Michael Skalka
Food Coloring
Summary: Both in the past and the present, foods have been used as colorants for a variety of purposes. They can serve as pigments as...
THE SYNTAX OF COLOR
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Michael Skalka
- Aug 4
- 5 min
Titanium White
Summary: A very recent news article caught my attention regarding a ban on the use of titanium dioxide white in food products within the...
3282
Michael Skalka
- Jun 21
- 4 min
Materials Marketing Mishaps
Summary: Costly and elaborate advertising materials for artists’ materials have become a rarity. Specifically, hand-painted color charts...
1151
Michael Skalka
- Apr 30
- 7 min
Get the Lead Out?
Summary: What is the impact of continued use of lead white oil paint on the health of artists? What does health/safety literature tell us...
501
Michael Skalka
- Mar 25
- 4 min
We tame the medium and the medium tames us
Summary: Making art is a two-way proposition. An artist masters the medium of their choice and bends it to their will. However, the...
410
Michael Skalka
- Mar 14
- 5 min
Chrome Colors
Summary: Chrome colors were derived from the discovery of chromium by the French scientist, Louis Nicolas Vauquelin in 1797. Their...
450
Michael Skalka
- Mar 2
- 5 min
...as Clear and Transparent as a Piece of Coal... Part 2
Summary: John Steuart Curry and Reginald Marsh corresponded with Jacques Maroger in the 1940s to obtain the long lost secret of Old...
650
Michael Skalka
- Feb 19
- 5 min
"... as Clear and Transparent as a Piece of Coal" Part 1
Summary: When it comes to painting mediums used by artists, the debate about their merits or problems becomes a source of heated...
830
Michael Skalka
- Jan 23
- 5 min
Let's Raise a Glass to Naphthol Red
Summary: An unusual relationship exists between the brewing industry and the invention of a host of synthetic organic pigments in the azo...
500
Michael Skalka
- Dec 18, 2021
- 4 min
Painting and Music
It is likely that many of you have a wide number of art forms that you appreciate. My interests in music, especially technical, music...
480
Michael Skalka
- Dec 10, 2021
- 4 min
The Unvarnished Truth
The subject of selecting varnish is important because the decision can result in a painting being protected and long-lasting verses a...
790
Michael Skalka
- Nov 4, 2021
- 4 min
"We May Never Pass This Way (Again""
Perhaps the reason I gravitate so strongly towards researching art materials and related items is that they have a long history. For me,...
460
Michael Skalka
- Oct 26, 2021
- 3 min
Frankly My Dear, I Don’t Give a Lake!
I heard an “interesting” story years ago on the origin of lake pigments. A person who felt he was a leading expert on pigments, told a...
1282
Michael Skalka
- Oct 15, 2021
- 4 min
The Color of EVERYTHING!
The importance of this primary color mixing system to achieve a matched color compared to a sample is that an objective, numerical value...
490
Michael Skalka
- Sep 21, 2021
- 4 min
Caffeine and Color
The story behind colors takes one to many different places. It is a story of people and their personal accomplishments. This one is...
340
Michael Skalka
- Sep 16, 2021
- 3 min
Permanent Green Light
Let’s explore another of what art material manufacturers sometimes refer to as “convenience colors.” This means a color that can be mixed...
760
Michael Skalka
- Sep 2, 2021
- 5 min
A Primer on Primers -"A Little Dab Will Do Ya."
Oil Penetration The same question appears repeatedly on various social media sites that utilize crowd-sourced responses. The question:...
390
Michael Skalka
- Jun 11, 2021
- 3 min
Aurora Yellow - These are not the charged particles you were looking for...
Aurora Yellow: In artist forums I occasionally notice that a small group of art materials enthusiasts are drawn to seek out old art...
1190
Michael Skalka
- Jun 4, 2021
- 4 min
What's The Limit of Your Limited Palette?
Selecting Colors A number of years ago when I lived in the New York metro area, I listened to a FM station that had a program called...
630
Michael Skalka
- May 29, 2021
- 3 min
A Color Memorial
This time of year is bittersweet, as young men and women make the transition from high school to college or college to the world of work....
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