Part Three

Notes On Color Mixing And Permanence

We are indebted to Winsor & Newton, Artists' Color Manufacturers, for the privilege of reprinting the following information. Obviously these notes would not necessarily apply to other makes of colors.

Artists' Oil Colors Classified In Three Degrees Of Permanence

CLASS I—PERMANENT COLORS

The colors in this class constitute Winsor & Newton's "SELECTED LIST"; the labels on the tubes containing them being branded with the letters "S.L." in red, to indicate this fact. They are all of good permanence (the list being in this respect at least equal to that issued by any other color manufacturer). They may be mixed together ad libitum without injury with the possible exceptions of:

1. Aureolin with madder or alizarin lakes, or with ultramarines.

2. Alizarin lakes with ultramarines.

3. Flake white, cremnitz white, or silver white with artificial ultramarines.

4. Prussian blue with cadmiums, vermilions, or colors containing cadmiums or vermilions.

According to some authorities, however, these mixtures are perfectly safe.

N.B.—It should be pointed out that, where practicable, the protection of oil paintings by glass is a great aid to permanence. The mere mechanical impurity present in the air of towns, or of smoky rooms, often does as much damage in its way as the more generally recognized enemies of durability, for this impurity is apt to become so intimately associated with the super ficial layers of paint that it is impossible to remove it without removing the color as well. Then again, deleterious gases only occasionally present in the atmosphere will, if held off sufficiently long by glass, diffuse away, and lose their power for mischief.

Division I

Colors which may be regarded as absolutely inflexible under all ordinary conditions of oil painting.

Aurora Yellow                                      Mars Brown

Blue Black                                            Mars Orange

Brown Ochre                                       Mars Red

Burnt Sienna                                         Mars Violet

Burnt Umber                                        Mars Yellow

Cerulean Blue                                       Oxide Of Chromium

Charcoal Gray                                      Payne's Gray Cobalt Blue                                          Permanent White Cobalt Blue Deep                                 Raw Sienna

[Cobalt Green]                                     Raw Umber

[Cobalt Green Deep]                            Terra Rosa

Cobalt Violet                                        Terre Verte Cobalt Violet Dark                               Titanium White Davy's Gray                                         Transparent Gold Ochre Gold Ochre                                          Venetian Red Indian Red                                            Viridian Ivory Black                                          Yellow Ochre Lamp Black                                          Yellow Ochre Pale Light Red                                             Zinc White

N.B.—Division I is the first list of Absolutely Permanent Oil Colors ever issued by any Artists' Colorman.

Division II

The permanence of these colors depends somewhat on the conditions of their use and exposure. Many of them may be looked upon as practically inflexible when used per se in full strength, and yet only as "Moderately Durable" in thin glazes, or in tint [ ] Colors enclosed in square brackets cannot be relied upon to withstand damp with flake white. Much, too, depends on the cumulative amount and the intensity of the daylight to which they are exposed.

It is, as is generally recognized, impossible for a good colorist, in most classes of work, to confine himself entirely to the pigments in Division I. A second division is therefore necessary for the inclusion of those colors which, while containing some element of weakness, are yet sufficiently durable for the conscientious artist to employ. It has been hitherto the universal custom of Artists' Colormen to include these colors in their "Permanent" lists and, provided that in these cases the somewhat limited significance of the term "permanent" is thoroughly understood, there is perhaps no objection to the continuance of this practice. "Durable Colors" would probably be a better name.

Alizarin Crimson §                                (Coal Tar)

Aurkolin                                               Jaune Brillant† Brown Madder                                     Lemon Yellow

(Alizarin )§                                           Manganese Blue

Cadmium Green Pale                            Naples Yellow Cadmium Green                                   Permanent Blue* Cadmium Lemon                                  Permanent Green Cadmium Orange                                 Light § Cadmium Red                                      Permanent Green § Cadmium Red Deep                             Permanent Green Cadmium Scarlet                                  Deep§ Cadmium Yellow Pale                          Permanent Mauve Cadmium Yellow                                  Prussian Blue

Cadmium Yellow Deep                         Rose Dore

Chrome green light!                              Rose madder

Chrome green!                                     (alizarin)

Chrome green deep!                             Rose madder genuine

Cremnitz white!                                    Rose madder deep

Crimson Lake                                       Scarlet Lake

Flake white no. 1†                                scarlet vermilion!

Flake white no. 2†                                silver white!

Flesh Tint                                             Ultramarine Light* Foundation white!                                 Ultramarine deep* French ultramarine*                              vermilion! Harrison red                                         winsorblue!! Indian Yellow                                       Winsor Green Winsor Lemon                                      Winsor Violet Winsor Orange                                     Winsor Yellow Winsor Red                                          Zinc Yellow CLASS II—MODERATELY DURABLE COLORS Antwerp Blue                                       Emerald Green † Chrome Deep†                                     Magenta§ Chrome Lemon †                                 Purple Lake Chrome Orange†                                  Sap Green Chrome Yellow †                                 Vandyke Brown § CLASS III—FUGITIVE COLORS

Carmine                                               Mauve (Red Shade )
Geranium Lake                                     Mauve (Blue Shade)

*Susceptible to Sulphurous Acid and should not be mixed with am of the Lead Whites.

†Sullied in an atmosphere containing Sulphuretted Hydrogen (from drains, rotten eggs, etc.).

‡ Blackened if much exposed to the direct rays of the sun.
§ Only "moderately durable" in thin glazings.
|| Made from monastral blue (I.C.I.).

Made from monastral green (I.C.J.).

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