03.04.2013 Views

pigmented colorants: dependence on media and time - Cornell ...

pigmented colorants: dependence on media and time - Cornell ...

pigmented colorants: dependence on media and time - Cornell ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

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

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!