Learning to make paint with pure pigments

On the 14th of June I attended a fascinating and indepth workshop on making watercolour and oil paints using pure pigments. A good part of the course also covered everything you need to know about preparing surfaces and mixing paints as well as the all important safety precautions when mixing glues and pure pigments.

The workshop was extremely well prepared and professionally delivered by Victoria Pearce Director of Endangered Heritage, a leading provider of conservation services in Canberra, Victoria and her super friendly and knowledgable team offer over 70 years of experience across a diverse range of collection support and conservation services.

A small group of artists all eager and open to learning about how the masters prepared and mixed their paints, gathered around a large table in the shop front. After lots of technical discussed we moved into the practical segment of the course and relocated to the rear studio, a large space full of interesting apparatus and workbenches. Victoria’s expertise was impressive to say the least and on reflection she is probably is one of the most captivating of story tellers and dynamic workshop presenters I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. A dozen pages of notes later, gloved and masked up, I was mixing pure pigments such as ultramarine blue and rich yellow ochre. Can’t speak highly enough of Victoria her service subsequent to my course and purchasing of paints has been fantastic. If you are looking to take your practice to the next level and do your preparation of boards the right way you will find the learning in this workshop simply brilliant!