Color Study II: Red Pigment

Now that we've covered the topic of how to read a paint tube, let's delve into what's in the tube: the paint, well actually the pigment. All color media, be they watercolor, acrylic, oil, colored pencil or pastels, are comprised of pigment and binder. Wikipedia defines pigment this way:

"A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption."

I just like to think of pigment as the colored stuff. Below is a picture of natural ultramarine blue pigment. Before the invention of the painting tube, artists would mix their own paints, creating or buying the pigments. Today ultramarine blue is usually made in the synthetic form--that's a good thing because the real stuff is still very expensive.  

Some history

Pigments have been with us since the cave. Our early ancestors used earth colors gleaned from crushed rock--such as ochre, a soft stone that comes in a variety of colors from yellow to red. Whites were made from limestone or shells and charcoal from the burnt wood in the spent fire. 

Up until the 19th century, pigments were made from natural materials: rock, plant or insect and yes even urine. Every pigment we use on our palette, through our colored pencils or pastel sticks has a story. Some of it is absolutely fascinating. In fact, by learning some of the background in pigment-making, I've come to a better understanding of the colors I use.  And because of that,  I'd like to share the information with you for the next several issues, starting with red.

This month's pigment: Red

1. Beyond using red ochres, the Eyptians also created a process called the "lake"--when a dye is fixed to gypsom or chalk to create a pigment, thus scarlet lake. 
2. Reds were made form iron-oxides and a rock called cinnabar, which was very orange-red, like vermilion.
3. The Romans heated mercury and sulfur to create vermilion, which must have been a very odorous event. 
4. Reds were also created by using plants like Rubia tinctorum: the madder plant. 
5. In time synthetics would replace madder to create alizarin crimson.  Unfortunately, this pigment was and still is very fugitive (fades and can even turn black). 
6. Crimson and/or carmine came from the female kermes insect and cochineal beetle.
7. By the mi-1800s, chemistry took a big step forward and fostered the beginning of synthetic pigments, which opened the door to so many, exciting new palettes. 
8. The metal cadmium was used for yellows in 1846. Within sixty years, red cadmium came on the market, which is now being being replaced by the pyrrole family of reds and oranges. See discussion at Paint Making.
9. By the 1920s, the naphthols were making their debut and by the 1950s the  quinacridones replaced lake pigments providing much better results and lightfastness.

Today there are so many reds on the market, it could make your head spin. There are three ways you can get a handle on this: (1) go to the manufacturer and read their color charts, (2) go to a great site called Paint Making by author Tony Johansen or (3) do all of the above, plus create your own color chart.

Create your own color book

Like everyone else, I have a ton of painting tubes (and brushes) of all sorts of colors. So in order to familiarize myself with everything I have, I decided to create my own personal color book. I also did the same thing with my colored pencils and pastels, but on separate sheets instead. 


Below you can see the results of what happened when I took all my red watercolors and acrylics and painted them into some charts within my notebook. I also took notes to remind myself of what I had learned while studying about red pigments. Now I can see at a glance what colors I have AND more importantly what color(s) I need. 

Acrylic and Watercolor Reds

These are my acrylic reds. I was amazed at the variety of "colors."

I tinted the reds to see what would happen. Opera Rose is way

too neon for me, but when I add white, it tones it down to a sweet pink.

My watercolors were easier to find graduation in values. Was
very pleased to see the different oranges and violets.

Feel free to follow along with me, charting your colors in your studio. I will be charting the rest of the pigments that I'll cover in the next several issues. Later I want to talk about mixing colors as well as warm vs. cool colors. I hope to visually record these discussions in my color book. It should be fun!

Next month: Blue pigment.

February Newsletter: Color Study, Part 1

For the next several months I will cover the subject of color. This was a difficult subject for me when I was in school as well as when I returned to fine arts. I had no problem with color management when designing ads, brochures and the like in my old advertising life. It was somewhat easier because of the Pantone® Color System, PMS for short. Everything is pre-mixed and all you have to do is select the colors you want. In fact, it was the best part of the job.

In fine arts, it's different, harder. In my college years, I never received any instruction in color. When I returned in 2000, I again didn't have any instructors who would (or may it was could) not share more than the simple color wheel. It's a tough subject. I was so confused back in the early days that one teacher wondered if I had a color deficiency. Not!

So as I do in many of my workshops, I am going to share with you what I have not been taught. In the end,  I hope you will know more than you ever wanted to about color--because knowledge is power.

Having said all that, I want to begin with the basic painting tube. Why not the color wheel? We'll get to the wheel, but for now I want to share with you some important information that will help you understand color a little bit better.


Some definitions. 

Pigment is the colored stuff that goes into your paints. It comes in powdered form and is suspended in a liquid vehicle: with watercolors it's usually gum arabic; with acrylics it's polymer emulsion and so on. Every pigment has its own Color Index name and number. For example Cobalt Blue is PB 28 or Pigment Blue #28. Why is this important? Because sometimes manufacturers are forced to combine two pigments to get the final one. Sap green (look at the M.Graham chart) is made of three different items: Chlorinated Copper,  Phthalocyanine (PG 7) and Isoindolinone Yellow (PY 110). If you are having trouble mixing your colors, you may want to look at your tube to make sure that there isn't a pigment that's in conflict with another. 

Diana Graham from  M. Graham  & Co., a local paint company, headquartered out of West Linn,  gives us one cautionary note though, "One of the biggest points of confusion is the color name and number.  This is by no way like the Pantone System.  There are no rules about what we name a color and the variance from one pigment manufacturer to another can be huge even with the same name.  The color index number refers to the chemical make up  of the pigment, not a visual color.  If you look at cad red light, medium and deep-it is all the same number."  

So in the end, although we have some guidelines, we still have to do some digging on our own. For a more detailed and scientific slant on paint content, please go to the most complete on-line treatise I've ever read: http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/pigmt3.html#strategy

Color is the product name given to the paints (quinacridone rose, hansa yellow, sap green).

Paint is the end product of mixing the pigment with the liquid vehicle.

What does the tube tell you.For this dicussion, I am going to use M. Graham watercolor paints. They sell acrylic, watercolor, oil and gouache paints. If you look at any painting tube you will find the following on the front:

• The company name: M. Graham & Co.
• Paint quality: Artists' Watercolor (also words like Extra Fine, Finest), meaning the good stuff.
• The common name for the color: Cadmium Red Light
• Series number: Series 5. This indicates the price and also how expensive the ingredients are. A series 5 (cad red light) is more expensive than a Series 1, (burnt sienna).
• How much is inside: Net. 5 fl.oz./15 ml.

The following appears on the back:

• Lightfastness (LF)means how long will it take for your paints to fade. There is a US organization called the American Society for Testing & Materials or ASTM for short. They have a class system that rates the quality and longevity of your paints. The higher the number the lower the quality. You'll usually see the numbers I, II, III.
• Pigment: PR 108--The CI name is the pigment(s) or sometimes you may also see CI number. (see above)
• Vehicle: Gum Arabic. This is what the pigment is suspended in. Unlike other watercolor companies, M. Grahams also adds a bit of blackberry honey that adds a touch of moistness. I have Graham paints that date back to 2004 and they are still moist!
• Company information: West Linn. Usually you will see where the paint was made and also the company website for further information
• Cautionary words: There are some art materials that have been found to be hazardous and label warnings are required by federal law. 

For further reading, here is a great pigment database site: http://www.artiscreation.com/Color_index_names.html


Next month I'll be talking more about paints--what type of pigments are there and a new set of definitions.