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Gamblin Studio Notes
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Local Palettes #18
As the mercury rises, summer travel plans are penned in calendars and, with any luck, the plein-air painting equipment is dusted off in preparation for another excursion. This issue of Gamblin Studio Notes considers regionally-specific palettes of four plein-air painters as they capture the diversity of the American landscape.
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Controlling Surface Quality #17
In our frequent conversations with painters, the issue of their paintings’ surface quality comes up often. This edition of Gamblin Studio Notes addresses this issue in greater detail. Included is our first, online video demonstration!
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Chromatic Black #16
The Gamblin Studio Notes has a tradition of being used as a technical resource and not as a sales vehicle. This edition is an exception to that approach. We want more of you to know about a color we added to our palette a couple years ago. We think that many of you who have not yet discovered Chromatic Black will thank us for the suggestion that you give it a try.
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Raw Materials—Linseed Oil #15
The origin of the most common paint binder used before WWII is pre-historic. We know the Nubians made Linseed oil varnishes to seal their boats and the Egyptians wove linen into cloth. Although we do not have written records, processing flax plants must have been an important industry. And, in that ancient industry, we find the origins of artists' paint making.
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Tips for Traveling with Artists' Materials #14
Many artists contact me with questions about the best ways to take art materials on aircraft. I have been flying with oil painting materials for 25 years. I have logged about 400,000 miles with my paints. Here are some suggestions.
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Studio Safety and Artists' Pigments #13
Understanding proper use of painting solvents and contemporary painting mediums is the number one key to working in safe studios. While toxicity of solvents and mediums is critically important for oil painters, I would like to focus this issue of the "Gamblin Studio Notes" on artist's pigments.
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Why Classical and Contemporary Paintings Look So Different? #12
In November, John E. Buchanan, Jr., executive director of the Portland (OR) Art Museum, invited Robert Gamblin to give a public lecture on WHY classical paintings look different from Impressionist paintings. This is the text of his lecture plus illustrations that highlight a wonderful group of French Baroque paintings on exhibit - "The Triumph of French Painting" - at the Portland Art Museum during the Fall 2003.
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Varnish and Varnishing #11
Do artists HAVE to varnish? Can varnishing adversely affect a painting by radically changing the look of the surface? Traditionally artists varnish to unify the surface and saturate the colors, still varnishing remains a mystery to many artists.
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Premium Grades of Odorless Mineral Spirits #10
This issue of the Gamblin Studio Notes continues our discussion on solvents. I want to answer questions about what you get when you pay for premium grades of odorless mineral spirits, like Gamsol, rather than cheap "hardware" store brands. Gamsol is a highly purified form of odorless mineral spirit, distilled at high temperature and purified of all aromatic components. The purification process accounts for the price difference...
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Defining a Personal Color Space #09
This issue of the Gamblin Studio Notes is about how to define personal color space by assembling a unique palette of colors. Over many years of painting and making paints, I have had the opportunity to experience the more subjective qualities of color. The "Cadmium Red Medium" oil paint that I see pouring over a triple roller mill in the Gamblin factory is a raw material that artists combine, mix, transform into different colors. Visiting studios, I see how hundreds of painters define their personal color space...
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Artists' Attitudes Toward Art Materials #08
The history of oil paint making is 500 years old so I am not surprised that so much confusion has accumulated. I hear too much myth and magic when artists describe how they choose materials. Making 150 antique oil colors for the Smithsonian Institution showed me that painters today can choose to use art materials that would indeed make the Old Masters envious or they can choose to use junk. I suggest you only select art materials based on how the material or collection of materials contributes to creating your images. As you change the materials, you change the image...
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Studio Safety and Solvents #07
Managing solvents is the key to studio safety. Oil painting studios are immediately safer when artists remove strong solvents, especially turpentine, from their painting processes. Painters have been using turpentine for hundreds of years because it has been commonly available. Pure 100% odorless mineral spirits (OMS) is an innovation of the late 20th century so it is no wonder that many painters do not know yet how safe and available OMS is...
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