ONYX - The translucent colour

In November we are celebrating Colour of the Month #15, Onyx - The translucent colour. I will go through the origin, chemical composition, varieties and colours, and uses and applications. I had the chance to experiment with a green variety of the Onyx stone during my residency/teaching experience in Argentina. 

COURSE IN DESIGN, COLOUR THEORY, ALCHEMY

 

I will like to share my experience of teaching in Argentina about Design and Colour. I taught a course on Design, Colour Theory and Alchemy to locals with no design or colour formation whatsoever. It was a fulfilling, heart-centered experience of sharing my knowledge and wisdom with others. 

PINK RHODOCHROSITE - ROSA DEL INCA

We are celebrating colour of the month #14. Rhodochrosite is a pink manganese carbonate mineral used as an ore, a gemstone and a crystal specimen. 

Azurite Blue / Colour of the month #12

Azurite has been used as blue pigment for centuries; extensively used in Egypt, East Europe and China. It is a soft, deep blue copper mineral produced by breaking down copper ore deposits.

INDIAN YELLOW : The Colour of Pee

Indian Yellow is a transparent and luminescent traditional yellow pigment, with excellent tinting qualities that was used in oil and watercolour painting. Also known as purree, piuri, peori, gogoli, gaugil, moghyr piuri, giallo indiano, snowshoe yellow and many more. It was admired for its purity and goldish like shade.

BURNT SIENNA: Colour of the month #10

The earth colour pigments known as Raw and Burnt Sienna are traditional colours, which consist mostly of iron oxides, hematite and goethite. One pigment is yellowish-brown and the other is reddish-brown, which differentiate in the thermal processing of the raw material.

Colour Alchimia at Bota Fogo in Milan

Super excited and inspired after my latest workshop in Milan. I met really interesting people and creatives; it was a multicultural group mainly Italians, a New Yorker and a Lebanese. Most of them colour designers for the automotive and fashion industry, art directors and industrial designers. 

ULTRAMARINE BLUE : Colour of the month #9

Throughout history, blue colour was unobtainable or rare. Humans took many years to discover, understand and work with this colour.  It wasn’t easily found in nature making it quite difficult to extract. One of the most expensive blue colours in history, even more than gold is Ultramarine Blue due to its extensive production process and its origin.

Terra Verte: Colour of the Month #8

Historically, terra verte, green earth or argilla verde was the pigment for flesh undertones. It was used as the first layer, which neutralised the effect of pink and reds of flesh colours used by artists during Medieval and Renaissance times. 

M U M M Y BROWN: Colour of the month #7

Photo: Studio Laura Daza

While studying Egyptian history and historical pigments I found an incredible and scary story behind one of these pigments.  Mummy brown, Egyptian mummy or caput mortuum, which means dead head in latin, was a pigment favoured by Pre-Raphaelite painters.