Interest in Historical Pigments

[georgeoh]

At Natural Pigments, we are interested to know if members of this forum have an interest in watercolors made using natural mineral and/or historical pigments, such as the following:

Blue
Azurite
Blue Ochre (Vivianite)
Indigo
Lapis Lazuli (Lazurite)

Green
Baltic Green Earth (Celadonite)
Baltic Green Earth (Glauconite)
Bretonic Green Earth
Burnt Green Earth
Dioptase
Malachite
Verdigris

Yellow
Golden Ochre
Golden Jarosite
Orpiment
Roman Ochre
Yellow Ochre
Yellow Ochre Light

Red
Carmine Lake (Cochineal)
Cinnabar
Crimson Lake (Cochineal)
Ercolano Red
Indian Red
Light Red
Madder Lake
Minium (Red Lead)
Mummy Red
Pompeian Red (genuine mixture of different particle sized cinnabar)
Pozzuoli Red
Red Ochre
Scarlet Lake
Tuscan Red
Venetian Red
Vermilion

Brown
Brown Ochre (Goethite)
Burnt Siena
Burnt Umber
Madder Brown
Raw Siena
Raw Umber
Brown Ochre Light (Siderite)
Van Dyke Brown

Purple
Caput Mortum (Violet Hematite)

Black
Bone Black
Carbon Black (Shungite)
Kassel Black
Lamp Black
Natural Black Oxide
Frankfurt Black (Peach Stone Black)
Manganese Black (Pyrolusite)

All colors listed are genuine, historical or natural source pigments, not synthetic pigments with these color names as almost all paint manufacturers today use.


George O'Hanlon
www.naturalpigments.com

[diamondbird]

Hi Georgeoh:
Many thanks for your reply on the oil painting thread. For some strange reason, I suddenly can't access the oil painting thread that you started, in order to reply to you. Sorry! So I'll reply here!
But I am also interested in these types of watercolour paints too.

[dcorc]

Just to say that we are very proud to have George join us as an official WetCanvas Industry Partner - you will now find the threads you were looking for, transferred into George's own subforum here:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=228
within the Oils forum. :)

Dave

[french.painter]

Hello George.
I answer to your question, but I am not sure to be very representative of the general habits in watercolour painting, since my palet is not the same than the traditional one.
I know that most of watercolour owners hang them on walls, framed and protected by glass. Some bright colors as carmine or yellow lakes fade when exhibited like that. The right way would be to store the painting between two acid-free sheets of glossy paper in a folder, and to open it like a book when you want to see your painting, a bit like Chinese people who keep their paintings rolled and enjoy them from time to time when they want to.
I also know that when you paint in watercolours, the total amount of pigment on the paper is very small, almost negligible compared to oil paint layers. So, even a slight fading can completely discolour the paint.
For these reasons, I decided to use only the most lightproof inorganic pigments.
My watercolours are not archeological reconstructions of old masters maintings. I paint my own compositions, with my modern personnal style, wich is not Durer's or Turner's ones. They were better than me in making Durer's and Turner's works.
So my palette is mostly composed of modern inorganic pigments (dark cobalt violet, manganese violet, caput mortuum violet, ultramarine blue and violet, cobalt blues B28 and B35, green earth, hydrated chromium oxide viridian, yellow an red cadmiums, yellow and red iron oxides, yellow and red ochers, natural or burnt siennas and umbers, black iron oxide). The only "organic" color I use is bone black...
Despite my approach being different from yours, I'm interested in your question, for two reasons.
First, I won't hesitate to use beautiful carmine or various red and yellow ancient-like lakes if I work on the pages of a book, wich are only exposed to the light when you want to see them. For modern manuscripts enluminers, for "artists books", such pigments are still precious.
Second, in your list, I see some inorganic pigments wich sound good to my ears. It is difficult to find beautiful green earth watercolour (specially if you want it to have a bluish undertone). If you provide such paints, I'm sure some artists - I belong to them - will be interested. The natural transparency of these earth make them very suitable for refined and subtle waterworks.
And if you extend your offer to bright inorganic modern dark cobalt violet, I promise I will give you a real big medal! All the watercolours made with this pigment are extended and filled to such an extent that, for this precise color, I make my own watercolor paint from pure pigment.
Finally, I would be interested to see a color chart with the colours you mentionned, and some examples of paintings made with them.
Thank you very much.
(And sorry for my strange french english).

[french.painter]

Me again.
In your list, the pigments of interst for me are:

Blues:
Blue ocher vivianite
Baltic celadonite
Baltic glauconite
Bretonic green earth

Yellows:
Golden Ochre
Golden Jarosite
Roman Ochre
Yellow Ochre
Yellow Ochre Light

Reds:
Indian Red
Red Ochre
Venetian Red

Browns:
Brown Ochre (Goethite)
Burnt Siena
Burnt Umber
Raw Siena
Raw Umber
Brown Ochre Light (Siderite)
Van Dyke Brown

Purples:
Caput Mortum (Violet Hematite)

Blacks:
Bone Black
Carbon Black (Shungite)
Lamp Black
Natural Black Oxide
Frankfurt Black (Peach Stone Black)
Manganese Black (Pyrolusite)

[romumu]

hello

I use lots of natural/artisanal pigments, but I think it could very interesting to find watercolors made from some natural pigments because of difficulty to obtain good result artisanally for inks ( azurit & cinabar ) used in restoration