Paint mixing

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A self-portrait by Anders Zorn clearly showing a four pigment palette of what are thought to be white, yellow ochre, red vermilion and black pigments. Sjalvportratt av Anders Zorn 1896.jpg
A self-portrait by Anders Zorn clearly showing a four pigment palette of what are thought to be white, yellow ochre, red vermilion and black pigments.

Paint mixing is the practice of mixing components or colors of paint to combine them into a working material and achieve a desired hue. The components that go into paint mixing depend on the function of the product sought to be produced. For example, a painter of portraits or scenery on a canvas may be seeking delicate hues and subtle gradiations, while the painter of a house may be more concerned with durability and consistency of colors in paints presented to customers, and the painter of a bridge or a ship may have the weatherability of the paint as their primary concern.

Contents

History

Mixing pigments for the purpose of creating realistic paintings with diverse color gamuts is known to have been practiced at least since Ancient Greece. The identity of a/the set of minimal pigments to mix diverse gamuts has long been the subject of speculation by theorists whose claims have changed over time, for example Pliny's white, black, one or another red, and "sil", which might have been yellow or blue; Robert Boyle's white, black, red, yellow, and blue; and variations with more or fewer "primary" color or pigments. Some writers and artists have found these schemes difficult to reconcile with the actual practice of painting. [2] : 29–38  Nonetheless, it has long been known that limited palettes consisting of a small set of pigments are sufficient to mix a diverse gamut of colors. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

In the 1910 edition of his treatise on the subject, Paint and Color Mixing, Seymour Arthur Jennings noted:

If half a dozen practical painters, experienced in color mixing, were asked separately to mix a given color, say sea green, it is almost certain that when the six colors were compared there would be no two alike. Each of the six painters might have precisely the same make of colors to work with, and yet the sea green in each case would be different. The explanation, of course, is that opinions differ as to what is sea green. [8]

To remedy this, Jennings included sample cards showing 48 different colors, and described the method of mixing these and other colors, and for mixing graining grounds and testing colors. [8] Jennings recommended that painters offering paints for commercial uses should similarly employ cards to explain color options to their customers, so the customer would not be surprised by the result. [8]

In the 1920s, radioluminescent paint was developed by mixing small amounts of a radioactive isotope (radionuclide) with a radioluminescent phosphor chemical, but the radium originally used for this purpose was discovered to be harmful, [9] leading to the use of promethium and tritium for this purpose. In the 1930s, blacklight paint was invented by brothers Joseph and Robert Switzer; Robert had severed an optic nerve due to a head injury, and was confined him to a dark room while he waited for his sight to recover. Joseph, who was a chemistry major at the University of California, Berkeley, worked with Robert to investigate fluorescent compounds. They brought a blacklight into the storeroom of their father's drugstore looking for naturally fluorescing organic compounds and mixed those compounds with shellac to develop the first black light fluorescent paints. [10]

Methods and techniques

Three oil paints, one of which is mixed with wax Oil paints, one with wax (30791).jpg
Three oil paints, one of which is mixed with wax
A set of watercolors Watercolours.jpg
A set of watercolors

Acrylic artists' paints may be thinned with water or acrylic medium and used as washes in the manner of watercolor paints, but unlike watercolor the washes are not rehydratable once dry. For this reason, acrylics do not lend themselves to the color lifting techniques of gum arabic-based watercolor paints. Instead, the paint is applied in layers, sometimes diluting with water or acrylic medium to allow layers underneath to partially show through. Using an acrylic medium gives the paint more of a rich and glossy appearance, whereas using water makes the paint look more like watercolor and have a matte finish. [11] Research has determined that "mixing durable paints with less durable paints can enhance the durability of the mixture". [12] In particular, "all paints whether durable or not will develop considerably enhanced durability if they are applied over a white lead ground", and mixtures of other paints with a white paint pigmented with lead carbonate and zinc oxide "developed the greatest strength even after drying for only a short time when compared to the much older paints". [12]

Many paints tend to separate when stored, the heavier components settling to the bottom, and therefore require mixing before use. A machine called a paint shaker can be used to achieve either effect by shaking the can vigorously for a few minutes. A wide variety of paint shakers are available. In the 1980s, a home-use version was sold that attached to an electric drill, using vibrations from the drill to mix the paint. [13]

Mixing paints in limited palettes

The set of pigments available to mix diverse gamuts of color (in various media such as oil, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, and pastel) is large and has changed throughout history. [14] [15] There is no consensus on a specific set of pigments that are considered primary colors – the choice of pigments depends entirely on the artist's subjective preference of subject and style of art as well as material considerations like lightfastness and mixing behavior. [16] A variety of limited palettes have been employed by artists for their work. [17] [18]

The color of light (i.e., the spectral power distribution) reflected from illuminated surfaces coated in paint mixes, slurries of pigment particles, is not well approximated by a subtractive or additive mixing model. Color predictions that incorporate light scattering effects of pigment particles and paint layer thickness require approaches based on the Kubelka–Munk [19] equations. Even such approaches cannot predict the color of paint mixtures precisely since small variances in particle size distribution, impurity concentrations etc. can be difficult to measure but impart perceptible effects on the way light is reflected from the paint. Artists typically rely on mixing experience and "recipes" [20] to mix desired colors from a small initial set of primaries and do not use mathematical modelling.

There are hundreds of commercially available pigments for visual artists to use and mix (in various media such as oil, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, and pastel). A common approach is to use just a limited palette of primary pigments [21] (often between four and eight) that can be physically mixed to any color that the artist desires in the final work. There is no specific set of pigments that are primary colors, the choice of pigments depends entirely on the artist's subjective preference of subject and style of art as well as material considerations like lightfastness and mixing heuristics. Contemporary classical realists have often advocated that a limited palette of white, red, yellow, and black pigment (often described as the "Zorn palette") is sufficient for compelling work. [22]

A chromaticity diagram can illustrate the gamut of different choices of primaries, for example showing which colors are lost (and gained) if you use RGB for subtractive color mixing (instead of CMY). [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acrylic paint</span> Water resistant paint type

Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. Depending on how much the paint is diluted with water, or modified with acrylic gels, mediums, or pastes, the finished acrylic painting can resemble a watercolor, a gouache, or an oil painting, or have its own unique characteristics not attainable with other media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oil painting</span> Process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of the world. The advantages of oil for painting images include "greater flexibility, richer and denser colour, the use of layers, and a wider range from light to dark". But the process is slower, especially when one layer of paint needs to be allowed to dry before another is applied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primary color</span> Sets of colors that can be mixed to produce gamut of colors

A set of primary colors or primary colours consists of colorants or colored lights that can be mixed in varying amounts to produce a gamut of colors. This is the essential method used to create the perception of a broad range of colors in, e.g., electronic displays, color printing, and paintings. Perceptions associated with a given combination of primary colors can be predicted by an appropriate mixing model that reflects the physics of how light interacts with physical media, and ultimately the retina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pigment</span> Colored material

A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compounds. Pigments of prehistoric and historic value include ochre, charcoal, and lapis lazuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gouache</span> Type of paint

Gouache, body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent, and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache has a considerable history, having been used for at least twelve centuries. It is used most consistently by commercial artists for posters, illustrations, comics, and other design work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Additive color</span> Model for predicting color created by mixing visible light

Additive color or additive mixing is a property of a color model that predicts the appearance of colors made by coincident component lights, i.e. the perceived color can be predicted by summing the numeric representations of the component colors. Modern formulations of Grassmann's laws describe the additivity in the color perception of light mixtures in terms of algebraic equations. Additive color predicts perception and not any sort of change in the photons of light themselves. These predictions are only applicable in the limited scope of color matching experiments where viewers match small patches of uniform color isolated against a grey or black background.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watercolor painting</span> Type of painting method using water-based solutions

Watercolor or watercolour, also aquarelle, is a painting method in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-based solution. Watercolor refers to both the medium and the resulting artwork. Aquarelles painted with water-soluble colored ink instead of modern water colors are called aquarellum atramento by experts. However, this term has now tended to pass out of use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Complementary colors</span> Pairs of colors losing hue when combined

Complementary colors are pairs of colors which, when combined or mixed, cancel each other out by producing a grayscale color like white or black. When placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrast for those two colors. Complementary colors may also be called "opposite colors".

In the visual arts, color theory is the body of practical guidance for color mixing and the visual effects of a specific color combination. Color terminology based on the color wheel and its geometry separates colors into primary color, secondary color, and tertiary color. The understanding of color theory dates to antiquity. Aristotle and Claudius Ptolemy already discussed which and how colors can be produced by mixing other colors. The influence of light on color was investigated and revealed further by al-Kindi and Ibn al-Haytham (d.1039). Ibn Sina, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, and Robert Grosseteste discovered that contrary to the teachings of Aristotle, there are multiple color paths to get from black to white. More modern approaches to color theory principles can be found in the writings of Leone Battista Alberti and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. A formalization of "color theory" began in the 18th century, initially within a partisan controversy over Isaac Newton's theory of color and the nature of primary colors. From there it developed as an independent artistic tradition with only superficial reference to colorimetry and vision science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oil paint</span> Type of slow-drying paint

Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varnish may be added to increase the glossiness of the dried oil paint film. The addition of oil or alkyd medium can also be used to modify the viscosity and drying time of oil paint. Oil paints were first used in Asia as early as the 7th century AD and can be seen in examples of Buddhist paintings in Afghanistan. Oil-based paints made their way to Europe by the 12th century and were used for simple decoration, but oil painting did not begin to be adopted as an artistic medium there until the early 15th century. Common modern applications of oil paint are in finishing and protection of wood in buildings and exposed metal structures such as ships and bridges. Its hard-wearing properties and luminous colors make it desirable for both interior and exterior use on wood and metal. Due to its slow-drying properties, it has recently been used in paint-on-glass animation. The thickness of the coat has considerable bearing on the time required for drying: thin coats of oil paint dry relatively quickly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Color wheel</span> Illustrative organization of color hues

A color wheel or color circle is an abstract illustrative organization of color hues around a circle, which shows the relationships between primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RYB color model</span>

RYB is a subtractive color model used in art and applied design in which red, yellow, and blue pigments are considered primary colors. Under traditional color theory, this set of primary colors was advocated by Moses Harris, Michel Eugène Chevreul, Johannes Itten and Josef Albers, and applied by countless artists and designers. The RYB color model underpinned the color curriculum of the Bauhaus, Ulm School of Design and numerous art and design schools that were influenced by the Bauhaus, including the IIT Institute of Design, Black Mountain College, Design Department Yale University, the Shillito Design School, Sydney, and Parsons School of Design, New York.

A color model is an abstract mathematical model describing the way colors can be represented as tuples of numbers, typically as three or four values or color components. When this model is associated with a precise description of how the components are to be interpreted, taking account of visual perception, the resulting set of colors is called "color space."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tertiary color</span> Color made by mixing either one primary color with one secondary color

A tertiary color or intermediate color is a color made by mixing full saturation of one primary color with half saturation of another primary color and none of a third primary color, in a given color space such as RGB, CMYK or RYB (traditional).

Acrylic painting techniques are different styles of manipulating and working with polymer-based acrylic paints. Acrylics differ from oil paints in that they have shorter drying times and are soluble in water. These types of paint eliminate the need for turpentine and gesso, and can be applied directly onto canvas. Aside from painting with concentrated color paints, acrylics can also be watered down to a consistency that can be poured or used for glazes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Painting</span> Practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, can be used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Color mixing</span> Producing colors by combining the primary or secondary colors in different amounts

There are three types of color mixing: additive, subtractive, and average. In first two cases, mixing is typically described in terms of three primary colors and three secondary colors. Subtractive mixing with all three primaries will result in black, while additive mixing with all three primaries will result in white.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CMY color model</span> Subtractive color model for dyes and pigments

The CMY color model is a subtractive color model in which cyan, magenta and yellow pigments or dyes are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three subtractive primary colors: cyan, magenta, and yellow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watercolor paper</span> Substrate onto which artists apply watercolor paints

Watercolor paper or watercolour paper is paper or substrate onto which an artist applies watercolor paints, pigments or dyes. We generally no longer use stone or tomb walls as a substrate. There are currently many types of watercolour papers available that are manufactured for the use of watercolors. Watercolor paper can be made of wood pulp exclusively, or mixed with cotton fibers. Pure cotton watercolor paper is also used by artists, though it typically costs more than pulp based paper. It is also available as an acid-free medium to help its preservation.

References

  1. ↑ Nyholm, Arvid (1914). "Anders Zorn: The Artist and the Man". Fine Arts Journal. 31 (4): 469. doi:10.2307/25587278.
  2. ↑ Gage, John (1999). Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-22225-0.
  3. ↑ Boyle, Robert (1664). Experiments and Considerations touching Colours. Henry Herringman. p. 220. But I think I may easily be excus'd (though I do not altogether pass it by) if I restrain my self to the making of a Transient mention of some few of their Practices about this matter; and that only so far forth, as may warrant me to observe to you, that there are but few Simple and Primary Colours (if I may so call them) from whose Various Compositions all the rest do as it were Result. For though Painters can imitate the Hues (though not always the Splendor) of those almost Numberless differing Colours that are to be met with in the Works of Nature, and of Art, I have not yet found, that to exhibit this strange Variety they need imploy any more than White, and Black, and Red, and Blew, and Yellow; these five, Variously Compounded, and (if I may so speak) Decompounded, being sufficient to exhibit a Variety and Number of Colours, such, as those that are altogether Strangers to the Painters Pallets, can hardly imagine.
  4. ↑ Rood, Ogden (1973). Modern chromatics; students' text-book of color, with applications to art and industry (PDF). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. p. 108. ISBN   0-442-27028-3. It is well known to painters that approximate representations of all colours can be produced by the use of very few pigments. Three pigments or coloured powders will suffice, a red, yellow, and a blue; for example, crimson lake, gamboge, and Prussian blue. The red and yellow mingled in various proportions will furnish different shades of orange and orange-yellow; the blue and yellow will give a great variety of greens; the red and blue all the purple and violet hues. There have been instances of painters in water-colours who used only these three pigments, adding lampblack for the purpose of darkening them and obtaining the browns and greys.
  5. ↑ Nyholm, Arvid (1914). "Anders Zorn: The Artist and the Man". Fine Arts Journal. 31 (4): 469–481. doi:10.2307/25587278. JSTOR   25587278. It is true that Zorn uses only a very limited palette, especially when he paints indoors, when he considers that black, white, red and yellow should be enough for all ordinary purposes, except when a very decided color is present, as, for instance, a light blue or a positive green in a drapery.
  6. ↑ Munsell, Albert H. (1907). A Color Notation. Studio and school-room practice still cling to the discredited theory, claiming that, if it fails to describe our color sensations, yet it may be called practically true of pigments, because a red, yellow, and blue pigment suffice to imitate most natural colors.
  7. ↑ Lintott, E. Barnard (1926). The Art of Water Colour Painting. C. Scribner's Sons. p. 25. For a young student there cannot be a better way of entering upon the study of water colour than by rigorously banishing all but two colours from his palette. It is the best and surest way to the study of full colour. The colours should be a cold and warm one; cobalt blue and warm sienna—or Prussian blue and burnt sienna—are two combinations which lend themselves to a great variety of treatment.
  8. 1 2 3 Arthur Seymour Jennings, Paint and Color Mixing (1910).
  9. ↑ "Radium paint takes its inventor's life; Dr. Sabin A. von Sochocky Ill a Long Time, Poisoned by Watch Dial Luminant. 13 Blood Transfusions. Death Due to Aplastic Anemia-- Women Workers Who Were Stricken Sued Company". The New York Times . 15 November 1928.
  10. ↑ "Robert Switzer, Co-Inventor Of Day-Glo Paint, Dies at 83", The New York Times , 1997-08-29.
  11. ↑ Staff, Artists Network (2016-10-11). "2 Ways to Thin Acrylic Paint | Painting with Acrylics for Beginners". Artists Network. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  12. 1 2 Mecklenburg, Marion F. (2020). "Methods and materials and the durability of canvas paintings: a preface to the topical collection Failure Mechanisms in Picasso's Paintings, Volume 2, No. 2182". SN Applied Sciences.
  13. ↑ "Paint mixer", Popular Mechanics (April 1986), Vol. 163, No. 4, page 174.
  14. ↑ Eastaugh, Nicholas; Walsh, Valentine; Chaplin, Tracey; Siddall, Ruth. Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary of Historical Pigments. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-136-37386-2.
  15. ↑ Ball, Philip (2002) [2001]. Bright earth : art and the invention of color (1st American ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN   0226036286.
  16. ↑ MacEvoy, Bruce. "handprint : learning color through paints". www.handprint.com. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  17. ↑ MacEvoy, Bruce. "palette paintings". www.handprint.com. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  18. ↑ Gurney, James (2010). Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 104. ISBN   978-0-7407-9771-2.
  19. ↑ Kubelka, Paul; Munk, Franz (1931). "An article on optics of paint layers" (PDF). Z. Tech. Phys. 12: 593–601.
  20. ↑ MacEvoy, Bruce. "Mixing Green". Handprint. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  21. ↑ Bruce, MacEvoy. "The Artists' "Primaries"". Handprint. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  22. ↑ Gurney. "The Zorn Palette". Gurney Journey. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  23. ↑ Steven Westland, "subtractive mixing – why not RGB?", October 4, 2009 http://colourware.org/2009/10/04/subtractive-mixing-why-not-rgb/ Archived 2017-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
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