Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Pigment Texture

Here are the six Natural Pigments pigments supplied with their watercolor kit:

Raw Umber, Verona Green Earth, German Black Vine

Red Ocher, Italian Yellow Earth, Titanium White

See the little V's in most pigments? I'm trying to portray just how finely these pigments are ground. When I push in, the pigments flatten tightly and stick to the knife. This stuff is going to be messy; I will be working out on the deck with mask and gloves.

Now that I am familiar with the North Carolina earths and these ready to mix pigments, I can see that the Southern earths will need grinding with mortar and pestle, and safety equipment, to reach the NP pigment consistency.

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting series of experiments with the minerals John. You have been busy. I particularly liked your shadow experiments with different shades, especially the Phthalo green with the peach.

    ReplyDelete
  2. These basic explorations are leading me to more and more questions. Something that in my mind was to be a simple slap 'em together is blossoming into a bit larger endeavor. These kind of situations seem to occur regularly with me. :-)

    It is amazing the results of some of my shading experiments! I consider complementaries and well as the tone of the shading paint--hue and value both coming into play here. Very fun stuff!

    ReplyDelete