26 artistsmagazine.com
Buying violet paints is the alter-
native to mixing them (see Tubed
Violets, page 24). Some violets, such
as ultramarine violet, are made from
minerals or metals. Others, such as
quinacridone violet, are made from a
modern, organic pigment. Tubed vio-
lets made from a single pigment are
inherently richer, more intense and
more transparent than any mixture
you could make. Th ey also tend to
have a higher tinting strength and to
stay cleaner in color mixtures.
Next time you see a patch of gar-
den or wild violets, ask yourself, “Are
they violet or purple?” What colors
on your palette would you use to
paint them? ■
MICHAEL CHESLEY JOHNSON is a contrib-
uting editor for The Artist’s Magazine and
author of Outdoor Study to Studio: Take Your
Plein Air Paintings to the Next Level. His fi ve
art instruction videos are available through
northlightshop.com. He also teaches
plein air workshops throughout the United
States and Canada. Vist his website at
michaelchesleyjohnson.com.A Short History of Violet
For artists, a good, rich purple or violet
didn’t arrive on the scene until 1859,
when cobalt violet was created. Before
that, purple/violet pigments were either
dull, nonlightfast or very expensive. One
of the earliest was caput mortuum (Latin
for “dead head”), a purplish brown
iron oxide that was used in paintings of
religious fi gures and patrons. Although
dull, it was, at least, lightfast. Tyrian
purple, used to dye the robes of Roman
emperors, was another early pigment.
This pigment was rich but not lightfast.
It was also expensive—to make one
gram took more than 10,000 whelks
(you can still buy it today at $4,280
per gram). Cobalt violet, the fi rst truly
violet pigment, was rich, lightfast and
expensive. The fi rst recipes of this violet
were poisonous because the pigment
was made from arsenic-tainted ore.
Manganese violet, developed in 1868,
replaced cobalt violet because it was
less expensive and nontoxic. Today,
this list of historic pigments has been
supplemented by a variety of modern
ones for a full range of violets.
Brushing Up
20_tam1216BrushingUp.indd 26 9/22/16 8:33 AM