The Artist's Guide to Selecting Colors

by Michael Wilcox

Select your paint with confidence and protect your valuable work. This book is about artist's paints, a guide to the selection of a suitable palette in watercolors, oil paints, acrylics, gouache or... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0958789185
• ISBN13: 9780958789189
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Northlight
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.3" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

The Most Helpful Book In My Art Library

I would never again purchase a tube of paint that did not conform to the ASTM Standards that Michael Wilcox describes in easy to understand terms. I have owned this book for several years and still refer to it often. If a pigment has been proven through research to crack or change colors with time, better color mixtures using proven pigments are given in each instance. A most valuable tool for any artist's library.

Excellent and Vital Reference Book

Important information for choosing the best colors in your palette. I now am confident in the archival integrity of the palette I use and I arrange the colors according to those that form the purest color mixtures. An earlier review speaks of typos -1. Apparently this person is ignorant of the Queen's English (Michael Wilcox is British) -2. Who cares to throw out the baby with the bath water anyway? This is the clearest reference I have found on pigments.

An Excellent Resource

This is an essential book for any serious artist concerned about the integrity of their art. Who cares if there are typos? (I noticed none, myself -refer to a previous review). If you are knocking a book like this for whatever spelling/grammatical errors the subject matter is over your head. The author thoroughly explains everything to look for when selecting the best color pallet. Watch out for misleading labels, redundant and unnecessary products, fugitive colors and hidden ingredients that threaten the longevity of your work.

An informative book for students, teachers and artists!

A very informative book for any artist. We all buy paint, but the market is full of many brands and many qualities of paint. How do we make a selection? How do we avoid colors that fade or darken? How do we read the label of the tube of paint? What should be on that label? The name of the color is not important.All painters know that there are many different colors with the same name.

Definately recommended

Michael Wilcox, both an artist and a chemist, is on a holy mission to save the world from bad paint and is the perfect person to disabuse the public of the myths that keep it at the mercy of unscrupulous paint manufacturers. Artists need to know that many popular colors (such as traditionally-made alizirin crimson) are appallingly fragile in ANY medium and will always deteriorate in short periods of time. And yet there are wonderfully lightfast substitutes available, if only the artist knows what to look for. This informative, nicely illustrated book is a must for any painter who cares about the durability of his or her work. Furthermore, it can never go out of date because it offers information on the properties of PIGMENTS, and not reviews of paint products. If you know which pigments are stable, it won't matter which brands you come across at your local art supply store. Just read the ingredients to find out whether a paint will stand the test of time.