Preamble
This is the sixty-first post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed below all the posts in this new series:
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
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part I
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part II
Selected Fresco Palette for Permanent Frescoes
Properties of Pigments in Common Use
Blue Pigments - Part I
Blue Pigments - Part II
Blue Pigments - Part III
Green Pigments - Part I
Green Pigments - Part II
Red Pigments - Part I
Red Pigments - Part II
Yellow Pigments - Part I
Yellow Pigments - Part II
Brown and Violet Pigments
Black Pigments
White Pigments - Part I
White Pigments - Part II
White Pigments - Part III
Inert Pigments
Permanence of Pigments: New Pigments - Part I
Permanence of Pigments: New Pigments - Part II
Limited or Restricted Palettes
Testing of Pigments - Part I
Testing of Pigments - Part II
Further Refinement of Pigments
Color and Light - Part I
Color and Light - Part II
Color Effects - Part I
There have been another one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that have 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) Durable press and wash-and-wear finishes;
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends;
(xv) The general theory of printing.
To access any of the above resources, please click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link will highlight all of the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous a are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms. All data bases in the future will be updated from time-to-time.
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 (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or 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 and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will be hopefully useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all!
Color Effects - Part II [1]
Light waves have often been compared with sound waves; two different musical notes may be played on two different instruments so as to blend into one clear, simple effect. But if we take two different chords, orchestrate each, and then play the orchestrations simultaneously, the result will be complex, if not confused. People have suggested an analogy between light waves and radio waves: pigments are substances which have the property of tuning in on certain light waves. However, it should be noted what the real differences are.
When a transparent pigment is mixed with white for tinting purposes, it does not function entirely as though it were a body color by imparting to the mixture, the color effect of its surface color to the mass, but its transparency has much to do with the clarity of tone produced by the mixture. Tints or mixtures of opaque colors are usually duller. When two opaque pigments are mixed, the tiny particles of each, when viewed under a microscope, will appear intermingled, lying next to one another. Rays of light will be reflected from each; the amount of white light from the surface will be the sum of that reflected from all the particles of both pigments.
When a transparent pigment such as alizarin, is used to tint a white paint, the effect is as if each particle of white were surrounded by an envelope of transparent red; light will pass through the transparent particles, the amount of reflection of light from the surface will be less when two opaque pigments are used, and what reflection there is will tend to come mostly from one source, namely, the opaque pigment.
Note: (i) The effect is due to alizarin's transparency. When mixed with an opaque white, the alizarin pigment particles, which are transparent, are suspended among the opaque white particles, creating a visual effect where the transparent red seems to surround the white particles, resulting in shades of pink or translucent red; (ii) Alizarin's nature. Alizarin, particularly in its pigment form, alizarin crimson, is a transparent pigment. This means light passes through it, unlike opaque pigments; (iii) Pigment mixing. When this transparent red pigment is mixed with an opaque white pigment, the white particles remain opaque, while the red particles are translucent; (iv) Visual effect. The result is that the red color appears to coat or "envelope" each particle of white, creating a translucent and luminous tint, such as pink, rather than a simple opaque mixture.
Alizarin Crimson.
Occasionally, upon drying of a paint there will be a color change which is an exception to some general physical or optical rule. This is always because of some peculiar physical or chemical property of the materials involved. For instance, painters who use aqueous mediums in opaque techniques, such as gouache or casein, will note that grays or other mixtures containing black pigments sometimes dry darker instead of lighter. This may be explained by the fact that, because of the relative density and fineness of the various pigment particles, or because of some other physical properties, a movement of the dispersed particles has occurred, while the film was still wet, and the black has floated toward the surface. Paint behavior is not ordinarily erratic; under similar painting conditions, similar results may be expected; and the painter who has learned the characteristics of each of his pigments is able to control their effects.
Additive Colors. When white light passes through a prism it is broken up into its component parts and the rays emerge in the familiar rainbow or spectrum arrangement, the rays at the red end having the longest wavelength and those at the violet end the shortest.
The angle at which the rays are bent, or refracted, is greatest at the violet end and the least at the red end. The infrared and ultraviolet rays are invisible under ordinary conditions.
By recombining colored rays, we can mix colored light as we would mix body color; but in this case magenta, a cyan blue, and a medium yellow, are the three primaries, and the system is called additive, because the mixed hues are obtained by adding light rays instead of absorbing or subtracting them. The effects of transparent or glaze paints (as opposed to opaque or body color paints) are a little alike that of additive colors, because transparent pigments reflect less white light from their surfaces than do opaque pigments.
The followers of the French Impressionist school have been said to have utilized the additive process by substituting the juxaposition of small spots of pure color for mixture of colors. When viewed from an adequate distance the light rays reflected from these adjacent colors merge producing upon the eye a blended hue sometimes entirely different from that which would have been produced, had the colors been mixed on the palette. The effect is clear and has a peculiaryly vibrant, luminous quality. A similar effect, as all painters know, is produced when mixed colors are not too thoroughly blended on the palette, but are rather loosely scrambled on the canvas. This additive behaviour of light rays explains many peculiarities and tendencies in color mixtures, though it plays a minor role in our painting methods, which, for all practical purposes, conform entirely to the rules for subtractive mixtures. The additive system of color mixing is principally involved in working with effects of colored lights rather than with paints, and it is basic in colorimetry and in color photography.
Diffraction Colors A color effect which has little to do with painting, but which often occurs in nature, or which may be produced by manipulations of certain materials, is that caused by the refraction of light in all directions without the use of pigmentation. The brilliant colors of certain plumage and minerals are caused by the diffraction of light from surfaces, which have structures equivalent to myriads of tiny lenses or prisms. The iridescent colors of soap bubbles or oil films on water, are explained by the fact that very thin film will display iridescence when surrounded by two mediums of air and water. These effects are characterized by an intensity, a brilliance, and often a hue of almost metallic quality, which can be only approximated using paint.
Variation in the Color Effect. The principal ways in which the color effect of a pigment in a painting can be altered may be summarized as follows: (i) the nature of the surrounding medium; (ii) its degree of gloss; (iii) quality and intensity of illumination; (iv) juxtaposition, or effect of the surrounding areas of color.
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 sixty-first post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed below all the posts in this new series:
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
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part I
Pigments for Fresco Painting - Part II
Selected Fresco Palette for Permanent Frescoes
Properties of Pigments in Common Use
Blue Pigments - Part I
Blue Pigments - Part II
Blue Pigments - Part III
Green Pigments - Part I
Green Pigments - Part II
Red Pigments - Part I
Red Pigments - Part II
Yellow Pigments - Part I
Yellow Pigments - Part II
Brown and Violet Pigments
Black Pigments
White Pigments - Part I
White Pigments - Part II
White Pigments - Part III
Inert Pigments
Permanence of Pigments: New Pigments - Part I
Permanence of Pigments: New Pigments - Part II
Limited or Restricted Palettes
Testing of Pigments - Part I
Testing of Pigments - Part II
Further Refinement of Pigments
Color and Light - Part I
Color and Light - Part II
Color Effects - Part I
There have been another one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that have 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) Durable press and wash-and-wear finishes;
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends;
(xv) The general theory of printing.
To access any of the above resources, please click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link will highlight all of the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous a are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms. All data bases in the future will be updated from time-to-time.
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 (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or 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 and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will be hopefully useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all!
Color Effects - Part II [1]
Light waves have often been compared with sound waves; two different musical notes may be played on two different instruments so as to blend into one clear, simple effect. But if we take two different chords, orchestrate each, and then play the orchestrations simultaneously, the result will be complex, if not confused. People have suggested an analogy between light waves and radio waves: pigments are substances which have the property of tuning in on certain light waves. However, it should be noted what the real differences are.
When a transparent pigment is mixed with white for tinting purposes, it does not function entirely as though it were a body color by imparting to the mixture, the color effect of its surface color to the mass, but its transparency has much to do with the clarity of tone produced by the mixture. Tints or mixtures of opaque colors are usually duller. When two opaque pigments are mixed, the tiny particles of each, when viewed under a microscope, will appear intermingled, lying next to one another. Rays of light will be reflected from each; the amount of white light from the surface will be the sum of that reflected from all the particles of both pigments.
When a transparent pigment such as alizarin, is used to tint a white paint, the effect is as if each particle of white were surrounded by an envelope of transparent red; light will pass through the transparent particles, the amount of reflection of light from the surface will be less when two opaque pigments are used, and what reflection there is will tend to come mostly from one source, namely, the opaque pigment.
Note: (i) The effect is due to alizarin's transparency. When mixed with an opaque white, the alizarin pigment particles, which are transparent, are suspended among the opaque white particles, creating a visual effect where the transparent red seems to surround the white particles, resulting in shades of pink or translucent red; (ii) Alizarin's nature. Alizarin, particularly in its pigment form, alizarin crimson, is a transparent pigment. This means light passes through it, unlike opaque pigments; (iii) Pigment mixing. When this transparent red pigment is mixed with an opaque white pigment, the white particles remain opaque, while the red particles are translucent; (iv) Visual effect. The result is that the red color appears to coat or "envelope" each particle of white, creating a translucent and luminous tint, such as pink, rather than a simple opaque mixture.
Occasionally, upon drying of a paint there will be a color change which is an exception to some general physical or optical rule. This is always because of some peculiar physical or chemical property of the materials involved. For instance, painters who use aqueous mediums in opaque techniques, such as gouache or casein, will note that grays or other mixtures containing black pigments sometimes dry darker instead of lighter. This may be explained by the fact that, because of the relative density and fineness of the various pigment particles, or because of some other physical properties, a movement of the dispersed particles has occurred, while the film was still wet, and the black has floated toward the surface. Paint behavior is not ordinarily erratic; under similar painting conditions, similar results may be expected; and the painter who has learned the characteristics of each of his pigments is able to control their effects.
Additive Colors. When white light passes through a prism it is broken up into its component parts and the rays emerge in the familiar rainbow or spectrum arrangement, the rays at the red end having the longest wavelength and those at the violet end the shortest.
The angle at which the rays are bent, or refracted, is greatest at the violet end and the least at the red end. The infrared and ultraviolet rays are invisible under ordinary conditions.
By recombining colored rays, we can mix colored light as we would mix body color; but in this case magenta, a cyan blue, and a medium yellow, are the three primaries, and the system is called additive, because the mixed hues are obtained by adding light rays instead of absorbing or subtracting them. The effects of transparent or glaze paints (as opposed to opaque or body color paints) are a little alike that of additive colors, because transparent pigments reflect less white light from their surfaces than do opaque pigments.
The followers of the French Impressionist school have been said to have utilized the additive process by substituting the juxaposition of small spots of pure color for mixture of colors. When viewed from an adequate distance the light rays reflected from these adjacent colors merge producing upon the eye a blended hue sometimes entirely different from that which would have been produced, had the colors been mixed on the palette. The effect is clear and has a peculiaryly vibrant, luminous quality. A similar effect, as all painters know, is produced when mixed colors are not too thoroughly blended on the palette, but are rather loosely scrambled on the canvas. This additive behaviour of light rays explains many peculiarities and tendencies in color mixtures, though it plays a minor role in our painting methods, which, for all practical purposes, conform entirely to the rules for subtractive mixtures. The additive system of color mixing is principally involved in working with effects of colored lights rather than with paints, and it is basic in colorimetry and in color photography.
Diffraction Colors A color effect which has little to do with painting, but which often occurs in nature, or which may be produced by manipulations of certain materials, is that caused by the refraction of light in all directions without the use of pigmentation. The brilliant colors of certain plumage and minerals are caused by the diffraction of light from surfaces, which have structures equivalent to myriads of tiny lenses or prisms. The iridescent colors of soap bubbles or oil films on water, are explained by the fact that very thin film will display iridescence when surrounded by two mediums of air and water. These effects are characterized by an intensity, a brilliance, and often a hue of almost metallic quality, which can be only approximated using paint.
Variation in the Color Effect. The principal ways in which the color effect of a pigment in a painting can be altered may be summarized as follows: (i) the nature of the surrounding medium; (ii) its degree of gloss; (iii) quality and intensity of illumination; (iv) juxtaposition, or effect of the surrounding areas of color.
Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).
