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By Mark David Gottsegen. A guide to artists’ materials as well as a thorough resource presenting techniques for using them and recipes for making them. (355 pages) Learn More

PY43

Yellow Ochre is a natural earth pigment that has been in use since prehistoric times. It is derived from iron-rich clay deposits that are present all over the world; our Yellow Ochre comes from the hilly regions around Verona, Italy. As a pigment, it is semi-opaque, extremely lightfast, and stable in all media. It has a medium to slow drying rate in oil, creating a tough, flexible paint film. Yellow Ochre is similar in composition to Raw Sienna, but whereas Yellow Ochre contains a higher proportion of clay, Raw Sienna contains a higher proportion of silica. As a natural material, the exact colour and qualities of the resultant pigments can vary, but generally this compositional difference creates a paler, more opaque Yellow Ochre, and a darker, more transparent Raw Sienna. 

Toxicity B

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Titanium White, or Titanium Doixide, is an artificial mineral pigment introduced in the 1920s. It is valued for its opacity, good lightfastness, and stability in all media. Its high tinting strength can render it a dominant colour in mixtures. It is very slow drying in oil, and creates a somewhat brittle paint film, though more flexible than Zinc White. Its brightness makes it a popular addition to gesso.

Toxicity: B

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Chromium Oxide is a synthetic mixed-metal oxide pigment. It is stable in all media and has an average drying speed in oil, forming a hard, fairly flexible paint film. It is opaque, with a low tinting strength. It has been widely available since the mid-nineteenth century, following its introduction in 1809.
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PBr7

Burnt Umber is a natural earth pigment from Italy, composed of iron oxide, manganese, and aluminium silicate. It is a form of Raw Umber that a has undergone a process of calcination, becoming warmer, more transparent and easier to disperse. It has a good tinting strength, and is very lightfast, quick-drying, and stable in all media. In oils it forms a hard, fairly flexible paint film, though it may be difficult to use in acrylic mediums.

Toxicity: B

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Zinc White, or Zinc Oxide, is an artificial mineral pigment that was first produced in France in the late 18th century. Its use in commercial watercolours as Chinese White pre-dates its inclusion in oil painting. It is a semi-opaque, lightfast pigment, which dries very slowly in oil. Of all white pigments, it produces the most brittle paint film, so is not recommended in large quantities for impasto techniques. However, it is a good addition to a palette which requires a less overwhelming white than Titanium White.

Toxicity: B

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Casein is a protein derived from dried milk, which has been used in painting since ancient times. It can be combined with Ammonium Carbonate to form an emulsion, which acts as a durable, non-resoluble binder for pigments, producing a matte, fast-drying paint, similar in appearance to egg tempera. We use casein as a binder for our L. Cornelissen & Son Pigment Colour Charts, as it is a medium that clearly showcases the characteristics and behaviour of each pigment in its pure form. Casein paints can be applied in thin layers to watercolour paper, but would require a more rigid support, such as a gesso panel, to be applied thickly, as the comparative inflexibility of the paint layer means that it can be prone to cracking. Subsequent layers of paint should be more diluted to aid adhesion, and impasto effects are not recommended. It is possible to varnish casein paintings using an acrylic or damar varnish to obtain a glossy surface if desired, although this is not a necessary step. Casein can also be used as an ingredient in gesso, and is a suitable binder for fresco secco techniques.

Some pigments may require a wetting agent in order to fully disperse within the binder, in which case alcohol may be used.

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Damar is a pale, almost colourless tree resin, which is soluble in turpentine, but not in alcohol or mineral spirits. It can be used as a varnish or as a glossy painting medium in conjunction with vegetable oils, and is generally preferable to other resin-based varnishes, such as mastic varnish, as it retains its colourless appearance for a longer period of time. In encaustic painting, the inclusion of damar resin imparts toughness and gloss to the paint surface. Learn More

Terre Verte, sometimes known as Green Earth, is a natural earth pigment derived from clay coloured by iron silicate. As with other natural pigments, impurities can prevent it from fully dispersing in an acrylic binder, although it is a popular pigment in all other mediums. It has been in use since antiquity, providing excellent lightfastness and great transparency, with a low tinting strength. It requires a high volume of oil, and dries slowly to create a soft, flexible paint film. When calcined, Terre Verte becomes Burnt Green Earth.
Toxicity B Learn More

Ivory Black is a natural pigment of impure carbon, derived from charred animal bones. It is semi-transparent, very lightfast, and offers good tinting strength. It is a particularly slow-drying pigment, which forms a soft, rather brittle paint film in oil.

Compared to other blacks, such as Vine Black, Ivory Black possesses warmer, brownish undertones. It should not be used at full-strength in an underpainting, as subsequent layers are likely to crack. Otherwise, it is a very useful all-purpose black for many types of paint, excluding mortar, fresco or cement.

Toxicity: B

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Viridian Green is a synthetic inorganic pigment, similar in composition to Chromium Oxide. However, unlike Chromium Oxide, Viridian contains water molecules within its crystal structure, imparting a greater degree of transparency. Sometimes referred to as Verte Eméraude, Viridian was discovered in France in 1838, patented in 1859, and made available in the UK in 1862. It is stable in all media, and offers excellent lightfastness and good tinting strength. It requires a high oil content, and dries slowly to form a hard, fairly flexible paint film.

Toxicity B

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PB28

Cobalt Blue is an artificial mineral pigment, produced by the calcination of cobalt oxide and aluminium oxide. It has been widely used since the early 1800s, following its discovery by the French chemist Thenard at the beginning of the century. The name Cobalt has its roots in the German word Kobold, meaning imp or evil spirit. German miners named it to in the late-Middle Ages, as the presence of cobalt ore in the mines made the extraction of silver more difficult. They were possibly also aware of the toxic properties of the mineral that was frustrating their efforts.

Cobalt remains a very popular colour today, and is present in most ranges of paints, being a semi-transparent pigment that is stable in all media. As a watercolour, all cobalt pigments tend to granulate. As an oil paint, it requires less oil content than most other pigments, and dries quite quickly. Like Cerulean Blue, some artists may choose to bind it with poppy oil, to avoid any possible colour changes brought about by the yellowish cast of linseed oil and the pigment's weak tinting strength.

Limeproof

Toxicity: C

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NR9 Rose Madder is an alizarin lake pigment made by precipitating dye extracted from madder root onto an inert base. It has largely been replaced by synthetic alizarin pigments, but it is still used as an ingredient in some commercially-available paints. It provides a very transparent pigment, with a weak tinting strength, which can be used in all lime-free media, although it is very slow-drying in oil. It is fugitive to sunlight, so paintings containing Madder should be stored appropriately, but it remains one of the most lightfast plant-based pigments. It requires a wetting agent to aid dispersion. Larger quantities are available by request Learn More

Gum Mastic is a tree resin, which dissolves into a clear varnish with alcohol or turpentine, but not with mineral spirits. Mastic varnishes are more prone to blooming and darkening with age than damar-based varnishes, and painting mediums that contain gum mastic can deteriorate in unpredictable ways. For this reason, it is primarily used in restoration, rather than in the production of artwork. Learn More

Roberson Glass Mullers are handmade using high quality-glass. 

Mullers act as flat-bottomed pestles, which are used to grind pigment into a binding medium, suspending it evenly to create a uniform covering of binder around each pigment particle. Using a muller and slab, rather than simply mixing pigment and binder together, will create a more homogenised and stable paint. 

Use in conjunction with a Cornelissen Glass Slab to make paint efficiently. The sand-blasted texture of the muller and plate helps to push and distribute the pigment throughout the binder quickly. This will mean less grinding, and more painting! 

NOTE: Sizes may vary slightly as these are handmade products. 

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PB29

Ultramarine Blue Limewash is an artificial mineral pigment that is produced by heating clay, soda, sulphur and coal to high temperatures. Its name comes from outremer, or over-the-sea, as a reference to the highly-prized Lapis Lazuli pigment which had been imported into Europe from Afghanistan since the Middle Ages. First manufactured in France and Germany in 1828, synthetic Ultramarine provided a brilliant and affordable blue to artists, and it remains one of the most popular blues on artists' palettes today.

It is a transparent pigment, with a high tinting strength and excellent lightfastness. Most Ultramarine colours It react to alkali and are therefore unsuitable for use in lime-fresco; Limeproof Ultramarine Blue remedies this problem. It is stable in all other media, although it can be tricky to grind in oil. Instead of creating a thick, buttery paste, it can remain stringy and deteriorate when stored in a tube. To correct this, many commercial paint manufacturers include additives and waxes in their recipes; if you intend on grinding your own paint, you could try replacing 10-15% of your Linseed Oil with Poppy Oil to improve the consistency. Ultramine Blue provides a slow-drying, fairly hard paint film, which can tend towards brittleness.

Toxicity: B

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PB29

Lapis Lazuli is a natural mineral pigment, mined in Afghanistan and South America. Different shades of Lapis Lazuli are determined by the intensity of colour of the lazurite vein; we offer the pigment in light and dark. For many centuries it was the most reliable blue pigment available, and became particularly significant during the Medieval and Renaissance periods, when its inclusion in a work of art denoted the wealth and status of the patron, or the holiness of a painting's subject. In commercial paint production it has largely been replaced by the more affordable Ultramarine Blue, although it still has a place on modern palettes due to its unique soft violet tone. It is a transparant pigment, with a low tinting strength.

Larger quantities are available by request.

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Paraffin Wax is a by-product of the petro-chemical industry. It has a low melting point of 50-60°c and a brittle texture, making it unsuitable for encaustic painting or as an additive to oil paints, but it can be used to impart softness to lithographic crayons. As a petroleum product, it is more inert than animal or vegetable waxes, and is therefore not saponified (turned into soap) by alkali substances. Learn More

NY13:75640 Stil de Grain is a natural yellow pigment derived from unripe buckthorn berries, which were also once used to produce sap green pigment before the introduction of synthetic alternatives. Stil de Grain may also be known as brown lake, yellow lake, Persian lake, buckthorn lake, Dutch pink, yellow carmine and Italian pink. It has a weak tinting strength, and is very transparent, especially in oil. When mixed with oil, the pigment becomes saturated, darkening considerably in colour and drying very slowly, whereas in a water-based paint it is appears as a warm yellow. It is very fugitive to light, and compatible with all media, except lime. Larger quantities are available by request. Learn More

PY42

Mars Yellow is an artificial mineral pigment, a synthetic iron oxide. Mars colours in general replace many natural earth colours to provide pigments without impurities and with great opacity. It has a good tinting strength, is lightfast and stable in all media, and has a medium drying time in oil, creating a strong, flexible paint film.

Toxicity: B

Limeproof

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NR9

Madder Lake pigment is derived from dye that has been extracted from the root of the madder plant, and attached to alum as a base. It has largely been replaced by synthetic alizarin pigments, but it is still used as an ingredient in some commercially-available paints. It provides a very transparent pigment, with a weak tinting strength, which can be used in all lime-free media, although it is very slow-drying in oil. It is fugitive to sunlight, so paintings containing Madder should be stored appropriately, but it remains one of the most lightfast plant-based pigments. It requires a wetting agent to aid dispersion.

Larger quantities are available by request

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Gum Arabic is a resoluble binding agent, commonly used in the preparation of watercolours, but also useful as an adhesive, a size, and in the production of soft pastels. It is a natural product, harvested from the Acacia tree between October and May. The highest grade of Gum Arabic comes from the Kordofan region of Sudan. It is exceptionally pale and pure and therefore particularly suited to watercolour painting, while Nigerian Gum Arabic (while stocks last) is better suited to stone lithography and other printmaking techniques. Please see the Formulas & Recipes section on our homepage for a recipe to make your own watercolour paints using Gum Arabic (currently under construction). Learn More

Impressionists' Palettes of Light by Patricia Railing. This little book reproduces palettes by several of the plein-air Impressionist painters, describing the pigments used, and includes short excerpts by the scientists whose work was the foundation of the new painting – on complementary colours, optical mixing, and the pigment-colour correspondence. It closes with colour swatches of the pigments, provided by the London artists’ colourmen, L. Cornelissen & Son. Learn More

PB29

Ultramarine Blue Dark is an artificial mineral pigment that is produced by heating clay, soda, sulphur and coal to high temperatures. Its name comes from outremer, or over-the-sea, as a reference to the highly-prized Lapis Lazuli pigment which had been imported into Europe from Afghanistan since the Middle Ages. First manufactured in France and Germany in 1828, synthetic Ultramarine provided a brilliant and affordable blue to artists, and it remains one of the most popular blues on artists' palettes today.

It is a transparent pigment, with a high tinting strength and excellent lightfastness. It reacts to alkali, therefore it is not suitable for use in lime-fresco; we do offer a Limeproof Ultramarine Blue for this purpose. It is stable in all other media, although it can be tricky to grind in oil. Instead of creating a thick, buttery paste, it can remain stringy and deteriorate when stored in a tube. To correct this, many commercial paint manufacturers include additives and waxes in their recipes; if you intend on grinding your own paint, you could try replacing 10-15% of your Linseed Oil with Poppy Oil to improve the consistency. Ultramine Blue provides a slow-drying, fairly hard paint film, which can tend towards brittleness.

Toxicity: B

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PBk7

Carbon Black is an inorganic synthetic pigment, created by burning natural gases to form an almost pure carbon. It is semi-transparent, and in oil dries very slowly to a soft, brittle paint film. It requires a wetting agent, and can show in streaks, even when mixed with other colours. 

Larger quantities are available by request. 

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PB32

Smalt is a kind of cobalt blue glass or frit, and its use as a pigment dates from the 1600s in the glass-making regions of Saxony. We offer two shades, light and dark, which are determined by the particle size of the pigment; the more finely ground the powder, the paler the colour. Before the introduction of Ultramarine Blue, Smalt was available in a wide variety of grades. It is a very transparent pigment, which is easily overwhelmed in mixtures due to its weak tinting strength. It works best in water based media. When ground in oil, it can become almost invisible in dried oil-paint films because its refractive index is so close to that of linseed oil.

Larger quantities are available by request.

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Shellac is a natural resin that is deposited by the female lac insect on the branches of trees in India and Thailand. It is soluble with alcohol, but not with mineral spirits or turpentine. It forms a tough yet flexible film, with many applications. It is suitable as a top coat for gilding when applied thinly, a sealant for porous surfaces, an isolating layer for tempera paintings, a base for pigmented inks, a protective layer for collograph plates, and a warm varnish for wooden floors and furniture. As it is prone to darkening with age, it is not recommended as a varnish for oils, and its solubility can reduce over time. There are various grades of shellac. When mixed with alcohol, it may initially form a cloudy mixture, due to traces of wax in the shellac, but this should become clear once it has dried. The highest grades of shellac are Clear Dewaxed Shellac, which has been de-coloured using the carbon filtering method, Lemon Shellac, and Orange Shellac, which are pale in colour. Button Shellac is less refined and therefore produces a reddish varnish. It was, in fact, widely used as a red dye before synthetic dyes became available. Learn More

Carnauba Wax is the hardest wax commonly used in the production of artists' materials, with a melting point of 83-86°c. It is derived from a tree native to South America, and is available in a natural colour (grey), or a refined colour (pale yellow). Small amounts of carnauba wax are commonly used in both oil painting mediums and encaustic painting, usually in conjunction with beeswax to add toughness, durability and sheen to the paint film. It creates an inflexible surface, so works best on rigid supports such as gesso panels, and it should be noted that it will raise the melting point of encaustic mixtures. It can produce a glossy finish; as such it is used in waxes and polishes for shoes, cars, musical instruments, furniture, and wooden floors, especially when mixed with beeswax and turpentine. Learn More