Lessons from Historical Treatises
How Traditional Recipes Gradually Disappeared with Commercial Availability
A chronological study of the old manuscript treatises that were written for painters, rather than for those primarily concerned with producing materials in commercial quantities, shows that one by one, with the advance of time, recipes for pigments and mediums are omitted or accompanied by remarks to the effect that their preparation is not worth the trouble and risk of failure, since they can be purchased ready-made.
Industrialization and the Decline of Artistic Material Standards
Mass Production vs. the Specialized Needs of Fine Artists
The development of our modern industrial system based on an economy of mass production makes it quite understandable why it is impossible for the producer of a raw material that is sold daily in freight-car lots to turn out with scrupulous care the insignificantly few barrels of his product that the artists of the world consume annually. One of the contributory causes of the decline of standards for materials at the same time that advances in technology and knowledge made it possible to improve quality was the development of the paint and color industry from one which produced materials largely used for decorative purposes to one whose products are primarily used for large-scale industrial or protective purposes. Pigments, oils, and other products highly satisfactory for industrial purposes but of a quality inferior to that demanded for artists' use are made in enormous quantities.
The Scarcity of High-Quality Artist-Grade Supplies
Why Knowledgeable Artists Sometimes Improvise Their Own Materials
The superlative grades are produced on a much smaller scale and are not so widely available. Painters, sculptors, or graphic artists who are well acquainted with the properties of their materials are often able to improvise quite acceptable materials when for various reasons their normal supplies are unobtainable or when they are confronted by the numerous minor emergencies that arise in the progress of their work. However, writers or instructors who are intent upon conveying the most correct and approved ways of achieving good results are not ordinarily concerned with possible remoteness from sources of supply and similar considerations.
Emergency Methods and Their Limitations
When Makeshift Materials Are Acceptable—and When They Are Not
Hiler mentions some interesting emergency methods for the preparation of materials when the proper ingredients and ready-made supplies are not to be had; other books, including this one, also note such procedures occasionally. It must be understood that no one recommends these expedients as regular procedure, and that artists should have sufficient experience to judge for themselves whether makeshift materials are suitable for their permanent work or whether their use should be confined to notes and sketches, or when the situation is such that the only choice is to use available inferior supplies or not to paint at all. The shortcomings of common oils, decorators' pigments, homemade curd paints, etc., are all well known to the careful student of materials.
The Ever-Present Challenge of Selecting Quality Materials
Navigating the Divide Between Permanent and Impermanent Supplies
Inferior paints and supplies have always existed, and past generations of painters have always had to learn how to choose between the permanent and the impermanent, the good and the bad.
##The True Value of Making One’s Own Paints
A Deeper Understanding and Mastery of Artistic Materials
Perhaps the greatest reward to the artists or students who have gone through the training and education of making their own paints is the insight into their control and behavior, which is invaluable in the practice of painting and the discriminating selection of supplies.