Weekend Workshops on Renaissance Painting Techniques including the Preparation and Application of Natural and Mineral Pigments In Collaboration with Kremer Pigments and Synopia |
| The next seminars for small groups are planned in the artist’s studio in the D.U.M.B.O area of Brooklyn, (Saturdays - Sundays, 10 a.m.– 6pm.): The next seminars for the autumn of 2008 to be announced. The fee per participant is $ 450.- Those of you familiar with the catalogue of Kremer Pigments and Synopia will know the range of mineral pigments includes Azurite “Michael Price”. The New York based British artist will make his vast knowledge and results of his on-going pigment and binding medium research available to Kremer's customers. Besides learning how to employ many of the Kremer products, the main topics on Renaissance painting techniques include: 1. Turning crystals and rocks into pigment. 2. Purifying pigments by perfecting levigation techniques of the mineral pigments offered by Kremer Pigments. 3. The painting support and ground, both traditional and modern. 4. Binding mediums: distemper, egg tempera, casein, the correct use of resins such as Venetian and Strasbourg turpentine, Canada Balsam, oils including raw, sun-thickened, stand oil and co-polymerised walnut and linseed oils. 5. Making oil paint and how to make modern synthetic pigments luminous, including earth pigments. 6. The question of varnish: traditional oil-resin varnishes versus resin-solvent and modern synthetic varnishes. All participants are encouraged to bring along examples of their work in order to discuss any questions about their techniques or technical issues. For many participants, this workshop is their first experience with mineral pigments, so do not feel intimidated by the gravity of history!!!! For further details contact Michael Price directly at: artmprice@gmail.com or 1-212-694-8884. (Note on payment: when two or three participants have committed themselves to a workshop, they will be asked to send a check of a $150 deposit. Sometimes participants travel from abroad or within the US and it is not possible for me to cancel a workshop when one or two participants cancel with a few day's notice. These are exclusive workshops with two to five participants). |
| Updates to workshops can be viewed at: http://pigmentworkshops.blogspot.com For more information about "The Contemporary Relevance of the Renaissance Palette" chaired by Michael Price at the 2007 College Art Association Conference held in New York go to: CAA_Conference.html |
| Equipment including pestels and mortars as well as a selection of rocks and crystals |
| Rocks and crystals including: azurite, malachite, lapis lazuli, cinnabar, orpiment, realgar, vivianite, pyrolusite |
| Lapis lazuli crystals from Afghanistan |
Azurite pigment particles under the microscope
| The preparation of cinnabar |
| A group of participants at a weekend workshop |
| Introduction to the Workshop As a result of my studio experience, pigment research with institutions, lectures and teaching over the years, I have listed some common misunderstandings about the so-called Renaissance painting technique, i.e. painting in thin translucent layers with the use of glazes: 1. No modern tube paint with synthetic colours can recreate the luminosity of the Flemish and Italian Renaissance masters. 2. No amount of alkyd resin added to modern oil paint will produce the 'spell binding' quality of the Masters. Alkyds discolour fairly rapidly in thin layers of paint. 3. Adding thick 'Venetian turpentine' straight from the bottle to oil paint may give the desired 'enamel' appearance, but will lead to cracking. In addition the painting will remain very sticky for weeks. Strasbourg or Venetian turpenting as well as Canada Balsam need to be fused with a pure spirits of turpentine to produce either a binding medium or diluent. NO SOLVENT such as mineral spirits or spirits of turpentine should be added to oil paint. To recreate the 'satin' finish of the Renaissance painters, the following points need to be observed; 1. The support and ground - most modern prepared canvases have a life of about 30 to 50 years. Deterioration will most probably become evident during the artist's life-time including cracking. Unfortunately, after completing expensive MFA's, many artists do not know how to prepare stretched linen or linen on a panel. Look at all those floppy canvases hanging on gallery walls. Most recipes from the 19th century which are still in universal use are overkill. The worst example is rabbit skin glue which at 60 grams a litre is meant to glue linen to a panel and not for sizing stretched linen. No Renaissance recipes give such absurd measurements. 2. Natural and mineral pigments such as azurite, lapis lazuli, cinnabar, malachite etc. are the first choice. It is a completely different colour system. However, don't despair, synthetic pigments can be improved to increase luminosity. 3. The other major misunderstanding about trying to recreate Renaissance painting techniques is that oil was used as a primary binding medium and then some 'secret juice' was added as a painting medium. There is no one universal binding medium for all the natural and mineral pigments to create depth of colour with luminosity. This principle may actually apply to modern synthetic pigments, but the paint industry has convinced itself and artists to add all sorts of weird and wonderful mediums to speed up the drying of impossibly slow drying oil colours. If you have had enough of toothpaste-like modern oil paint and your paintings look better in catalogue reproductions than in real life, then this workshop may be an eye opener and a guaranteed challenge. Yours sincerely, Michael Price |
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