Notebook

Notebook, 1993- MATERIALS & METHODS - Pigments

Broken Color

The pure hue of a pigment when used in a painting sometimes seems to the painter to be "raw" or garish. It is then toned down by mixing in other colors, thus modifying it to suit the artist's aim and will usually make it more subtle or bring it into harmony with the general key of the painting. This is called a broken color, in comparision with a pure or bright one. Since the days of impressionists, another meaning has been attached to this term; mixed color effect produced by the juxtaposition of small strokes of separate colors over an area, instead of by painting in a solid area of well-mixed paint, has also been referred to as broken color. [p. 30]

[Mayer, Ralph. The Painter's Craft. An Introduction to Artist's Methods and Materials. Revised and updated by Steven Sheehan, Director of the Ralph Mayer Center, Yale University School of Art. New York: Penquin Group. 1948. 1991. ]

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