Figure 17. Link to Red Spectrum. Slide presentation of dry residue of red pigments after 30 000 hours. Click on image to see.
Background
This observation, GGLCO #5:C, was unexpected and unplanned. At the completion of the exhibition at Concordia, I was initiating cleaning the cylinders ready for storage when I resisted and considered another possible option, which was to leave some of the colouring in each of the glass cylinders so that I could observe the behaviours of each of the pigments as they evaporated on the glass overtime. While looking into the bottom of the glass cylinders of GGLCO #5 after approx. 30,000 hours of evaporation, I was reminded of a memory of my Greek background and reading coffee cups.
As a young girl growing up with Greek Cypriot heritage on my father’s side, I would often see my aunties sitting around in the kitchen looking at the remnants of coffee in the bottom of the petite cups, usually after a celebration or family gathering. The coffee cup residue and the patterns made by swilling the leftover coffee around, turning the cup upside down on a saucer and then the waiting for all that it held to drain down, revealed the stories of future and life. Foreboding images and warnings were seen by the wise old people in the patterns formed by the coffee. I had many events predicted in my cups and many fortunes waiting to be gifted to me, but I still look at the coffee cups and read the residue as my grandmother had taught me, and I wonder about the future.
Scope
The scope of GGLCO #5.3, was to:
a. observe the residue in the glass cylinders of the 25 red pigments after approx. 30,000 hours of evaporation
b. consider if my observations aligned with the Winsor and Newton classifications
c. provide a record of the pigments in a dry state without a substrate.
Materials
Procedure
After the removal of GGLCO #5.2 from Concordia Gallery, a greater amount of water was removed and each cylinder held approximately 3cm of colourant when it was packed and transferred for storage. The containers were secure, left open to air and remained upright so that further evaporation of the colourant could occur for 30,000 hours.
Observations and Reflection after 30,000 hours
The following images (hyperlinked in Figure 17 of the RED SPECTRUM slideshow) provide closer inspection of the staining and granulating behaviours found in individual red pigments. A comparison of the red pigments that have dried on the paper substrate, and their corresponding residue left in the cylinder, exemplifies the inherent qualities of each colour. These images provide an opportunity to showcase a pigment and examine all its qualities and potentials for the artist on their palette.
These are discussed as case studies in the thesis. Advancing Reds looking at Cadmium Red and Cadmium-Free Red, Receding Reds that focusing on Rose Madder Genuine and Earth Reds where Burnt Sienna is studied.
Recommendations
This study was not initially anticipated or planned as part of GGLCO 5 but when changes occurred at UNSW and as a result of the Covid my supervisors were made redundant and a new supervisor appointed. I needed to provide my new supervisor with an opportunity to view all of the GGLCO studies so we could discuss how they had altered over time. I went back to the large glass cylinders and found the leftover residue of each red pigment evaporated and returned to a dry state on the base of the glass. Each pigment had dried in a very specific manner that was reflective of their inherent qualities. These differences can be observed in the images above. These dried samples provide an understanding of the density of the pigment, its transparency and opacity through the glass.
Ideally I would have liked the colourant in GGLCO5 to have evaporated on its own and it would be interesting to use the dry pigment again but more importantly this observation raised question about how each coloured pigment has its own inherent quality and consequent interactions with each other. This observation builds on the understanding of red pigments essentially reveals new understanding about colour for the contemporary palette?
Footnotes
[1] Red pigments provided by Colart and the Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour Range.
[2] Cylinders sourced from IKEA some variations in glass thickness exist. There are minor variations in glass thickness of each cylinder.