I have a keen interest in how things are put together. When I was a child, my parents treated me to mechanical toys like tractors, space ships and boats that were made out of metal and had small tabs that bound each piece of the toy together. Using a small screwdriver, I could pry open the tabs and disassemble the toy into its component parts. Once my father brought home a tractor that had a transparent engine with pistons that you could see moving up and down as the tractor moved about the floor. It took me about 45 minutes to take the entire thing apart. I was desperate to see what made the pistons go up and down. 

I’ve carried that curiosity about how things are made into adulthood. I’m fascinated to know how paints are made. While some art material manufacturers may have believed that my probing questions were aimed at exposing the secrets of making paints so that I could go out and start a company of my own, I was merely interested in knowing how the paint was made. (Note: After asking enough questions about paint manufacturing, I believe you would have to be insane to start to make paint today. It is expensive to undertake, fraught with potential problems and comes without much support.

On a number of trips to New York I followed an art materials “pilgrimage route” that started on Canal Street with a visit to Pearl Paint (www.pearlpaint.com).  Moving up through lower Manhattan, I found three art materials stores in sight of each other. David Davis Fine Art Materials (www.daviddavisnyc.stores.yahoo.net), Kremer Pigments (www.kremer-pigmente.de/homee.htm) and Vasari Classic Artists’ Oil Colors (http://www.shopvasaricolors.com) were all within a hundred yards of each other. The art materials walk would conclude on Third Avenue with a visit to New York Central Art Supply (www.nycentralart.com).

I met Gail, the owner of Vasari Classic Artists’ Oil Colors several years ago the first time I made the “pilgrimage” in lower Manhattan. She told me about the paints and had a unique method of discussing the qualities of each pigment. She had a light gray plastic laminate table and mixed paint on the surface to show the working properties of the colors she discussed. I was mesmerized by her knowledge of pigments and the color combinations she produced. Colors I never considered using were transformed by mixing them with other paints to produce a luscious array of hues. It opened my mind to the vast number of combinations that exists for making colors that artist can select. It made me realize that palettes are very personal and based on ways we individually map out our color space. 

Vasari uses a simple approach to making paint. However, the selection of colors and suggestions for mixing are far from simple. Vasari avoids avoid the use of fillers and dryers and make paint in the same fashion as had been done by 16th- through19th-century color men. Vasari basically uses alkali refined linseed oil and powder pigment to produce their product line. Vasari paints contain a substantial amount of pigment, and they carefully select hues from a wide range of pigments available in order to obtain colors that help the artist to avoid making muddy, dull mixtures.

Paint makers have no manual that provides them instruction for making paint. They learn through a combination of trial and error along with some technical support by the pigment and /or binder manufacturer. All of the manufacturers today had to learn to make paint by some very generic formulas along with a lot of experimentation. This is the part where I refer to bravery triumphs over insanity and allows the paint maker to make a living selling paint.

Since our first meeting I’ve grown to appreciate the personal vision that Vasari puts into the oil paints they make. They provide another avenue for artists to explore. The diversity of personal visions is what makes the artistic community so great, and it’s the diversity of personal visions each manufacturer embodies—engineered into the products available to artists—that make this industry so interesting.

Perhaps you have a story to share about a personal experience with a paint manufacturer.  The industry has so many choices for artists. I’ve had marvelous experiences using and talking to the folks who make Gamblin Artists Colors (www.gamblincolors.com), Winsor & Newton (http://www.winsornewton.com), Golden Artist Acrylics (www.goldenpaints.com) and many others. Each has a part to contribute to making the world of artists’ materials.  I will talk about each in future Web log entries.