pigmented colorants: dependence on media and time - Cornell ...
pigmented colorants: dependence on media and time - Cornell ...
pigmented colorants: dependence on media and time - Cornell ...
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the requirements of the work at h<strong>and</strong>. A palette that c<strong>on</strong>tains less than a dozen<br />
colors can be c<strong>on</strong>sidered a simplified palette, while more than fourteen would be<br />
an elaborate palette. Successful painting can be d<strong>on</strong>e with a very limited palette,<br />
<strong>and</strong> there are some advantages to doing so. Painters typically receive training with<br />
simplified palettes as a matter of discipline; this enforces a sort of color harm<strong>on</strong>y,<br />
as hues in a work are derivatives of <strong>on</strong>e another. However, in the majority of cases,<br />
it is generally beneficial to have a range of colors available. Single pigment colors<br />
are invariably purer than mixtures that imitate them.<br />
The pigments chosen in our work are an attempt to maintain a typical artist’s<br />
palette, which maximizes the gamut of colors available, while minimizing the<br />
amount of pigments that needed to be studied. Neither artists nor scientists wish to<br />
perpetuate a excessively large number of unessential items to paint with or study.<br />
The author (originally trained as an artist) chose a representable porti<strong>on</strong> that spans<br />
Mayer’s hue designati<strong>on</strong>s in his modern approved list of pigments [May80]. While<br />
there may be other (possibly superior) pigments available, each is l<strong>on</strong>g established<br />
as a useful colorant tool <strong>and</strong> has its own individual characteristics.<br />
There are many sources of pure pigments available, including Kremer Pigments<br />
(New York) <strong>and</strong> Sinopia Pigments (San Francisco). For our research, we decided<br />
<strong>on</strong> Rublev Pigments from Natural Pigments (Willits, CA). This line c<strong>on</strong>tains a<br />
wide variety of naturally occurring earth colors, which were available to historical<br />
painters l<strong>on</strong>g before the commercial manufacture of artificial pigments. Earth<br />
colors also tend to have a very high permanence <strong>and</strong> lightfastness rating. While<br />
synthetic variants have approximated many of these <str<strong>on</strong>g>colorants</str<strong>on</strong>g>, many still hold a<br />
permanent spot in artists’ palettes <strong>and</strong> have d<strong>on</strong>e so for thous<strong>and</strong>s of years. The<br />
142<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>colorants</str<strong>on</strong>g> were also chosen such that they were compatible with the many different