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What paintings are actually made of

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Latest · materials-science

The Chemistry of Cadmium and Cobalt Pigments

Cadmium and cobalt pigments behave and cost very differently. Learn the chemistry behind their color, opacity, stability, and how to handle them safely.

Beyond Every Art · October 30, 2026 · 4 min

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Pieces worth starting with.

You're Not Seeing Color the Same Way as Everyone Else

Color exists in your brain more than in the world. The science of color perception explains optical illusions, simultaneous contrast, and why context changes everything about how we see color.

PaletteNovember 2, 2025 · 20 min

Working With Fewer Colors Makes Your Art Stronger

Limited palettes force creativity and create cohesion in ways full palettes never do. Working with three to five colors teaches you more about color mixing and harmony than using everything.

PaletteNovember 2, 2025 · 18 min

Yellow Is the Most Difficult Color and Most Artists Get It Wrong

Yellow is the brightest color at full saturation — and the one that loses its identity fastest. Too much white and it disappears; too much of anything else and it turns green, orange, or brown before you realize what happened.

PaletteOctober 31, 2025 · 20 min

Woad vs. Indigo: The Blue Dye Wars

Woad was Europe's blue for centuries, until indigo arrived from the tropics — stronger, cheaper, and the centre of an economic war that ended with synthetic blue.

PaletteOctober 28, 2026 · 11 min

What Is the Brightest Color in the World?

The brightest color is a yellow-green around 555 nanometres — not because of chemistry but because of the eye. Here is what brightness really is, and how to use it.

PaletteOctober 28, 2026 · 4 min

The Complete Guide to Sculpture: Scale, Material, and How Long It Actually Lasts

Scale, material, and site decide almost everything about a sculpture before a single tool touches the material. Here's the complete guide — from defining what "large-scale" even means to why some materials outlast the civilizations that made them.

ArtOctober 28, 2026 · 19 min

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Fill height is each subject’s size against the largest one.

Art110 pieces Palette43 pieces Studio Notes33 pieces Exhibitions16 pieces materials-science13 pieces Science of Art Materials12 pieces Studio Insider11 pieces Music4 pieces

What paintings are actually made of

The Chemistry of Cadmium and Cobalt Pigments

Prussian Blue: The First Synthetic Blue

Vermilion and the Mercury That Made It

Mummy Brown: The Paint Made From Human Remains

Why Emerald Green Was Poisonous and Beloved

Indian Yellow: The Pigment With a Dark Origin

Featured articles

You're Not Seeing Color the Same Way as Everyone Else

Working With Fewer Colors Makes Your Art Stronger

Yellow Is the Most Difficult Color and Most Artists Get It Wrong

Woad vs. Indigo: The Blue Dye Wars

What Is the Brightest Color in the World?

The Complete Guide to Sculpture: Scale, Material, and How Long It Actually Lasts

What we cover

What paintings are actually made of

The Chemistry of Cadmium and Cobalt Pigments

Prussian Blue: The First Synthetic Blue

Vermilion and the Mercury That Made It

Mummy Brown: The Paint Made From Human Remains

Why Emerald Green Was Poisonous and Beloved

Indian Yellow: The Pigment With a Dark Origin

Featured articles

You're Not Seeing Color the Same Way as Everyone Else

Working With Fewer Colors Makes Your Art Stronger

Yellow Is the Most Difficult Color and Most Artists Get It Wrong

Woad vs. Indigo: The Blue Dye Wars

What Is the Brightest Color in the World?

The Complete Guide to Sculpture: Scale, Material, and How Long It Actually Lasts

What we cover

One material, examined, when the piece is ready