Origins of Oil Painting

Some interesting news about the origins of oil painting coming out today April 22. Follow link to read article about the discovery of oil paintings from the seventh century in Asia. http://www.livescience.com/history/080422-ancient-oils.html

Natural Earth Colors

We have just added three new natural earth colors to our oil paint line, which offer something totally unique to just them. These colors are naturally a little gritty, which gives them a very interesting visual quality. These natural pigments are also more transparent than the synthetic pigments when rubbed out, but have beautiful undertones that show up. The Raw Sienna is much more of a mustard color than the synthetic version we offer. The Brown Ochre is like the one Velazquez used in his backgrounds. I have been very excited to play around with these colors, and will post more swatches as I get a chance. To truly get a feel for the capabilities of these colors they must be painted with. You may order these at http://www.blueridgeoilpaint.com/.

A B C

A. Natural Raw Sienna

B. Natural Brown Ochre

C. Natural Burnt Umber

All colors rubbed out with walnut oil.

Zorn Pallete Mixes

Recently I have been turned onto the Zorn palette by Ron and Vanessa Lemen, who teach this method in San Diego at http://www.studio2ndstreet.com/. You can read all about the artist, Anders Zorn, here http://www.backstage.com/americanartist/techniques/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001996184. It is speculated that Zorn actually did use a blue of some sort, but it is traditionally thought that he only used a red, yellow, white, and black. Today most artists use Vermilion, Yellow Ochre, Flake White and Blue Black to replicate his palette. I have been experimenting with these colors and their potential combinations, which I have posted below. However, it quickly became apparent that there are far too many combinations possible with just these colors due to the varying amounts of each color mixed. I have included the basics as a starting point, but to grasp the capabilities of this limited palette you must try them for yourself. We offer all of these colors at http://www.blueridgeoilpaint.com/.




A B C D E F G
H I J K L M

Mixes are as follows:
A. Vermilion
B. Blue Black
C. Yellow Ochre
D. Vermilion + Flake White
E. Blue Black + Flake White
F. Yellow Ochre + Flake White
G. Vermilion + Yellow Ochre
H. Vermilion + Blue Black
I. Vermilion + Yellow Ochre + Blue Black
J. Yellow Ochre + small amount of Vermilion + small amount of Blue Black
K. Vermilion + small amount of Blue Black
L. Yellow Ochre + small amount of Vermilion
M. Yellow Ochre + small amount of Blue Black