Margret E Short Fine Arts Blog

The Blues

Many of the history books I have read over the past months often give multiple names for one pigment. This is something that has happened over and over again for the historic pigment called SMALT. Ralph Mayer states in his book, The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, it is a kind of cobalt blue glass.

As many as 3000 years ago, the Egyptians made this color with one critical difference. They used that pesky poisonous ingredient, copper. They called theirs, Egyptian Blue. In the 17th Century the Saxons figured out how to roast it using cobalt instead of the copper.

Other names for smalt are eschel, email, esmail, and King's blue. There are many faults to this pigment, most specifically, courseness, impurities, and low tinting power. Here you can see it in powder form, mixed with linseed, and finally with white. I used quite a big gob of the blue and there was almost no noticeable change to the white. The low tinting or low saturation properties are very apparent here. It would take a lot of the smalt pigment to alter the white into a darker shade.

Many artists used smalt for its drying properties. Because it is low in tinting, a little was added to mixtures to speed drying, for instance,  in a black which I have described as a very poor dryer. Unfortunately, smalt also darkened easily, although there is contradictory information here also.

In Donald Fels book, Lost Secrets of Flemish Painting, and quoted from the De Mayerne Manuscript, "smalt discolors easily and even if it appears beautiful and feels very fine when bought, no judgment can be made until it is mixed with oil and white lead, and allowed to dry; only then can it be seen whether it will become darker. The usual commercial smalt darkens and fades."

Other writings state if smalt is mixed very lightly with white on the palette it will not darken. Non other than Peter Paul Rubens described his method in the same Fels book, "to make smalt beautiful and bright it is necessary to mix it quickly with varnish, to apply it thinly and not laboriously, not to mix the paints in a wet condition too much, because this movement spoils the colors."

It is easy to understand the dilemma artists faced concerning this type of pigment. This would be a very interesting experiment to undertake. Make color swatches of smalt and oil, smalt and lead white, and record the dates. Cover 1/2 of each swatch with a thick paper, place in a window, and just wait for a while.

For now, smalt will not be included in my list of pigments for my Lessons from the Low Countries Project. There are too many issues which would jeopardize the integrity and archival qualities of this series. I'll stick with colors that have been proven by the test of time.

Art Studio-CSI

Countless times over the past months of Lessons from the Low Countries research, I have made splendid discoveries. And, yesterday's was no less so. While reading the Still Lifes: Techniques and Style book where the pronk discovery developed, I found a delightful reference to a relationship between an artist's wealth and pigment use.

Pictured on page 73 is a small still life by Abraham van Beyeren, Dutch, 1620-1690. It is done in a similar style of Willem Kalf described in my previous post, A Thimble Full. Depicted is a mysteriously dark image with a Dutch roehmer, silver platter, oysters, velvet, grapes, and leaves. Only the oysters and a partial loaf of bread contain lighter pigments with juicy flecks of sparkling highlights here and there.

The laboratory analysis shows paint cross sections of various pigment layers used by van Beyeren. Lead white, umbers, ochres, carbon black, and red lakes are a few. After further reading, I discovered this passage, "van Beyeren seems to have used better quality pigments for this painting. Good quality red lake, vermilion, realgar, lead tin yellow and pure lead white were found. The record suggests that van Beyeren's finances improved in this period (while) in the Hague: an improvement apparently reflected in this painting."

In other books, I have found references to artists and lapis. If a lapis passage is found in a painting, then it is assumed this particular artist most likely was more successful. There is no escaping the in-depth analysis done in laboratories today. Personal scenes of an artist's life from many hundreds of years ago are easily uncovered and investigated.

De-ja Vu

                                                             

Amaryllis 40 x 40 Oil on Linen

While reading one of my favorite still life books this week, something very intriguing caught my attention. You have probably had an occasion where you have read something or seen something, and then had a nagging thought that you saw it somewhere, but couldn't put your finger on where or when. The mysterious tidbit I am describing here is a word, PRONK.

I read about PRONK in Still Lifes: Techniques and Style , and it really didn't give any specific meaning of the word. It actually was used as a description for a certain style of painting. It was not in the book's glossary or index. After searching six or seven other still life and painting technique books, I was still at a loss. Wikipedia and all the other on-line dictionary sites yielded nothing also. My huge Reader's Digest Great Encyclopedia Dictionary includes an English to Dutch section, but this was also a dead-end.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been in contact with the Rijksmuseum working out some technical aspects of my project. I suddenly thought, "why not go right to the source?" I immediately sent off an email to the Registrar's Office and received an response right away.

The description of pronk from the Rijksmuseum states, "pronk stilleven or pronk schilderij which means something like showpiece still-life, an extraordinary piece with an image extremely difficult to paint. Silver, grapes covered with dew, lemons, glassware and so on."

It made perfect sense.  If you will picture in your mind's eye, the sumptuous still lifes depicting tables laid with crisp white linen filled with stemware, compotes, lobsters, and flowers. Many have silver, brass, gold, platters, fruit, brocades, tassels, and just about anything you can think of that might be in a Dutch household. This is PRONK.

The image posted here is a painting I did last year. It is not one of the Lessons from the Low Countries pieces, but is an example of the PRONK style of painting. Amaryllis measures 40x40 and has some of the same components which would qualify.

There are several sumptuous still lifes in the Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art Exhibition. Paintings by Pieter Claesz, Jan Jansz van de Velde, and Abraham Mignon are all good examples.

If any readers of this blog have any more information about PRONK please post a comment.

Blue Ribbons

A very faithful reader of this blog brought to my attention that I have not included any information about painting #6. I promised to write a post describing this painting which actually was completed several weeks ago.

Shown here is a very small detail of my completed painting based on the Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art Exhibit painting/palette by Adriaen van der Werff.

The Dutch Exhibit painting, on page 25 of the catalogue, is by Adriaen van der Werff and measures 31 3/4 by 25 3/4. Self Portrait with the Portrait of his Wife Margaretha van Rees and their Daughter has components which clearly portray the artist's reputation within the art world of his time, 1659-1722.

Van der Werff was enormously famous, enjoyed international success, and became very wealthy with his painting prowess. He was appointed court painter to Elector Palatine's court in Dusseldorf in 1697. For this honor he received the gold chain and medal shown around his neck in his painting.

This exhibit painting could be described as a "painting within a painting" and shows the artist with brush and palette. Another interesting twist is the portrayal of the daughter as an artist holding a brush and palette just finishing a portrait of her mother.

As I have stated many times, the color of the catalogue images often do not depict the actual true colors of the Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art Exhibit paintings. This one falls into that category and shows an overall yellowish gold that is off. Therefore, everything is either too reddish or too orangish. So while I was painting this one, I had to constantly look at my notes and adjust the color accordingly.

There is a blue ribbon surrounding the girl and the mother that shows as very dark gray/blue in the catalogue. In the true museum painting the ribbon actually is a rich glowing lapis blue. I incorporated a blue ribbon into the composition of my painting and used very vibrant tones of pure lapis pigment as it is shown in the true van der Werff piece. The sleeve of the artist's gold colored cloak is shown much too orange which I kept in mind while painting the objects on my canvas also.

Again and again while working on this project, I struggle between a balance of staying true to each Dutch Master palette and straying to other colors which might fit my particular color sense. It takes a lot of discipline during each day of painting with frequent self-talk, "stay on track....remember the purpose...remember the project." When I do this it is very helpful and calming. The concept is reinforced. The concept is COLOR....its all about the color....its all about the pigment.

Daily Mantras

As the months have gone by and the work on #6, #7 , #8 has been progressing, I have had a nagging issue with the very first project painting, #1. Last week I made the decision to remedy this.

It would only be natural that I would become more and more adept at handling the very different historic pigments, just from the constant daily use. I must emphasize again, "there is no comparison to the handling qualities of the modern pigments." Everything about the hand made historic pigments is different from the modern; particle size, thickness, consistency, color, saturation, and on and on.

I guess it would be natural then, that one or another of the first paintings would not be as satisfactory as one of the later ones. A personal mantra and technique I employ when in this predicament is....while standing in front of the painting I say, "what do I have to lose?" Always, I get the same answer, "nothing!" So out comes my trusty scraper, and I go at it with a vengeance.

While analyzing the issues with the over all problems of #1, the main one was the boring color theme. Even though it was bright red and black with a few others here and there, it was lacking in something I couldn't put my finger on. I decided to try an experiment. Rather than just use one painting from the Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art Exhibit catalogue, I decided to use two to paint one of mine.

In the show catalogue, pictured side by side, are the brother and sister portraits by Dirk Dircksz van Santvoort, the boy in bright red and the girl in rich pink. The colors looked wonderfully harmonious together, so I decided to use a theme of both red and pink in my painting. I planned out a new composition, subject matter, and color palette and remembered my mantra, "what do you have to lose?" A completely new version of #1 began to emerge. Over the next few days, in spite of that pesky flu, a new painting began to emerge with much more success than the old one.

While getting my colors ready for my palette, I mixed a subtle pink with vermilion, heightened with a little red lake, for the flowers, then a brighter red for other passages. A lovely color harmony was established immediately using this palette, and days later the painting was finished much more to my liking. I kept the pomegranate halves from the old painting, but added other objects to enhance the color palette of the new one.   

Shaggy Dogs

Two things that do not mix with painting are....shaggy dogs, because of shedding hairs and the flu for obvious reasons. On the mend now and back to work.

One More Elimination

The experimentation with historic pigments continues to bring unexpected periods of learning and discovery. It is surprising, again and again, how few colors are necessary. During the painting of #8 and #9, the green pigment on my palette was narrowed down to one, vagone because of its good drying qualities. If you will remember the previous color tests made specifically for drying times, most of the other greens were very poor driers, so they were eliminated, but vagone was adequate so I kept using it.

One very irritating drawback to vagone green however, is its low tinting power. In artspeak this is called saturation. If you take some of the green and add some white, the white over powers it because there is no strength to the green pigment. Many of the historic pigments have this characteristic, but this green is particularly low. No matter how much pigment is put into a leaf or stem in a painting passage, it remains a very gray green, even with the addition of a yellow.

An old standby technique came into use here, the mixture of yellow and black. It is difficult to imagine that these two pigments make green, but it is actually a very nice green.

It depends completely on which yellow is used; that is, yellow ochre, lead tin yellow or a yellow lake. Many different varieties are achieved here. Because of the complete success of these combinations in green making, I have eliminated the need for vagone or any other green earth pigment. Much of my research shows that many of the 17th century masters, including Rembrandt, did not use a green on their palette, but relied on black and yellows when a green was needed.

Another interesting discovery is the malachite pigment. In a limited way I have used this one throughout the project, but it has a very strange consistency. It is probably one of the most unpleasant pigments to work with that I have tried. It separates from the oil easily and has very poor brushability qualities. It just seems to stick on the tip of the brush until it is forced onto the canvas.

For these reasons, I have eliminated another unnecessary pigment from my palette which makes the painting and color mixing process go smoother. The fewer colors, the less confusing it becomes.

Tar Buckets

"Its use is advised against in every technique, including fresco." These words were spoken by Max Doerner in his book, The Materials of the Artist and their use in Painting, copyright 1934. This book also has "Notes on the techniques of the Old Masters", and is widely used by dinosaurs like me who have insatiable appetites for this type of information.

In his book, Doerner was advising against the use of asphaltum in painting. Doerner (1870- 1939) was a renowned professor in the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich for 25 years. He became respected for his knowledge of relationships between science and techniques of past master painters.

Asphaltum, or bitumen, is not really a tar but for our description here it is close enough. It is a naturally occurring residue of petroleum evaporation. Now, it is really difficult to imagine why artists began using this in their paintings, but it does have a beautiful golden brown color. It was used mostly as a glaze, meaning to tone a certain passage that had been painted and left to dry.

Asphaltum, which has an odd odor like tar, is actually not a pigment at all but a dye and artificial varieties are made of coal tar and brown coal. The way I have come to understand its use is that it diffuses when mixed with other colors, and thus must be mixed with an oil medium and painted over dried colors. It was used in the 17th century as a glaze by Rembrandt relatively successfully, mainly because he did not mix it with other colors.

In the 1800s other artists such as Prudhon, Hans Makart, and Hans von Marees used it freely, however they made the mistake of mixing it with other colors. Wide cracks began to appear in paintings where asphaltum had been employed.

Kurt Wehlte demonstrated during his lectures how asphaltum in oil and resin solutions can penetrate oil paint and ground layers, even as a final glaze.

I have never used authentic asphaltum in any of my artwork but there are a few suppliers who have replicated the color with more reliable pigments. In my experiments, just the right combinations of black, yellow and a red make a perfect substitute.

No need for those tar buckets after all.