An Artist's Palette of Colors Featuring Lead Based and Lead Compatible Pigments Go Directly to Paint Selection REASONS FOR A NEW PALETTE During my 1999 pigment and technical studies I decided that I wanted to use lead white because of its tough, flexible paint film and fast drying nature which makes it especially suitable for indirect painting. An added bonus, as I began working with it, is that its long chemical structure makes overblending difficult, leading to a method of paint application which has finally helped me achieve the softness that I have been looking for in my figurative work. However, due to the costs, this palette is primarily used for commissioned portraits. Once I had decided on lead white as a basis for this palette, I then had to be concerned with selecting colors which were both extremely lightfast and chemically compatible with lead. For the best lightfastness, this has meant returning to many heavy metal pigments, many of which are toxic to one degree or another. I have limited synthetic dye pigments to use in top layer painting and glazing only. This is due to their lower degree of lightfastness (or untested lightfastness in real world experience) and to their higher degree of oil (fatty) content which demands that they be used in top layers to follow the fat-over-lean rule of paint layering. A benefit of this true earth pigment palette is that the colors are grayer than synthetics, especially in tints, more closely capturing the effects of nature. Many artists who use modern colors end up intentionally graying their tints because the tube colors are too saturated and bright for many natural subjects. The softer natural tones are also preferable from a marketing viewpoint, as they are often preferred in interior design and decoration. In terms of chemical compatibility with lead, my primary concern has been with reports that sulfides react with lead to create the black or brown lead-sulfide. This is perhaps the cause of blackening in certain older paintings that combined Vermillion (mercuric sulfide) with lead white. Some argue, however, that it is only chemical impurities that cause this reaction, or free sulfur in the pigment or the atmosphere. Atmospheric sulfur in our industrial age is known to darken lead; the cure has been a good coat of varnish to seal the paint from direct interaction with impurities in the air. Because of this, some scholars, including Mark Gottsegen, Chairman of Artists Paints & Related Materials and Instructor at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, believe that the oil binder in oil paint is sufficient to prevent chemical interaction between lead and colors that contain sulfides. However, the early Flemish and Italian oil painters used a much thicker and more resinous form of linseed oil as a binder in their paint, and as an isolating varnish between layers of thin paint. Often this resinous oil was mixed with hard resins such as mastic or sandarac which added extra protection. It is known from the writings of some that they were well aware of imcompatibilities between colors, or of poor lightfastness in certain colors, and that they took particular caution to use isolating varnishes to seperate and protect these pigments. Due to my own continued uncertainties in this area, especially with the small amount of medium that I add to my paint, I decided to avoid sulfide pigments such as the cadmiums and vermillion, as well as ultramarine blue which contains free sulfure. I decided that my decision to avoid the cadmium family was no loss since the manufacturer states (in personal conversations with representatives of Engelhard Corp.) that the pigment is not lightfast in tints with white. Finding substitutes for the cadmium yellows has been the biggest challenge. In selecting the brand(s) of paint that I would use to build my new palette, I experimented with samples from a variety of manufacturers, including Musini Resin Oils, Daniel Smith Autograph Series, Sennelier, Holbein, Rembrandt, and Old Holland. In the end I preferred the blending qualities of Old Holland best. However, in attempting to create more stable paints, they have substituted some older colors with mixtures of several newer ones. It was my desire to buy single pigment colors whenever possible, and to buy the most lightfast colors to which my research led me. Because of this, some of my colors are purchased from Rembrandt, my second choice in tests. The manufacturers are listed below for your information. Another thing that appealed to me was that Old Holland is the only manufacturer in the world that uses cold pressed linseed oil exclusively to grind their pigments. Ralph Mayer and others whom I had read stated that cold pressed oil was best for grinding colors because of its acidity and ability to wet the pigment completely. Whereas alkali refined oil, used in all U.S. colors, has a wetting agent added. The down side is that cold pressed oil's acidity causes increased deterioration of cloth supports (though the ground should protect from this). It has also been reported to me more recently by experts in the field that the qualities of cold pressed oil that made it superior in the past were primarily due to the fact that oils were ground by hand. Modern machine ground pigments are said to be wetted suitably using the alkali refined linseed oil, so there may be no benefit to cold pressed oil used as a binder in modern colors. Of course, if that is the case, then no wetting agent would need to be added back into alkali refined oils. I continue to research this topic. Rembrandt paints are ground in alkali refined linseed or, for lighter colors, poppyseed oil. You will find an in depth discussion of the pigments listed below under The History, Definitions, and Techniques of Oil Painting in the Tutorial Section, on the pages titled Pigments Past and Present. The results of more recent lightfastness tests between lead white and other colors can be found HERE. New Palette of Colors White | Blacks Yellows | Reds | Violets | Blues | Greens | Browns Example of work done with this palette of pigments Return to Tutorial Introduction Page Palette of Colors: WHITE As stated above, this palette for indirect (layered) painting uses Lead White (PW 1). In the Old Holland brand, this is called Cremnitz White. [Their Flake White is a mixture of lead and zinc.] Because of the need for paint to become increasingly flexible in each successive layer, and due to lead's superior flexibility over any other white, I do not use any other white in any layer of my paintings when using this method. BLACKS For base coat painting I use the extremely stable and lightfast Mars Black (PBl 11) from Old Holland. This is a very low oil matt black. It can be layered by adding an oil medium. For top coats, especially if you are layering black over colors of greater oil content, you may want to use the fatter Lamp Black (carbon black PBk 7) sold by Rembrandt, or you can mix blacks from combinations of blue and brown which will help to add depth. Return to Paint Selection YELLOWS As stated above, replacing the cadmiums seemed almost impossible in the bright yellows. The common substitute these days is some form of arylide / azo yellow, referred to as Hansa Yellow. However, Ciba, the manufacturer, warns that these yellows are not lightfast, especially in tints with white. My first choice for a light yellow became Nickel Titanate Yellow (PY53) sold by Old Holland. This is a very stable natural yellow with a color like natural butter - a soft (slightly greenish) yellow which works well to create light greens for landscapes without being garish. For a warmer mid-tone yellow, I chose Genuine Naples Yellow (Lead Antimoniate PY 41). To find this now-rare pigment, I had to go to Williamsburg Paints [oilpaint.com] of New York. As toxic as Lead White, it shares the beneficial qualities as well: tough, lean, flexible, and fast drying. A very good yellow for underpainting and layering. Unfortunately, Williamsburg is no longer producing this pigment. I did, however, find a lead antimoniate version of Naples Yellow from Winsor and Newton and another company, Astoria Paints, sent me samples of several true Naples Yellow colors as well. For those occasions when I might need to reproduce some bright yellow, I purchased Rembrandt's Transparent Yellow Medium (Azo Condensation Yellow PY 128). This double density Azo has had some good things written about it within its class, but I'll use it only as a glaze, preferably untinted. With colors such as this, I try to plan the painting's underlayers so that, even if the top glaze does fade, the painting will still work. In the earthier tones, I make great use of Yellow Ochre's more pure brother, Mars Yellow (PY 42), and Raw Sienna Light (PBr 7), both by Old Holland. Return to Paint Selection REDS In this color range I had many options to replace the cadmiums; the following pigments being some of the most lightfast manufactured by man. Both pigments come in a range of reds from warm to cool, but I have selected the two that best suit my needs from within Rembrandt's line. Permanent Red Medium (PR 254 and 255) is a blend of Diketopyrrolo-pyrrole (DPP) pigments, the most lightfast synthetic color on the market, which produces an excellent medium orange red. Permanent Madder Medium blends a DPP red (PR 264) with Quinacridone voilet-red (PV 19), also an extremely lightfast color, to produce a blue red substitute for Alizarin Crimson. For underpainting skintones, the following earth reds work quite well: Venetian Red (or any form of PR 101) create soft pinks and salmons when mixed with white. The voilet form known as Mars Violet produces nice shadow areas for skin as well as soft grey lavenders when mixed with white. Both can be purchased from Old Holland. Then there is the old standby, Burnt Sienna (PBr 7), for the all purpose golden rust-red, suitable for mass or glaze. Return to Paint Selection VIOLETS In this family of colors, Cobalt Violet Dark (PV 14) from Old Holland offers extreme lightfastness and stability for underpainting in a red-violet, while their synthetic Dioxazine Mauve (PV 23:1) works in top layers as a deep blue-violet BLUES Having eliminated my beloved synthetic ultramarine to avoid its sulfur content, I'm primarily using Cobalt Blue Deep (PB 74) from Old Holland for my purple-blue. Again, cobalt is an excellent and stable color with which to paint. For a lighter blue, Cobalt Blue (PB 28) is available and for greener blues, the equally stable Cerulean Blue (oxides of cobalt and tin - PB 35) can be used. Both may become a part of my palette at a later date. For top layer painting, Old Holland offers Indanthrene Blue (PB 60), a very stable synthetic in the deep blue category, as Old Delft Blue. Rembrandt also offers this color, which I am currently using having gotten it as a sample. It has high tint strength and good transparency for glazing. Also available, both as a transparent, high-tinting strength purple-blue (PB 15) and green-blue (PB 16) is the Pthalocyanine family of synthetic color, sold by Old Holland under several names. I have not yet had need of this color, but I am prepared to reintroduce it to my palette if the need arises. A number of my fellow artists prefer Pthalo Blue when painting with a limited palette, because they claim that it is the closest to a pure primary cyan blue, and therefore offers the broadest range of mixing possibilities without graying the color. Return to Paint Selection GREENS In this category I have made no changes; I still use the very permanent Chromium Oxide Green (PG 17) for mid-tone yellow gray-green, and its hydrous form, Viridian Green Deep (PG 18), for those deeper, bluer shades. I now buy these from Old Holland for this palette. If the need arises for a turquoise blue-green, I've got my eye back on the cobalts with Old Holland's Cobalt Blue Turquoise Light (PG 50). BROWNS Our old favorites here would be the Umbers, Burnt and Raw (PBr 7). Old Holland calls its burnt umber Red Umber. Other browns have been listed under yellows and reds. Return to Paint Selection SECTION INTRO  SANDERS-STUDIOS.COM INSTRUCTION HOME