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THE SYNTAX OF COLOR
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Michael Skalka
Jun 8, 20237 min read
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...
2582
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Michael Skalka
May 29, 20236 min read
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...
2250
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Michael Skalka
May 15, 20236 min read
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,...
1521
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Michael Skalka
Apr 6, 20237 min read
Inkjet Art Reproductions - Giclee
Summary: This is the story of how a good idea crashes into a dead end. It illustrates the complexity of what artists encounter if they...
1071
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Michael Skalka
Mar 30, 20236 min read
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....
1682
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Michael Skalka
Mar 20, 20233 min read
Oversimplification of Art Materials
Summary: Modern life is filled with complex things. Maintaining a basic understanding of the nature of materials provides us with...
1600
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Michael Skalka
Mar 2, 20234 min read
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...
1341
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Michael Skalka
Feb 17, 20234 min read
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...
991
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Michael Skalka
Feb 2, 20234 min read
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...
2151
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Michael Skalka
Jan 26, 20235 min read
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...
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Michael Skalka
Nov 30, 20224 min read
Painting Supports - Part 3
Summary: Looking over the Horizon - As both an artist and a chairman of an ASTM subcommittee focused on quality standards for the art...
1383
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Michael Skalka
Nov 11, 202210 min read
Painting Supports - Part 2
In part one I discussed the benefits of solid panel supports and how they outperformed stretched canvas in every way except weight. ...
8911
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Michael Skalka
Nov 4, 20224 min read
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...
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Michael Skalka
Oct 5, 20224 min read
Adventures In Color Mixing
Summary: Can a piece of software teach us how to mix colors? It may serve as a good starting point for beginner artists who need some...
1882
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Michael Skalka
Sep 7, 20225 min read
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...
500
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