Page 19 - Artist Materials Advisor

The revival of traditional art styles and techniques has burgeoned into a full-fledged Second Renaissance. And this re-awakening has sparked a renewed interest in the colors used by the great masters of the past. It was thus inevitable that someone would produce the traditional pigments in watercolors.

As a painter who began working about 43 years ago, I have been fascinated by the techniques of the great masters of painting. In the last 20 years, I have spent much time understanding their approach to painting, materials, and specific practice. I have spent much of my time in a relatively narrow area of study, although I have picked up little bits from the early Flemish painters to nineteenth-century Academy painting. However, my absolute concentration has been on those painters that moved me the most in face-to-face museum confrontations. They are Rubens, Velázquez, Titian, Leonardo and Rembrandt. Their technique seems to be shrouded in a great mystery, and while artists and educators have written about them over the last several hundred years, much of it is contradictory. There are a few exceptions, and the book published by Virgil Elliott entitled Traditional Oil Painting is a significant advance forward compared to most of what has been previously written on the subject. Ernest van...

What are the differences between linseed oil and stand oil? How do these differences affect the properties of paint? The key differences result from two crucial physical properties of drying oils: the degree of polymerization and the acid value of the oil. These two properties are affected by the treatment of oil—typically heat—that changes one or both of them. Heat treatment of oil makes what is called “bodied” oil, which is the more accurate term for what many call “stand oil.”

In the April 2006 issue of Watercolor Artist (formerly Watercolor Magic), Butch Krieger introduced Rublev Colours Watercolors to the magazine's readers in the article "Painting Flesh Tones with a Three Color Palette." The Rublev Colours Flesh Tint Palette is a triad of traditional earth pigments that many 18th- and 19th-century watercolorists used to mix their flesh tones.

Finding and collecting earth pigments can be both an exciting and rewarding endeavor. Collecting pigments from the earth can be done causally as you drive through the country or with much planning and preparation to identify and collect specific mineral pigment types. This is the first article in a series on finding, collecting, and preparing your earth pigments.

Beginning with this installment, this series of articles discusses the technique of making icons in abundant detail, from obtaining the wood for the painting panel to putting on the final picture varnish or olifa of icons. A guide to wood properties and selecting the optimal wood for painting panels. This is the first in a series of articles on painting icons, beginning with selecting the panel, preparing it for painting, and the painting technique. Although this series of articles applies specifically to the preparation and painting of icons, it has a wider application for preparing solid wood panels for painting.

Paint pigments are much more complex today than in past history. They are mixed with other materials or coated to give visual shifts or other active color effects. To gain an appreciation of color theory and the problems of color matching, it is essential to consider the physics of sight in some detail. Before continuing, though, some background knowledge is required.

Step-by-step instructions for painting portraits using earth pigments which lend themselves to making flesh tones. Some of them even look just like flesh colors right out of the tube without your having to mix them.

Part one on preparing wood panels for painting with the application of chalk grounds and fifth in our technical series on painting icons, this article discusses the history and materials used in the preparation of wood panels for tempera painting—size, pavoloka, and gesso — since the earliest period of Christian art until today. While the series specifically applies to making icon boards and preparing them for painting egg tempera icons, it has application to preparing wood panels for painting in any medium on chalk grounds.

Part two on preparing a wood panel for painting with the application of chalk grounds and the sixth in our technical series on painting icons, this article discusses preparing the glue solution used in the preparation of wood panels for tempera painting—size, pavoloka, and gesso—since the earliest Christian period until today. While the series specifically apply to making icon boards and preparing them for painting egg tempera icons, it has application to preparing wood panels for painting in any medium on chalk grounds.