Looking at Williamsburg Handmade Oil Colours
In the mid 1980s, Artist Carl Plansky made such an impressive job of making paint for himself and friends that it quickly escalated to the point where the launch of 'Williamsburg Art Supply' became a necessity in order to meet demand.
Carl had always been interested in pigments, oils, mediums and old world recipes and enjoyed analysing paints purchased from the colour houses that had made paint for the impressionists. He searched for the most beautiful raw materials in the world, importing pigments from dozens of countries so he could offer them to his fellow artists as paint and dry pigment.
But, getting the proper pigment is just the beginning. So much of the quality of oil paint is in the grinding. Each colour is ground to enhance the beauty and luminosity specific to that particular pigment. Some colours will feel slightly gritty whilst others will be extremely smooth.
The process of making paint includes running paint through a mill. This is what determines 'the grind' or how fine or course each colour becomes. Each pigment reveals different characteristics at different levels of milling, whether this be the workability, texture or the colour itself and the grind is determined by what brings out the best balance for each individual colour.
The examples, above, show the very fine grain of Permanent Crimson, the medium grain of Pompeii Red and the course grain of Italian Pink revealing and making the most of the rich undertones. The following symbols represent the grind definitions.
The pigments are ground in pure, premium, alkali-refined linseed oil and made in batches no larger than five gallons at a time. This gives Williamsburg total control over the product, much like the late nineteenth-century French colour makers. All the materials are hand measured, and every ounce of paint is scrutinized before being packed into non-reactive aluminium tubes.
From small beginnings using a second hand milling machine, Williamsburg's Oil Paints have accumulated a following and international presence while preserving the handmade integrity of the paint. They are used by the world's finest artists whose work can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MOMA in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Beaubourg in Paris.
After the death of Carl Plansky in 2009, Williamsburg was acquired by Golden Artist Colors. Golden have a very similar philosophy to Williamsburg in wishing to produce paint that is well researched, of an excellent quality and that has archival integrity. To the extensive range already available in the Williamsburg range, Golden have added French Earth Colours, paints made with Safflower Oil and a selection of iridescent and interference colours bringing to the market a huge range of 178 wonderful colours and infinite mixing options.
Mixing examples to create your own range of iridescent colours in Oil...
