Saturday, July 27, 2013

Life's too easy - really!

Today I go to Sherwin Williams to buy my paint - yes, I use commercial grade acrylics - not too unusual today. And for the way I paint I buy it by the quart and gallon. Some of my works get their textures and color cast by pouring about 1/8" of paint on a panel with the edges taped. Colors and texture materials are worked into the wet paint and as it dries, more texture is added. When dry I have the base for the painting. 

Years ago and in centuries past you made your own paint. One reason that early artists didn't have large catalogs of work. Following is a recipe by Frieda Kahlo. Here is a rather contemporary Mexican artist who still follows homemade recipes:

Distemper together 4 equal parts of egg yolks raw linseed oil
egg yolk = raw linseed oil = compound of damar gum blended in turpentine = water
damar gum dissolved in turpentine and distilled water. with disinfectant take = concentrated aldehyde alcohol. ½ gram. to a liter of water.
crushed damar inside of lemon [suspended in] turpentine for 8 to 10 days.
remove all the white from the yolk.
  1. Make an emulsion of the ingredients
  2. Grind the colors into the emulsion
  3. If a glossy texture is desired, increase the amount of damar, up to two parts.
  4. If an overall matte finish is desired increase the water up to three parts
Personally, I'll stick with the quarts and appreciate how easy my life is............


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