Gamblin 1980 Oils - PG7 Phthalo Green; PB15:4 Phthalo Blue; PW6 Titanium Dioxide

Gamblin’s approach is different. 1980 colours contain pure pigments, the finest refined linseed oil, and marble dust (calcium carbonate). Since oil painting began, these three ingredients have made more affordable colours.

Painters experience true colours without homogenized texture or muddy colour mixtures. Gamblin's approach to using traditional raw materials and processes ensures that artists experience the luscious working properties they expect from their oil colours.

Turquoise is a perfect transparent marriage of blue and green. When mixed with some white, this Opaque Turquoise makes a beautiful high-key tint in oil after slow drying.

PIGMENT COMPOSITION AND PERMANENCE

• Pigment Name: PB15:4 Phthalo Blue (Copper phthalocyanine)
• Pigment Type: Organic

PROPERTIES

Phthalo Blues are pure and clean primary blues with superior covering power. They have very high tinting strength and tend to overwhelm other pigments, but if colour strength can be controlled, they make predictable mixed colours. In oil form, blues are very deep and slow-drying.

When mixed with other colours or if chlorine is added, Phthalo Blue quickly tends towards green. When used alone, mix with some white, as Phthalo Blue can be semi-transparent and almost black on its own.

Phthalo blue is among the most compatible modern colours with mineral colours. It is considered more reliable than Prussian Blue but shares the same physical and colour properties. Phthalo Blue is a good colour for glazing.

PERMANENCE

Phthalo Blues are lightfast, stable, and permanent for all paint uses. Due to their stability, they are currently used in inks, coatings, and many plastics and are considered a standard pigment in printing ink and the packaging industry.

TOXICITY

Phthalo Blues have no significant hazards, although those made before 1982 contained some PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).

HISTORY

Developed by chemists using the trade name Monastral Blue, the organic blue dyestuff, now known as Phthalo Blue, was presented as a pigment in November 1935 in London. Its discovery was accidental. The dark colour was observed in a kettle where a dye was made from a British dyestuff plant. The demand for such a pigment came from commercial printers who wanted a cyan to replace Prussian Blue.

PIGMENT COMPOSITION AND PERMANENCE

• Pigment Name: PG7 Phthalo Green (polychlorinated copper (II) phthalocyanine)
• Pigment Type: Organic

PROPERTIES

Phthalo Green is a transparent, cool, bright, high-intensity colour used in oil and acrylics. It comes from a Phthalocyanine Blue pigment in which most hydrogen atoms have been replaced with chlorine, forming highly stable molecules. It has pigment properties and permanence similar to Phthalo Blue.

It is slow drying and an excellent base colour for mixing a range of bright greens. Phthalo Green is considered an excellent alternative to Viridian because it is intense, mixes well, and can be used to emphasize mineral colours in various tints.

However, its tinting strength is very high, so that it can overpower other colours. This pigment most closely resembles the discontinued and toxic Verdigris.

PERMANENCE

Phthalo Greens are completely lightfast and resistant to alkali, acids, solvents, heat, and ultraviolet radiation. Due to their stability, they are currently used in inks, coatings, and many plastics and are considered a standard pigment in printing ink and the packaging industry.

TOXICITY

Phthalo Green has no significant hazards but contained PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) until 1982.

HISTORY

This bright blue-green was developed in 1935 and has been used since 1938.

PIGMENT COMPOSITION AND PERMANENCE

• Pigment Name: PW6 Titanium White
• Pigment Type: inorganic

PROPERTIES

Titanium White is the most brilliant of the white pigments. It is considered an all-purpose oil colour that is useful in all techniques and the best all-around white. Its masstone is neither warm nor cool, placing it between Lead White and Zinc White.

It is less prone to cracking and yellowing than Lead White, but it still yellows easily. Titanium White dries slowly in oil form, more slowly than Lead White but more quickly than Zinc White. It is opaque in oil and acrylic forms and semi-opaque in watercolour form. This pigment has good chemical stability, and its tinting strength is superior to Lead White and Zinc White.

PERMANENCE

Titanium White has excellent permanence and lightfastness.

TOXICITY

Titanium dioxide is highly stable and is regarded as completely non-toxic. Animal studies do not indicate that it is absorbed biologically, even after long periods of exposure. The primary safety concern is with the inhalation of fine pigment dust particles.

HISTORY

Titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the Earth's crust. However, mineral deposits that are economical to mine are rare. Titanium dioxide was first discovered in 1821, although it could not be mass-produced until 1919. Widespread use of the pigment began in the 1940s.

Since that time, it has become the most commonly used white pigment. The name comes from the Latin word Titan, the name for the elder brother of Kronos and ancestor of the Titans, and the Greek word tito, meaning day or sun.