Michael Skalka
The Spoils of Our Labors - Indanthrone Blue
Anyone who has traveled to a vacation area or passed through numerous airports has seen this shirt. “I Visited (fill in the location...
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THE SYNTAX OF COLOR
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Michael Skalka
- Aug 4
- 4 min
Again and A”Gahn” - A Human Invention Machine
Summary: Johann Gahn, an 18th-century chemist, discovered an amazing variety of materials that are still in use today. Read how this...
490
Michael Skalka
- Jun 8
- 7 min
Ultramarine Blue - A Historical Reassessment?
Summary: A small portion of an article in the New York Times provides an abundance of food for thought regarding the art materials...
2112
Michael Skalka
- May 29
- 6 min
Color Name Confusion
Summary: Were the names that art materials manufacturers invented for paints a well-thought idea or a blend of romantic, historical, and...
1960
Michael Skalka
- May 15
- 6 min
Pyrrole Red, The Allure of Rosso Corsa
Summary: Pyrrole Red is one of a number of pigments that were accidentally discovered. In this essay, take a trip from East Lansing,...
740
Michael Skalka
- Mar 30
- 6 min
Understanding Solvents for Artists
Part 2 Summary: Understanding something about solvents arms us with the knowledge that can help us make artwork as safely as possible....
1402
Michael Skalka
- Mar 20
- 3 min
Oversimplification of Art Materials
Summary: Modern life is filled with complex things. Maintaining a basic understanding of the nature of materials provides us with...
1470
Michael Skalka
- Mar 2
- 3 min
Roses are Red, Violets are VIOLET
Summary: Documents describing the origin of a pigment can consume multiple pages of explanatory facts or be stated in merely one...
1261
Michael Skalka
- Feb 17
- 4 min
Divine Aniline, Won’t You Be Mine
Summary: The invention of mauve by William Henry Perkins in 1856 from coal tar initiated the study of aniline chemistry. A wide variety...
871
Michael Skalka
- Feb 2
- 4 min
What If Colors Had No Names?
Summary: Ponder this idea. What if the colors we use as artists had no names or were forbidden to have names? Make believe that we are...
1861
Michael Skalka
- Jan 26
- 4 min
Can the Old Masters Teach Us Anything Useful?
Summary: A visit to a museum can be a rich and rewarding educational experience. Looking carefully at paintings as a learning tool is a...
832
Michael Skalka
- Nov 4, 2022
- 4 min
Painting Supports - Part 1
Summary: Artists need to understand the positive and negative aspects of painting supports. A support that appears stable and sound when...
1083
Michael Skalka
- Sep 7, 2022
- 5 min
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...
440
Michael Skalka
- Aug 4, 2022
- 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...
3713
Michael Skalka
- Jun 21, 2022
- 4 min
Materials Marketing Mishaps
Summary: Costly and elaborate advertising materials for artists’ materials have become a rarity. Specifically, hand-painted color charts...
1481
Michael Skalka
- Apr 30, 2022
- 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...
831
Michael Skalka
- Mar 25, 2022
- 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...
550
Michael Skalka
- Mar 14, 2022
- 5 min
Chrome Colors
Summary: Chrome colors were derived from the discovery of chromium by the French scientist, Louis Nicolas Vauquelin in 1797. Their...
640
Michael Skalka
- Mar 2, 2022
- 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...
1050
Michael Skalka
- Feb 19, 2022
- 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...
1050
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