About twenty-five years ago, Robert Gamblin, of Gamblin Artists' Colors, began to make paints in his garage. He did it by hand, grinding pigments and mixing them with linseed oil, following old formulae. He got good enough that his friends began to buy their paints from him. He read, researched, and experimented. He wanted to learn as much as he could about his chosen medium, because he believed that it would help him in his art. When he talks now about those days, it is easy to imagine him cooking up recipes and compiling sketch-books of annotated samples. His eyes hold the glint of an impassioned potion-maker. Five hundred years ago, he might have been an alchemist. A trip to New York, the North American art capital, paints in hand and seeking a market, brought him together with Martha Bergman, also an artist. A year later they were back in Portland, married, and the owner-operators of a fledgling Gamblin Artists' Colors.

Shortly after Robert and Martha moved into their factory in the warehouse district of Portland, they were asked by the conservation department of the Smithsonian Institute to recreate 150 antique oil colours from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. They worked at night, delving into the past after completing the daily production run. Using materials supplied by Smithsonian conservators, they developed formulae for the paints of the Old Masters. Wearing masks, gloves, and aprons, they ground sulfide of arsenic, or realgar, to create a reddish-orange colour, and cobalt glass granules, or smalt, to get blue. When he painted a landscape with the toxic, smelly, but nonetheless historically accurate palette, Robert's determination to find safe alternatives to the old colours solidified.

In that first factory, they shared the space with hundreds of dead computers. The heavy iron, paint-mixing machines looked very much as they must have at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Nonetheless, they were reliable. The same could not be said about the abandoned, and much younger, electronic equipment. The paint machines were brightly lit, fixed in rows on a well-swept concrete floor. The oil paints squeezing through their rollers, made intense, shiny statements of colour. Behind in deep shadow, on sagging grey shelves, disemboweled hard drives, circuit boards, and dusty, blind monitors, climbed the walls of the factory. Today, the Gamblins have moved to a larger site in a different part of town. The machines are still massive, although many of them are now custom-built to the needs of their lean manufacturing system implemented by Martha Gamblin. The floor is still immaculate; the paints are still as lusciously luminous. The computers, however, are no more. They have been relegated to a museum.

Gamblin Artists' Colors pride themselves on making oil painting materials that are friendly to both the artist and the environment. Through their years of research and experimentation, Robert and Martha have developed an impressive knowledge base, both historical and technical, which they are committed to sharing with other artists through brochures, newsletters, lectures, and the Internet. Their website, www.gamblincolors.com is state of the art, and provides a wealth of information on all aspects of oil painting. Perhaps those old computers did serve a purpose after all!

Contributed by Aubin van Berckel
aubin@opusframing.com

The Qualities of Light Within the Artist's Palette

The Artist's Palette: Demonstration of the differences between Mineral and Modern pigments. How you can construct your palette on those principles to create a unique range of colours perfectly tuned to your intentions.

Colour Mixing: Through a spectral layout of the palette colour mixing becomes predictable.

Paint Quality: Understanding the differences between artist-grade and student-grade, the pluses and minuses.

Mediums and Solvents: Differences between natural resin and alkyd resin mediums, and solvents. Studio safety will also be discussed.

Question and Answer: Bring your own technical issues.

April 17th, 10 am to 12 pm
Emily Carr Institute, Granville Island, Room 260, N. Bldg.

Limit 100 people. First-come, first-serve.