Gamblin Studio Notes

FastMatte Alkyd Oil Colors: Underpainting & Beyond
FastMatte colors are a unique type of oil colors, every color dries fast, every color dries matte. These qualities make them perfect for underpainting techniques. This newsletter explores using FastMatte for underpainting and features ways in which these colors fit into painters’ work beyond underpainting.

Considering Storage of Oil Paintings
A walk through any great museum leaves you with the impression of the permanence and power of oil painting. This newsletter is about one aspect of storing oil paintings: the change in color of paintings in dark storage, that recovers when brought back into the light.

Recent Studies on Modern Paints
Gamblin Artists Colors is the only major colorhouse dedicated solely to oil painting, and our mission is to lead oil painting into the future. Bringing insights from the field of painting conservation to your palette is an important aspect of our work. Robert Gamblin spoke at the symposium, Issues in Contemporary Oil Paint, in the spring of 2013 in Amersfoort, in the Netherlands.  The following is his report containing points of interest to contemporary painters.

Monotype: The Painterly Print
Why paint on a printing element and then print it to paper? Monotype has its own unique form of expression and certain types of marks and imagery can only be achieved using the monotype process.

Take Your Painting Further. Gamblin FastMatte Alkyd Oil Colors
The purpose of this Studio Note is to introduce FastMatte Alkyd Colors and share some ideas and techniques that may be helpful to your painting process.

Black Inks: Matching Your Ink to Your Technique
One of the most frequent questions printmakers ask us is: How can I tell which Black ink is “right” for my work? This Studio Note is intended to help you select the Black ink that is most suited to your printmaking process and best serves your final printed image.

Getting the White Right
The most important color choice we make is the white we bring to our work. This Studio Note is intended to help you select the right white for your work. And in Part Two of this Studio Note, we report the results from our on-going study comparing our whites with those of other American and European companies.

Evolving Earth
This newsletter takes a look at the rich history of the world’s oldest group of colored material – earth pigments – and how artists have used these colors for over 40,000 years.

Pigments
This issue of Studio Notes looks at Gamblin’s organization of their color palette and the division of mineral and modern colors. This information gives painters an insight into the makeup of pigments from which these colors are derived, as well as some practical information to help painters create their own personal color palettes.

Controlling Surface Quality
In our frequent conversations with painters, the issue of their paintings’ surface quality comes up often. This edition of Gamblin Studio Notes addresses this issue in greater detail. Included is our first, online video demonstration!

Chromatic Black
The Gamblin Studio Notes has a tradition of being used as a technical resource and not as a sales vehicle. This edition is an exception to that approach. We want more of you to know about a color we added to our palette a couple years ago. We think that many of you who have not yet discovered Chromatic Black will thank us for the suggestion that you give it a try.

Tips for Traveling with Artists’ Materials
Many artists contact me with questions about the best ways to take art materials on aircraft. I have been flying with oil painting materials for 25 years. I have logged about 400,000 miles with my paints. Here are some suggestions.

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