Preamble
This is the eighth post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed all the posts in this new series below:
Drawing Art
Painting Art - Part I
Painting Art - Part II
Painting Art - Part III
Painting Art - Part IV
Painting Art - Part V
Painting Art - Part VI
Home-Made Painting Art Materials
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part I
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part II
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part I
Historical Notes on Art - Part II
Historical Notes on Art - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part IV
Historical Notes on Art - Part V
Tempera Painting
Oil Painting - Part I
Oil Painting - Part II
Oil Painting - Part III
Oil Painting - Part IV
Oil Painting - Part V
Oil Painting - Part VI
Pigments
Classification of Pigments - Part I
Classification of Pigments - Part II
Classification of Pigments - Part III
Pigments for Oil Painting
Pigments for Water Color
Pigments for Tempera Painting
Pigments for Pastel
Japanese Pigments
There have been one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that focused on the following topics:
(i) Units used in dyeing and printing of fabrics.
(ii) Occupational, health & safety issues in an art studio.
(iii) Color theories and color schemes.
(iv) Optical properties of fiber materials.
(v) General properties of fiber polymers and fibers - Part I to Part V.
(vi) Protein fibers.
(vii) Natural and man-made cellulosic fibers.
(viii) Fiber blends and melt spun fibers.
(ix) Fabric construction.
(x) Techniques and woven fibers.
(xi) Basic and figured weaves.
(xii) Pile, woven and knot pile fabrics.
(xiii) Napped fabrics, double cloth and multicomponent fabrics.
(xiv) Fabric finishes.
(xv) Schrinkage, durable press and wash-wear finishes.
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends.
(xvii) The general theory of printing.
To access any of the above resources click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link highlights the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous Art Resource series.
There are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely: (1) the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms; (2) Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff; (3) A Fashion Data Base; (4) the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins; (5) the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns; (6) Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements; (7) Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms; (8) Glossary of Scientific Terms.
Note: From time-to-time all the above data bases will be updated.
If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g., click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (e.g., click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or any of the other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.
The new Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember, these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student. Undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and whilst other parts may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). Hopefully, the trade-off between these two extremes will mean that the Art Resource posts will be useful in parts to most, but unfortunately, may not be satisfying to all!
Home-Made Painting Art Materials[1]
The artist's home manufacture of painting art materials has been criticized and defended on various grounds by twenty-fifth century commentators. The modern art painter who makes or refines his own materials does so because the particular quality she or he desires cannot be purchase. Their process demands certain operations which must be performed immediately before use, for reasons of economy, or because the artist enjoys it as an enlightening vocation.
Title: Self Portrait.
Artist: Tom Deninger.
Materials: Made from trash and found objects.
Title: Marilyn Munroe.
Artist: Tom Deninger.
Materials: Made from trash and found objects.
Well-directed experience in this activity is obviously one of the most valuable means of acquiring knowledge that leads to the control of materials. But note, newer materials produced by complex and sophisticated processes of modern synthetic chemistry are designed to meet very precise and definite specifications and so usually cannot be reproduced by artists whose scientific backgrounds are usually limited. For example, vinyl acetate has been used primarily to produce polyvinyl acetate emulsions and polyvinyl alcohol. The principle use of these emulsions has been in adhesives, paints, textiles, and paper products. The process is so complicated it would be bought rather than reproduced.
The development of our modern industrial system on an economy of mass production makes it quite understandable why it is impossible for the producer of a raw material which is sold daily in freight-car lots to turn out with scrupulous care the insignificant few barrels of this product which artists of the world would consume annually. One of the contributing causes of the decline of standards for materials at the same time that advances in technology and knowledge made it possible to improve quality was the development of the paint and color industry from one which produced materials largely used for decorative purposes to one whose products are primarily used for large-scale industrial or protective purposes.
Pigments, oils and other products, highly satisfactory for industrial purposes, but of quality inferior to the demands of artists' use, are made in enormous quantities. The superlative grades are produced on a much smaller scale and are not so widely available.
The painter, sculptor, or graphic artist who is well acquainted with the properties of their materials are often able to improvise quite acceptable materials when for various reasons their supplies are unobtainable or when they are confronted by numerous minor emergencies which arise in the progress of their work.
World-wide product shortages due to the Corona virus affecting labor and the product supply chain.
However, the writers or instructors who are intent upon conveying the most correct and approved ways of achieving good results do not necessarily concern themselves with possible remoteness from sources of supply and similar considerations. Hiler mentions some interesting emergency methods for the preparation of materials when the proper ingredients and ready-made supplies are not to be had (see - Notes on the Techniques of Painting, New York, Oxford University Press, 1954). For example, others in the area of dyeing, have reverted to natural dyes, instead of using commercially made dyes.
Wild Colour (how to make & use natural dyes) by Jenny Dean.
Comment: In Wild Colour, you will find the history of natural dyes, the equipment you will need, a list of different plants that you can use to obtain color with color swatches and much more.
It must be understood unless one had changed direction completely, no one recommends these expediences as regular procedure, and that artists should have sufficient experience to judge for themselves whether makeshift materials are suitable for their permanent work or whether their use should be confined to notes and sketches, or when the situation is such that the only choice is to use available inferior supplies or not to paint at all. The short-coming of common oils, decorators' pigments, home-made curd paints etc., are all well known to the careful student of materials.
A recipe for milk paint: 1 lemon; 1 quart skim milk; strainer or sieve; cheesecloth; dry color pigment (optional); mask.
Inferior paints and supplies have always existed, and past generations of painters have always had to learn how to choose between permnanent and the impermanent, the good and the bad.
Perhaps the greatest reward to artists or students who have gone through the training and education of making their own paints is the insight into their control and behavior, which is invaluable in the practice of painting and the discriminating selection of supplies.
Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer, (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).
This is the eighth post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed all the posts in this new series below:
Drawing Art
Painting Art - Part I
Painting Art - Part II
Painting Art - Part III
Painting Art - Part IV
Painting Art - Part V
Painting Art - Part VI
Home-Made Painting Art Materials
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part I
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part II
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part I
Historical Notes on Art - Part II
Historical Notes on Art - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part IV
Historical Notes on Art - Part V
Tempera Painting
Oil Painting - Part I
Oil Painting - Part II
Oil Painting - Part III
Oil Painting - Part IV
Oil Painting - Part V
Oil Painting - Part VI
Pigments
Classification of Pigments - Part I
Classification of Pigments - Part II
Classification of Pigments - Part III
Pigments for Oil Painting
Pigments for Water Color
Pigments for Tempera Painting
Pigments for Pastel
Japanese Pigments
There have been one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that focused on the following topics:
(i) Units used in dyeing and printing of fabrics.
(ii) Occupational, health & safety issues in an art studio.
(iii) Color theories and color schemes.
(iv) Optical properties of fiber materials.
(v) General properties of fiber polymers and fibers - Part I to Part V.
(vi) Protein fibers.
(vii) Natural and man-made cellulosic fibers.
(viii) Fiber blends and melt spun fibers.
(ix) Fabric construction.
(x) Techniques and woven fibers.
(xi) Basic and figured weaves.
(xii) Pile, woven and knot pile fabrics.
(xiii) Napped fabrics, double cloth and multicomponent fabrics.
(xiv) Fabric finishes.
(xv) Schrinkage, durable press and wash-wear finishes.
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends.
(xvii) The general theory of printing.
To access any of the above resources click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link highlights the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous Art Resource series.
There are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely: (1) the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms; (2) Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff; (3) A Fashion Data Base; (4) the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins; (5) the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns; (6) Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements; (7) Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms; (8) Glossary of Scientific Terms.
Note: From time-to-time all the above data bases will be updated.
If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g., click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (e.g., click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or any of the other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.
The new Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember, these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student. Undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and whilst other parts may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). Hopefully, the trade-off between these two extremes will mean that the Art Resource posts will be useful in parts to most, but unfortunately, may not be satisfying to all!
Home-Made Painting Art Materials[1]
The artist's home manufacture of painting art materials has been criticized and defended on various grounds by twenty-fifth century commentators. The modern art painter who makes or refines his own materials does so because the particular quality she or he desires cannot be purchase. Their process demands certain operations which must be performed immediately before use, for reasons of economy, or because the artist enjoys it as an enlightening vocation.
Artist: Tom Deninger.
Materials: Made from trash and found objects.
Artist: Tom Deninger.
Materials: Made from trash and found objects.
Well-directed experience in this activity is obviously one of the most valuable means of acquiring knowledge that leads to the control of materials. But note, newer materials produced by complex and sophisticated processes of modern synthetic chemistry are designed to meet very precise and definite specifications and so usually cannot be reproduced by artists whose scientific backgrounds are usually limited. For example, vinyl acetate has been used primarily to produce polyvinyl acetate emulsions and polyvinyl alcohol. The principle use of these emulsions has been in adhesives, paints, textiles, and paper products. The process is so complicated it would be bought rather than reproduced.
The development of our modern industrial system on an economy of mass production makes it quite understandable why it is impossible for the producer of a raw material which is sold daily in freight-car lots to turn out with scrupulous care the insignificant few barrels of this product which artists of the world would consume annually. One of the contributing causes of the decline of standards for materials at the same time that advances in technology and knowledge made it possible to improve quality was the development of the paint and color industry from one which produced materials largely used for decorative purposes to one whose products are primarily used for large-scale industrial or protective purposes.
Pigments, oils and other products, highly satisfactory for industrial purposes, but of quality inferior to the demands of artists' use, are made in enormous quantities. The superlative grades are produced on a much smaller scale and are not so widely available.
The painter, sculptor, or graphic artist who is well acquainted with the properties of their materials are often able to improvise quite acceptable materials when for various reasons their supplies are unobtainable or when they are confronted by numerous minor emergencies which arise in the progress of their work.
However, the writers or instructors who are intent upon conveying the most correct and approved ways of achieving good results do not necessarily concern themselves with possible remoteness from sources of supply and similar considerations. Hiler mentions some interesting emergency methods for the preparation of materials when the proper ingredients and ready-made supplies are not to be had (see - Notes on the Techniques of Painting, New York, Oxford University Press, 1954). For example, others in the area of dyeing, have reverted to natural dyes, instead of using commercially made dyes.
Comment: In Wild Colour, you will find the history of natural dyes, the equipment you will need, a list of different plants that you can use to obtain color with color swatches and much more.
It must be understood unless one had changed direction completely, no one recommends these expediences as regular procedure, and that artists should have sufficient experience to judge for themselves whether makeshift materials are suitable for their permanent work or whether their use should be confined to notes and sketches, or when the situation is such that the only choice is to use available inferior supplies or not to paint at all. The short-coming of common oils, decorators' pigments, home-made curd paints etc., are all well known to the careful student of materials.
Inferior paints and supplies have always existed, and past generations of painters have always had to learn how to choose between permnanent and the impermanent, the good and the bad.
Perhaps the greatest reward to artists or students who have gone through the training and education of making their own paints is the insight into their control and behavior, which is invaluable in the practice of painting and the discriminating selection of supplies.
Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer, (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).
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