Making Artist's Paint An Easy To Follow Guide
By Tony Johansen, Director, East Sydney Academy Of Art
At one time all paint was made in the studio, usually by the
apprentices from their first year and itinerant journeymen. Due to the deep understanding every
artist had of the properties of the paints they were making it was easy
for the artists of the day to produce artworks of intense beauty and
great durability that testify to the skills and knowledge gained
grinding colors for their master in their early years.
There are many reasons for an artist to make their own paint even
today. Despite this need there are surprisingly few places for the
average artist to learn these old master skills. Even the internet
offers little in the way of easy to find practical resources for the
artist wanting to make paint. Hence this site, with its series of
articles and demonstrations seeks at the one site to acquaint the
artist with the basics of paint making, reveal some of the important
background information you need, and then point the way to further
resources on the web.
Note For Conservators
This site was written specifically for working artist's and so uses language addressed to the artist. The conservator will, however, find much helpful information here. The techniques described, the history and background information, and the ingredients information and lists of suppliers of historic materials are all based on historic documentation from Pliny the Elder in the years before the Christian era to the latest investigative offerings including treatises written at important points in time relevant to the use of all major paint media used since Ancient Greco-Roman times to the present day. This current work offers practical working methods relevant to the conservator working with early paintings, and sources of supplies of pigments and many of the art materials available to artist's working in Europe during the last 5,000 years, so far as is known in the present day, and by prehistoric peoples everywhere, going back to the beginnings of human art making. Some of the suppliers of pigments and other materials listed on the links page supply materials for the conservation of the world's great masterpieces as a central function of their business.
Getting Started How To
Use This Site
The Site Map helps you find where
everything is. The site is designed around the 3 areas of 'Techniques
of making paint', 'Background Information', and 'Ingredients'. There
are 55 pages in total but only 12 on the menu bar The Site Map guides
you to the hidden additional pages and of course relevant links to
further info are on various pages.
The Demonstration has an emphasis on making of oil paint because that
is what most people want to do, but there is ample information on the
making of other media. The media introduced here are Oils, Alkyds,
Acrylics, Egg Tempera, Watercolor, Gouache, and Encaustic. How to make
Pastels and hard Chalks is also included in the demonstration. The
applies across all paint types. All paint making shares some essential
similarities. The differences to be aware of when making watercolor for
instance instead of oil paint is explained on appropriate linked pages.
There is a data base of historic pigments used by artist's down the
centuries and millennia. There are also detailed notes on the latest
products of paint laboratories. This site tries not to advocate one
approach or another although the dangers and limitations of many older
colors are pointed out.
This site has a central ethos of practical usage for the average artist
in the average professional studio. Simplified ways of doing some
things are described where something might otherwise require special
training. Testing for light fastness for instance is described in a way
that the scientific community might not accept, but that the average
artist can easily do, and get useful results from. Acrylics and Alkyds
are not as easy to formulate from base ingredients as other paints, so
all that is offered is a way to use ready made mediums as paint bases,
and as a way for the average artist to get color on canvas in as simple
and quick way as possible.
So Let's Make Paint And
Have Fun Doing It
Making your own paint opens up a whole universe of new possibilities
creatively and practically. While we reach back to borrow old master
techniques, they are just as fresh and fundamental to contemporary arts
practice as they were to those old masters. There is a sense of
empowerment when you
are not 100% reliant on the giant manufacturing industries. Best of all
is the discovery of the fun as well as the inevitable frustrations that
are part of this exciting field of exploration. So, it's time to click
on a menu button and follow your imagination. Let's do it!
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