About WILLIAMSBURG HANDMADE OIL PAINT
Williamsburg handmade oil color was developed in the mid-1980s by Carl Plansky in his Williamsburg studio. The company is still very small and run by professional painters dedicated to making paint in the European tradition. Each color is ground to enhance the beauty and luminosity specific to that particular pigrment.
Like French colormakers of the 19th century, Williamsburg maintains total control over their product. Each pigment is ground in pure, premium, alkali-refined and PH-balanced linseed oil and made in batches no larger than five gallons at a time.
Williamsburg oil colors are used by the world's finest artists. You can see them in recent acquisitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; and the Beaubourg in Paris.
TOP
Interference Colors
The interference colors are mica-based colors with certain properties that interfere with the normal prismatic qualities of mica so that certain colors are highlighted. Put simply, they look and act like a transparent pearl, but play with the light and throw off color with the most mysterious effects. Williamsburg offers these in Violet, Blue, Green and Red.
Imagine the colors that shoot out of a fire opal, except each color is isolated. For example, Interference Violet goes on like an almost colorless glaze but the violet "fire" picks up and reflects light, particularly on dark surfaces. These interference colors work best in glazes as they lose their opalescent sheen when mixed too much with other colors.
TOP
Iridescent Colors
Williamsburg Iridescent Colors are colorfast and permanent. They are made with ground mica so that even the "metallic" colors will not tarnish. There are some limitations inherent in the composition of these colors: in order to refract light and appear metallic or nacreous, the mica particles must not be ground too small. They should be almost like tiny crystalline prisms sparkling with glints of light. Because of this the paint has a semi-translucent quality --not the heavy covering power of aluminum radiator paint.
TOP
Native Italian Earth Colors
This is an exciting line of traditional native Italian earth colors. While Williamsburg has always made their Siennas with premium Italian pigments, these particular earths are scarce and used primarily by art conservators. They are the very same pigments used by the great Sienese and Florentine masters. All are authentic and come from the regions of Italy made famous by these pigments. Unfortunately, these colors are difficult to get and are not always available.
TOP
A History of Williamsburg Handmade Oil Paints by CARL PLANSKY
"In the mid 1980s I began making paint for myself and my friends. I had always been interested in pigments, oils, mediums, and old-world recipes, and I enjoyed experimenting with traditional materials. Wherever I traveled I would research the history of painting and the relationship between painters and paintmakers. In France I bought colors from the houses that had made paints for Monet, Matisse, and Cezanne. I analyzed their paint to see how fine or coarse the grind was and to determine where they found their pigments and oils. With this same passion, I now search for the most beautiful raw materials in the world, importing pigments from dozens of countries.
"Getting the proper pigment is just the beginning. So much of the quality of oil paint is in the grinding. Each color is ground to enhance the beauty and luminosity specific to that particular pigment. Some of our paint will feel slightly gritty; some, extremely smooth. Our Cerulean Blue will have a beautiful, velvet, light-absorbing surface with an extremely strong covering power; our siennas will often be chunky or gritty to allow light to travel through the vehicle, exposing rich golden or mahogany undertones instead of just heavy, dull browns.
"Our pigment is ground in pure, premium, alkali-refined and PH- balanced linseed oil and made in batches no larger than five gallons at a time. This gives us total control over the product, much like the late nineteenth-century French colormakers. All the materials are hand-measured, and every ounce of paint is scrutinized. The paint is packed in 40 ml and 150 ml non-reactive aluminum tubes. Larger quantities of paint are packed in aluminum cans. We use only the purest materials.
"We give technical advice to artists, museums, and conservators throughout the world and welcome your questions and comments. We look forward to having you experience the pleasure of using our paint. We are very proud of it."
-- CARL PLANSKY, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, WILLIAMSBURG ART MATERIALS
TOP
