Christopher Vidal Fine Art
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Artist Christopher Vidal  - Blog

Welcome to my blog. The aim of this blog is to share with you some of my experiences related to my artworks, what inspires me and also how it is done. As an artist I am also constantly learning as this is an ongoing process. I also learn from my students when I am teaching in the class. Sharing what I know with others is also very satisfying. This is how we grow and improve. 
I've been teaching art for a while now, and I must say that from this I learned a lot. This helps me to identify what each individual needs in order to become a better painter. Painting is not an easy task especially landscape painting. One needs to have the inspiration to paint a tree or a mountain and it is not a question of just wanting to paint something. I choose to paint something because there was an element that motivated me to do so ...that inspired me. It could be the game of light and shadows or simply the warm colors of a late afternoon. It is sometimes very difficult to translate the colors that nature shows us using paint on a canvas. This challenge could be also a way to motivate you to paint a scenery. 
Most important is that you do not expect that every painting that you paint is going to be a masterpiece. You shouldn't be afraid that your final product is not what you expected in the first place. An unsuccessful painting should be the teaching ground for a better one that follows. This is how we learn. We learn from our own mistakes and from things that didn't work out as we wanted them but with an effort we try to make them better the next time. 
So if you want to become a better painter then you have to practice and paint regularly. This is the only way how you can improve your techniques, discover ones of your own, learn your colors etc. It is all about brush mileage. The tutor is there to help you find your way, shows you the basics and how to use your tools in order for you to be able to develop yourself. 
Looking forward to share with you my knowledge.

Effect of light on paint

6/10/2018

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Picture
Couple of months ago I started this small experiment to test how light affects various pigments and mixtures of paint that we commonly use in painting. I am interested in some particular pigments since although they are very popular and were traditionally used, however now we know that these are in fact not as stable as one thinks and hence they tend to disappear with time especially on exposure to light. The technical term used in labelling on tubes is "lightfast" usually graded (numbered with an ASTM prefix or starred) with 1 being the best hence meaning that that pigment is very resistant to light even if exposed to sunlight. As an artist I am always trying to use the best and most stable pigments available on the market, preferably from brands that use the minimum amount of fillers and driers, since both of these affect the stability of the paint as time passes. My objective is always to give the best quality artwork that lasts for long time to my clients. Besides that I also want that the hours that I spend working on a painting will be worth it.

The experiment is going to take at least a year and today I am reporting some of the preliminary observations I did after 5 months from the start. The paints that I used were: lead/zinc white - PW1/PW4 (Old Holland), Ultramarine Blue - PB29 (Michael Harding), Cobalt Blue light - PB28 (Norma), Pyrrole red - PR254 (Langridge), Quinacridone Magenta - PR122 (Langridge) and Rose Madder Genuine - NR9 (Michael Harding).

I prepared some colour swatches on cotton canvas after first mixing the colour and preparing tints to around mid-value 5 on the Munsell scale on a glass palette. I prepared three replicates of each colour, one for each lighting condition. 3 lighting conditions were used: (1) normal room light conditions (similar to same condition a painting is normally hanged); (2) No light stored in a dark cupboard; (3) Exposed to sunlight in a window. I used these 3 lighting conditions because I wanted to test the performance of the pigment in conditions as close to the real situation as possible. So although manufacturers test the lightfastness by exposing the pigments to light however normally paintings are kept hanged on walls in doors and are not exposed to the lighting conditions used for testing. Also one needs to remember that each pigment might behave the same in oils and acrylics and differently than watercolour, so one needs to look at the lightfastness according to medium.

After 5 months I took them out to perform the first observational analysis by first photographing them and then analyzing the photos using a photography software to measure the intensities of the values and the three primary colours of light known as the RGB system (Red, Green and Blue). Using the software I used the colour picker function taking readings from various spots across each coloured squares and then calculating an average value. I took readings from areas having a similar value, using the values to normalise the results. I then calculated ratios of red/blue to check for colour shifts in the mixtures. A common mix of grays used in landscapes is that using either ultramarine blue or cobalt blue with one of each of the above red paints toned to a mid-tone value.

What I observed? So far the results didn't show any shift in colour between the conditions for the mass tones. Mass tone refers to the colour as it comes out from the tube. A control consisting of cadmium yellow light (PY35) known to be excellent lightfast did not showed any changes.
Some slight changes were observed in the mid-tone of Rose Madder Genuine and Cobalt blue exposed to sunlight. It was expected that Rose Madder will show a difference as it is known not to be excellent lightfast, however cobalt blue was a very surprising finding.
Both mixtures of cobalt and ultramarine blue with rose madder show a decline in red colour with ratios 0.58 vs 0.45, respectively, between dark and sun exposed. There were no changes for magenta however a slight change was observed for pyrrole when exposed to sunlight which I need to follow up with more testing on this pigment.

The pigments were returned to their original conditions for further testing within couple of more months. From my observations so far it seems that magenta is the best cool red to choose. I will need to compare the pyrrole red as a cool-warm red with permanent orange PO73 that can be used to give grayer hues when mixed with ultramarine blue.
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    Author

    As an artist I want to share with you my experiences and what is behind my artwork. Every artwork is an expression of the inner self. It is driven by experience. 

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  • Home
  • Paintings for Sale
    • Still Life
    • Landscapes
    • Plein Air Paintings
    • Cities
    • Portrait
    • Mastercopies
    • SOLD Paintings
  • The Artist
    • About my work
    • Curriculum Vitae
    • Galleries
    • Media/Publications
    • Exhibitions
  • Commissions
  • Tuition
    • Online Art Coaching
    • In person Art Consultations
    • Student Works
    • Workshops & Demos
  • Products
    • Photography
    • Placemats and Coasters
    • Other Products >
      • Licenced Photo DVD
      • Bargue Drawing Level 1
      • Bargue Drawing Level 2
  • Blog
  • Contact