[Steppes] illumination charts

[Elaine]

Perhaps you need to find a copy of "The Wilcox Guide to the Best  
Watercolor Paints"  by Michael Wilcox. Published by Artways and  
showing a copyright of 1991 and ISBN 0 89134 409 8.

Is the information you looking for about lightfastness, graininess,  
opacity, matte surface, trueness of the color, toxicity, cost,  
tackiness after having dried, ease of brushing, quirks when mixing  
with another color, the binders used, country of origin, reliability  
of product........etc.? There are myriads of of details to sort  
through when comparing paints.

Most people find one brand and stick with it for the most part.  
That's handy when you want to organize something on the order of a  
wine-tasting party.

The handiest thing I have done was to get with other painters and pre- 
print  comparison-boxes test sheets for each color/brand, the group  
had available that meeting. It's turned into a nice reference book of  
the tests made out of the paper we usually painted on. One box was  
flooded with the color, and a rectangle beside it started with the  
full color and watered down as the stroke approached the far side of  
the rectangle, thereby showing its graininess and covering power,  
Each set of boxes and rectangles were noted as to the manufacturer  
and any information shown on the tube or jar, plus any comments about  
how it handled. Having the same color on a page with different  
manufacturers was very informative.

Using the test charts through the years has kept me from having to  
invent the wheel every time I picked up a brush.

Another chart I made on my own was to flood labeled colors in to long  
rectangles and to tape black construction paper over half of the  
rectangle. Then I exposed it for several weeks to the Texas summer  
sun. At the end of the test, I carefully removed the cover and noted  
the fugitive (fading) nature of the color. That chart, too, went into  
my "alchemist's ringbinder."

I accumulated a lot of other pages of tests in the past years. The  
ringbinders are rather thick now and would be difficult to quote,  
besides, it was done years ago and the formulas may have been altered  
by now. Nothing like "new and improved" to make your studies  
obsolete!  ;-)

Some colors are really quirky---it is rumored that the watercolor  
"Antwerp Blue" will fade if left hanging near a window, but the color  
will return if put into a dark area like a closet. Never tried that,  
but I like the hue. I just don't use it on important things. I want  
my work to always speak well of me. One of my favorite quotes is:

"People forget how fast you did a job, but they remember how well you  
did it."
(Look at Durer--work lasting hundreds of years. No one knows  for  
sure how fast he was.)

YIS,
HL Lete Bithespring
.......................................................

On Au 7, 2009, at 8:30 AM, Michelle Dodd wrote:

>
> All the info I have received has been very interesting and I thank  
> everyone who answered. As I said in my message, I had cut and paste  
> from ebay. Apparently I should have Cut more. I was aware that  
> there is a great difference between acrylic and gouache. I was  
> trying to ask for opinions of the brands Winston Newton and Holbein.
>
>
> Gabriele
>
>
> The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we  
> are allowed to remain children all our lives. (Albert Einstein)
>
>
>
>
>
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