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{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.21.2509;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs20 Art School 001\par
\par Let's start off by de-mystifying paint. It
consists of two basic things: a pigment and a binder. What makes good paint and how it
is used is up to the artist. \par \par
It's actually a film on a surface. \par \par
Now, if you have money to spend, maybe you can buy your paint at a store, but assume
that manufacturers are out to make money.\par \par
Basically paint is the conjunction of pigment and binder as mentioned, however, other material
may be added to make it perform special tasks. For example, adding detergent to carmine pigment
lets it take on water. The detergent has greater attraction for hydrogen than water.\par
\par Break pigment conglomerates by wetting agents
and dispersing agents for a uniform paint film.\par
\par Some polymers need a fungicide. Gives it shelf-life.\par
\par There may be a place near you where you can
get pigments. Get some and work with it. Just be careful as many of the best colors are
also toxic or poisonous. Make sure you review some safety procedures while handling them.
Dust masks, latex or non latex gloves while handling some of them, be aware of precautions,
don't eat or smoke (don't smoke at all, nicotine affects your ability to concentrate and artwork
takes all the concentration you've got)
at
the
same time, know which ones, like lead pigments (i.e.: Naples yellow) that can be absorbed transdermally through the
skin. Things like that. Hey, you wanted to be an artist. You can't use toxic colors in
many public schools, so if you're in school, I feel sorry for you. But make due with what
you've got.\par \par
Respect for toxicity of art materials is no joke. Handle with appropriate care and in
twenty years you'll still be there.\par \par
You may seem like Macho Bravado when you're in your twenties, but if you make it to your
fifties when you really could get some significant work done you may find out that dumb brain
of yours is more a vegetable than an artist. You've got to stay on top of your chemistry
and toxicity info. You've got to keep a neat shop and take care how you handle stuff. Watch
yourself around powders, use a dust mask
that fits. Just because air is invisible doesn't mean you don't have to deal with it. Keep
air currents, intakes and exhausts around solvents and stuff like that. Use your common
sense and it will turn into common dollars.\par \par
You've got that cad red and
Naples yellow all over your bare hands and your clothes look like a Jackson Pollok and
your coffee mug looks like Van Googh's pallet, you got a pizza Hawaiian in one hand and a
paintbrush in the other, Okay, be that way, idiot. You're going to be a joke in fifteen
to twenty years (if we still have a world by then) when your mind doesn't work right
and your organs malfunction and no one knows who you are. Do your homework. And watch the
sewage specks before you go pouring turps and other chemicals down the sink. Yeah. Let's
get down to business, here. It's not as easy as you thought.\par
\par Each pigment is a different animal. Each has
unique water and oil demands.\par \par
Gum Arabic and sometimes alcohol and sometimes talk and pigments make poster paint.\par
\par Keep notes on observation and accomplishment.\par
\par Water colors are made from pigment and cherry
gum.\par \par
Bees wax is a good binder. But keep it melted.\par \par
Paint thinner has oils
in it which interfere with the drying process
in the paint. \par
\par
Carnimba wax is to hard. Petroleum wax is too soft.\par
\par Start with this concept: Essentially, any
pigment will go into any binder.\par \par
For egg tempera, pick up the egg yolk by the membrane and prick with a pin. Take the yolk
which pores out, discard the membrane and mix pigments with the yolk. It gets harder
with age. Cracking depends upon the proportion of the pigments to the binder. Egg tempera
is a high-class medium like oils. Only watch the rats. If you find yourself, like most
of us, in sub-standard housing, they'll eat your art and have the wall paper for desert.
These days there are anti-rodent sonic plug-ins. People say they don't work but they do. You
have to put them where the sound can travel. Hang an extension cord with two or three of
them dangling from the ceiling. That ought to do it.
It takes a while. Also, if they're hungry enough, they'll brave the excruciation.\par
\par You can retard the drying of oil with oil
of clove. It's longevity has to do with 35% trigliceride of fatty acids. \par
\par Oil polymerizes and oxidizes. The carbon atoms in these fatty acids are
bound twice to each other as the oil takes on oxygen and polymerizes.\par
\par Stand oil is a thick, kettle-bodied stuff.
It's partially polymerized. It's heavier than regular oils it's made of.\par
\par Dry oil has chemically changed.\par
\par Sometimes dried kelp can be used as a thickener.
So can pumice.\par \par
Oil: cold-pressed, raw, and refined:\par \par
Cold-pressed is pressed out of the seed. This is the best stuff to use.\par
\par Raw is steamed.\par
\par Refined oil has been adulterated with additives.\par
\par Alchids are used with oils and are often used
in enamels.\par \par
An overabundance of pigment will give a weak film.\par
\par Dmar varnish is soluble in turpentine. It
darkens with age and is brittle.\par }