Understanding the Information on a Tube of Paint’s Label

To start our new dedication to artist’s materials and techniques on this site we thought we would look into something often ignored by even serious painters, the information printed on a tube of paint’s label.

Artist’s often intuitively understand the pigments and paints they use, relying on experience and trial and error to arrive at the effect they want. However a lot of the experimentation in the studio could be put to better use with a litttle information on what the particular paint they are using is telling you directly on the label. In  this case we will look at a tube of Golden Acrylic paint.

Here we are offered:

• A Color Swatch
• Pigment Information
• Lightfastness
• Price Group

While this information will not tell you everything about the paint and certainly trial and error in the studio is still a part of your practice but understanding these key bits of information could save you hours.

Color Swatch: This simple paint swatch gives you a great deal of visual information about the paint. This is often a stroke painted directly over a hatched black pattern. The amount that this pattern shows through gives you crucial information about the opacity of that particular paint. If it shows through the swatch significantly the color is obviously not very opaque and possibly used as a tint or for other effects. The satch will range from disappearing completely behind the paint to showing through a great deal. The effect you are striving for will benefit greatly in choosing the correct hue and opacity for your project

Pigment Information: With a little research the particular pigment(s) used in a paint is crucial to understanding what color you will get and how it will behave. (Check back for some comprehensive posts on individual pigments) Pigments come from a wide variety of sources including algae, metals, and pigments derived from animal products. Understanding your pigment will give you insight to its behaviors, toxicity and other crucial information.

Pigments are assigned a Color Index Name. The abbreviations tell you the color family they belong to for example PR is Red and PG is green. Specific pigments are assigned a number. For example Phthalocyanine Green is assigned the number 1328-45-6. This is also an important example because Phthalo Green can also be assigned the 1328-53-6 depending on chlorine substitution. While that may be information overkill, comparing the numbers will help you understand if different brands are using the same pigments for colors that have the same factory name. Staying with the Phthalo Green example, one manufacturer may use a cheaper substitute pigment. Often with a little experimentation, comparisons, and research the artist can find the colors that are right for their practice and budget with pigment information.

Lightfastness: Surprisingly even amongst serious painters, lightfastness is the most often misunderstood or neglected concept. This rating often based on a 1 to 5 scale gives you an understanding how that hue will react to and change to light. 1 being excellent and 5 being very poor. Hues with a 4 or 5 rating are often not used in fine arts materials. Hues with a rating of 1 can be understood to not fade, or yellow significantly with exposure to light. While it is tempting to use any of the hues you may like, be it house paint or whatever may be in the studio this information is crucial in understanding how your painting will change in connection with the lightfastness of the hues used. Reputable companies will often only produce artist’s quality colors or hues that will hold up as archival for a very long time.. and with the right finishing techniques (varnish etc) these colors will long outlast the artist’s that created them.

(In future posts we will explore the qualities of  individual pigments)