StudioMara - About the Artist 3

. . . quality and permanence are the first order for successful painting.

The prevalent mood of art making seems to regard technical proficiency and permanence of materials used to be unimportant issues; that the resultant work is all that matters. For me, quality and permanence are the first order for successful painting. For my earliest paintings, I used the very stable method of applying acrylic polymer-based pigments on primed cotton duck. As my color sensitivity increased, the acrylic paints became too limited in their depth of tone to be satisfactory for the effects I desired. Their polymer binder prohibits a great concentration of pigments without the loss of flexibility and permanence when dry. The hard-edged, flat nature of colored areas that I apply made oil paint an impractical alternative because of its slow drying time and glossy nature. But, it has the rich undertone that I sought. I finally turned to gouache by experiencing it in color-theory study during my last year of college. It is fast drying, non-reflective and generally opaque. The pigments are as concentrated as they are in oil paint because of the gum binder that they are ground into. Gum binders have been in use for at least five hundred years and have proved their stability in color retention.

The caution that a fine artist must take in using gouache is that it is generally geared for the commercial artists' use and as a result, many unstable pigments are widely available. The commercial artist is only concerned with a limited life for his creation, as it will be used in a reproduced format. Fortunately, the better manufacturers of gouache have realized that it is in wider use by fine artists than ever before. Therefore they indicate, by a code, the lightfastness of their selection of pigments. Generally, there are four categories from totally stable to fugitive. One must limit choices to the top two categories of permanence to avoid fading of colors. With a clear knowledge of color mixing, an adequately rich and varied palette can be achieved without risking certain future problems.

In addition to permanence, the fine artist must be cautious about lower grades of gouache into which fillers are added. Each pigment has its own characteristic as an opaque or transparent color. Lower grades of gouache have the addition of titanium or zinc oxide to render them opaque. This also makes them unnecessarily lighter in value. The better grades of gouache are as varied in opacity as the finest oil paint. An experienced painter chooses pigments by their stability as well as their inherent characteristics.

Regardless of the care one takes in choosing pigments, an unstable support for them renders these choices futile. Through the study of bookbinding in college and in continuation after college, my knowledge of papers was an ultimate result and an unexpected source of interest. My technique calls for a paper that is hot pressed (in the case of watercolor papers) or relatively smooth in papers generally categorized as printmaking papers. A one hundred percent rag content is the only acceptable choice for a paper that will not yellow or deteriorate in proper storage and handling. The paper must be sized so it will not soak up the pigments. If a natural gelatin size is used, a preservative must be added so it will not easily form mold in humid climates.