, with much of the thickest impasto consisting of solid and opaque pigments, such as lead white or titanium white. Passages of thickly applied paint can also be translucent, so extender pigments are chosen that supply both bulk and transparency.

Chrome yellow enjoyed a brief history of widespread use among nineteenth-century artists, such as Turner, Manet, Cézanne, Monet, and Pissarro. Cézanne, like Pissarro and Monet, used the neutralizing effect of combining three primary colors—ultramarine, vermilion, and chrome yellow—to make colored grays. Its popularity soon faded because a more stable opaque pigment, cadmium yellow, was introduced in the middle of the century.

Impasto is paint laid on a canvas or panel in quantities that make it stand out from the surface and is usually thick enough that brush or palette knife strokes are visible. The first known use of the word was in 1784, from the Italian impasto, the noun of the verb impastare, “to put in paste.” The heavy viscosity and slow drying time of oil paint make it a suitable medium for the impasto painting technique. Watercolor and tempera paint are not satisfactory for this technique because they lack these properties and do not form continuous films surrounding pigment particles.

Color is an experience enjoyed by almost all the human race from a very early age. As we grow, we learn to recognize and often name specific colors, such as sky blue and grass green, and yet we can never be sure that all persons derive precisely the same sensation from a given stimulus. Our paintings reflect our love of color and contain an infinite variety of hues and shades. While we enjoy the variety, it also condemns us to be forever vigilant to its appearance in different ambient conditions.

We just returned from the 14th Annual Art of the Portrait Conference in Philadelphia last week excited by the interest shown by hundreds of artists in Rublev Colours Artists Oils. These artists displayed intense enthusiasm for learning about traditional colors and how they can be used in contemporary portrait painting.

Artists are sometimes surprised to see one application of paint barely hide the drawing or underpainting below and another color completely mask all that was underneath. Some wonder why sometime after they complete a painting, they begin to see pencil lines of the sketch that before were completely unnoticed. (This effect is called pentimento.) Other artists wishing to apply a beautiful glaze are frustrated when the glaze kills the color below. These are common problems experienced by all painters at one time or another, but they little understand the reasons.

Rublev Colours Violet Hematite is a deep reddish purple hue that tints toward subtle violets when mixed with white. It is useful in flesh tints and shadows, and its purple bias makes good grays. Rublev Colours Violet Hematite is formulated using pure natural ground hematite (Colour Index Name Pigment Red 102 or PR 102) that is absolutely lightfast and very opaque. This beautiful earthy red violet is cooler than other red iron oxide earths, such as Venetian red or Sartorius red.

Casein paint or milk paint is unlike any other natural water-based paint as it dries waterproof. Herein is a complete description of preparing casein or milk paint for art and home decorative applications.

This is the second part of the introduction to the underpainting of faces and flesh—sankir in Russian and proplasmos—in Greek medieval icon painting. During the Tour of Russian Icons, the editors of Iconofile and other tour group members visited the Grabar All-Russia Art Scientific Restoration Center workshop, where we met Adolph N. Ovchinnikov, director of ancient Russian painting. There he introduced us to his book, Symbolism of Christian Art, containing an extensive review of the symbolism found in Christian art based on his 50 years of experience restoring and researching sacred art. Presently available only in Russian, Iconofile obtained permission to translate portions of his book into English. The entire chapter, "On Sankir," is published in the second issue of the Iconofile Journal.