Image via: East Coast Colors
Attention painters:
Art Fag City friend Jacob Ouillette has launched East Coast Colors, a company dedicated to using the best ingredients available to make the highest quality oil paint. Made in small batches and intended to be used fresh as they have no preservatives, Ouillette’s paints meet his high standards by virtue of his exacting working methods and investment in painting as an artist himself.
Those interested should check out the East Coast Colors blog which hosts images of available colors, and detailed posts about some of the company’s more rare offerings. Lemon Ochre for example is a new color offered, an uncommon natural earth pigment from northern Italy which was used by Sienese and Florentine masters. As a former painter myself, the earth colors and iron-oxide set also looks very appealing. To purchase these colors you can either set up an appointment to visit the mill via email at eastcoastcolorsATgmailDOTcom or buy the colors online at eastcoastcolors.etsy.com.
Cadmiums. Image via: East Coast Colors
{ 8 comments }
ehrm… i’ve never heard of additives being used in oil paint to improve their “shelf life,” as is being claimed here. oils dry by a process of oxidation, so anything kept in an airtight container is going to be effectively unchanged, no matter how long it sits on the shelf. the additives are there to speed drying time and aid handling, not to keep them “fresh.”
i guess one might add certain compounds to fugitive pigments, lakes and madders and whatnot, to keep them from fading quite as quickly as they might otherwise, but they’re going to deteriorate when they see the light of day, whether the paint is recently-made or not.
ehrm… i’ve never heard of additives being used in oil paint to improve their “shelf life,” as is being claimed here. oils dry by a process of oxidation, so anything kept in an airtight container is going to be effectively unchanged, no matter how long it sits on the shelf. the additives are there to speed drying time and aid handling, not to keep them “fresh.”
i guess one might add certain compounds to fugitive pigments, lakes and madders and whatnot, to keep them from fading quite as quickly as they might otherwise, but they’re going to deteriorate when they see the light of day, whether the paint is recently-made or not.
The shelf life issue concerns the tendency of the pigment and oil to separate.
The shelf life issue concerns the tendency of the pigment and oil to separate.
I’m not sure of the value of this effort. I paint mostly in water based media since no matter what the vehicle, oil based paintings have a noticeable cast. The amber color of poppy, safflower, linseed, etc. just does not go away, unlike the almost imperceptible cast of latex and acrylic latex. As far as archivalness, oil does not have the greatest track record, especially for works which have been subject to unheated rooms in the winter. Expansions and different drying times of oils create many cracks. With water based media, I use a hair dryer so I can see more or less the final color, which avoids the dry down problem of oils as well.
On the other hand, acrylic will not last as long in the tube as oil, as I have lakes and madders from 30 years ago still solvent (excluding oxides).
I’m not sure of the value of this effort. I paint mostly in water based media since no matter what the vehicle, oil based paintings have a noticeable cast. The amber color of poppy, safflower, linseed, etc. just does not go away, unlike the almost imperceptible cast of latex and acrylic latex. As far as archivalness, oil does not have the greatest track record, especially for works which have been subject to unheated rooms in the winter. Expansions and different drying times of oils create many cracks. With water based media, I use a hair dryer so I can see more or less the final color, which avoids the dry down problem of oils as well.
On the other hand, acrylic will not last as long in the tube as oil, as I have lakes and madders from 30 years ago still solvent (excluding oxides).
“As a former painter”
Once a painter always a painter. :p
“As a former painter”
Once a painter always a painter. :p
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