6 July 04
Watercolor Compendium
Today I found the site handprint: watercolors and watercolor painting, which is an amazingly comprehensive resource about watercolor materials and techniques. The section on paints and pigments, with hundreds of evaluations of different paints, is alone worth much study.
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The discussion of pigment reminded me of an episode of the PRI radio show “To the Best of Our Knowledge”. The show picks a topic theme or word, and then interviews ‘experts’ in related interests.
Are you old enough to remember a U.S. children’s show from the 60’s called “Take a Giant Step”? It’s like that—only for adult ears and the mind’s eye.
Their show for the week of June 13 2004 was “Color”. Among their guests was Philip Ball, author of “Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color”-
a history of the development of pigment. And it should be noted-what color you got in classical painting might not only be a result of available technology, but the generosity of your patron.Also in the same show was poet Molly Peacock discussing the emotional impact of color images, reading one of her longer story-poems, and then discussing the colors referenced.
Marita Golden, author of “Don’t Play in the Sun”: discusses colorism within the Black community. And Richard Rodriguez discusses in heartfelt words the ideas, views and experiences in his latest book “Brown: The Last Discovery of America”.
The show can be ordered on cassette tape—but you can also click on the Real Audio Link:
http://wpr.org/book/040613b.html
And a list of recent shows and archives link:
http://wpr.org/book/shows.html
(I listen to mine through an Audible subscription).
Thank you again for the splashes of color.