Rock and Minerals of Color, Color Pigments, Color Elements, Color Ores, Artist's Real Colorwheel, REAL COLOR WHEEL, Ore's Color Reactions, Crystal Colorwheel, Prism Colors, PRISM COLORS, Color theory, Rainbows

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Open a new window, Go to the Comparative Advances in Art History, European and Asian Cultures CLICK HERE

Open a new window, Go to the HISTORY OF PAINTING MEDIUMS... Oil Paint, Acrylic Paint, Wax Paint, Casein Paint, Fresco Painting. CLICK HERE

Open a new window, Go to DATED HISTORY OF ARTISTS and PIGMENTS, DATED COLOR THEORIES, TECHNIQUES of the past, Real Color Wheel matching RGB and pigments, Past Color Theories. CLICK HERE

Open a new window, Go to PAINTING ON LOCATION, USING PIGMENTS, MAKING MEDIUMS, HUMAN PROPORTIONS, LINEAL PERSPECTIVE, MODERN PAINTING TECHNIQUES, MATCHING 36 TUBE OIL PIGMENTS TO RGB WITH COLOR EXAMPLES. CLICK HERE

Open a new window, Go to COMPUTER COLORING CONTEST and WORKSHOP using the Real Color Wheel Image.  CLICK HERE

Open a new window, Go to Real Color Wheel Color Chart with top tint to mass tone charts. CLICK HERE

Open a new window for a list of hard to spell search words and proper names included in the course, not found in most dictionaries,  click here.

1881,  PAINTS AND COLORS from the Household Cylopedia (305 Kb, A separate web page with a return. How to make house paints, artists paints, varnishes and inks in 1881) 

--B/C MINING--

--B/C PALETTE--

--CRYSTAL ELEMENT-TO-COLOR-CHART--

-- MEASURING COLOR IN RAINBOWS, PRISMS AND LIGHT--

--THE REAL COLORING WHEEL--

--ARTISTS, COLOR, THEORY, TECHNIQUE AND PIGMENTS THROUGH OUT TIME-- Open New Page

--CONVERSION OF LIGHT TO PIGMENTS--

--RAINBOW and PRISMS--

--PIGMENTS IN OIL, MATCHING RGB HTML-- Open a new window to the Painting on Location section.

--LAC and DYE colors-- Open a new window to the Medium section.
 
 

ROCK AND MINERALS MAKING COLOR 34

---MOHS SCALE OF HARDNESS 34

---BASALT 34 ---SYENITE 34 ---QUARTZ 34 ---GRANITE 34 ---FELDSPAR 35 ---KAOLINITE 35

SEA MINERALS AND ROCK 35

---SANDSTONE 35 ---QUARTZITE 35 ---LIMESTONE 36 ---MARBLE 36 ---GYPSUM 36 ---HORNFELS 36 ---DIATOMITE 36 ---FLUORITE 37 ---BARITE 37 ---CELESTITE 37 ---HALITE 37

LAKE MINERALS 37

---BORAX 37 ---TRONA 37 ---SODALITE 37 ---SULFUR 38 ---CEMENT 39
 

ORES OF COLOR 40

---ANTIMONY 40 ---ARSENIC 40 ---COPPER 40 ---IRON 41 ---LEAD 42 ---MERCURY 43 ---TIN 43 ---ZINC 43

COLOR ORES 44

---B/C MINING 44 ---ORE'S COLOR REACTIONS TO EACH OTHER, IN PIGMENT 52

----ANTIMONY 52 ----ARSENIC 52 ----COBALT 52 ----COPPER 53 ----IRON 54 ----LEAD 54 ----MANGANESE 55 ----MERCURY 55 ----SULFUR 56 ----TIN 56 ----ZINC 56
 

---CRYSTAL TERMS 58

STANDARD COLOR IN ORE AND MINERAL, GLOSSARY, TERMS 59

CRYSTAL ORE AND MINERAL CHEMISTRY, DEFINITION, TERMS, GLOSSARY 60

---COLOR WHEEL IN ELEMENTS AND CRYSTAL 64

---CRYSTALS, LIGHT AND COLOR TERMS 66

---COLOR OF CALCALCINED ELEMENTS 67

CRYSTAL CHROMATE ELEMENTS, COLOR PRODUCING 68

---ELEMENT, SYM., NO., S/G, DESCRIPTION 69
 

---MINERALS AND ELEMENTS IN COLOR CRYSTAL COMPOUNDS 73

----00, DIAMOND 73

----01, LIDDICOATITE 73

SULPHIDES, ARSENIDES, ANTIMONIDES

----02, CHALCOPYRITE 73

----03, SPHALERITE 73

----04, CINNABAR 73

----05, GALENA 74

----06, REALGAR 74

----07, ORPIMENT 74

----08, STIBNITE 74

----09, PYRITE 74

----10, PROUSTITE 74

----11, PYRARGYRITE 74

OXIDES, HYDROXIDES 75

----12, CUPRITE 75

----13, CHRYSOBERLE 75

----14, SPINEL 75

----15, ZINCITE 75

----15, ZINC SILIATE 75

----16, CORUNDUM 76

----17, QUARTZ 76

----18, OPAL 76

----19 RUTILE 77

----20 ANATASE 77

----21 CASSITERITE 77

----22 HEMATITE 77

HALIDES 78

----23 HALITE 77

----24, FLUORITE 78

----25, CUMENGEITE 78

CARBONATES 78

----26, MALACHITE 78

----27, AZURITE 78

----28, CALCITE 78

----29 ARAGONITE 79

----30 DOLOMITE 79

----31 WITHERITE 79

----32 SMITHSONITE 79

----33 AURICHALCITE 79

----34 CERUSSITE 79

----35 RHODOCHROSITE 79

----36 SIDERITE 79

SILICATES 80

----37, DIOPTASE 80

----38, CHRYSOCOLLA 80

----39, PHENAKITE 80

----40, WOLLASTONITE 80

----41, DIOPSIDE 80

----42, SPHENE 80

----43, ZIRCON 81

----44, SERANDITE 81

----45, OLIVINE 81

----46, KYANITE 81

----47, SPODUMENE 82

----48, LEUCITE 82

----49, ORTHOCLASE82

----50, BERYL 82

----51, EUCLASE83

----52, GROSSULAR 83

----53, LABRACORITE 83

----54, SPESSARTINE 83

----55, ALMANDINE 84

----56, EPIDOTE 84

----57, VESUVIANITE 84

----58, APOPHYLLITE 84

----59, TOPAZ 85

----60, ELBAITE 85

----61, LAPIS LAZULI 85

PHOSPHATES, ARSENATES, VANADATES 86

----62, TURQUOISE 86

----63, WAVELLITE 86

----64, BRAZILIANITE 86

----65, AUTUNITE 86

----66, VIVIANITE 86

----67, LEGRANDITE 87

----68, FLUORAPATITE 87

----69, PYROMORPHITE 87

----70, MIMETITE 87

----71, VANADINITE 87

SULFATES 88

----72, GYPSUM 88

----73, CELESTINE 88

----74, BARITE 88

CHROMATES 88

----75, CROCOITE 88

MOLYBDATES 88

----76, WULFENITE 88

TUNGSTATES 88

----77, SCHEELITE, 88

----78 WOLFRAMITE 89

TWELVE STANDARD [Real Color Wheel] COLORS IN MINERAL COMPOUNDS 89

---MINERAL ELEMENTS IN CRYSTAL, COLOR CHART 90

---CENTERING COLOR ELEMENTS 94

---ELEMENTS, QUANTITY LIST 96

B/C PALETTE 97

---WHITE 97

---BLACK 97

---YELLOW 98

---ORANGE 98

---RED 99

---MAGENTA 99

---BROWN 100

---PURPLE 100

---BLUE 100

---CYAN 101

---GREEN 101
 
 

35/ THE REAL COLOR WHEEL [RCW] 221

---THE LIGHT AND PIGMENT COLOR WHEEL'S ARE THE SAME COLORS 222

---PRIMARY, PIGMENT, THREE COLOR WHEEL 222

---SIX COLOR WHEEL, COMBINES THE LIGHT AND PIGMENT TRIADS 222

---TWELVE COLOR WHEEL 222

---TWENTY-FOUR 24 COLOR WHEEL 224

---ALL COLOR OPPOSITION'S MIX NEUTRAL. 224

CONVERSION OF LIGHT TO PIGMENT 226
 

RAINBOWS AND SPECTROSCOPES 248

---MEASURING LIGHT WAVES 248

---LIGHT TERMS GLOSSARY 250

PRISMS 253

----PRISM, TOP VIEW 254

----TOP-SIDE VIEW 255

----BOTTOM VIEW 256

----RIGHT ANGLE DOWN, HYPOTENUSE AT 45 DEGREES 257

----INTERNAL, POLARIZED EDGE LIT SPECTRUM 258

----LIGHT, POLARIZED EDGES 259

----EXTERNAL LIGHT SPECTRUM 260

----LIGHT ENTERING A SPHERE 261

---SUNDOGS AND HALOS 261

RAINBOW'S 262

---RAINBOWS POSITION 263

Note, 265

COMPUTER COLORING CONTEST 288
 
 

Basalt is the most common of the earth's volcanic rocks, its crystals are continuous and elongated. Basalt magma is sometimes as hard as glass, but rarely.
 
 

Syenite forms in silicate-less magma, consisting typically of feldspar and hornblende.
 
 

Quartz is the most common crystal mineral, oxygen and silicon, it has the hardness of H7. Quartz is found in ore mineral veins and needs a hollow space to form, As rocks and veins weather, quartz is freed of its matrix and breaks loose to form sand. Cemented sand is sandstone. Intruding magma going through sandstone will again form ore and quartz.
 
 

Granite is also igneous, fire intrusive. It's composed of quartz and feldspar. Granite magma intrudes limestone or dolomite and forms marble. Marble is heat and calcium of limestone, plus calcium magnesium of dolomite, plus silica. Veins or lodes of ore in marble include, tin, copper, uranium, iron, zinc and lead. Marble is metamorphic limestone.

Granite intrudes with its hottest leading edge forming cassiterite, tin. The copper sulfides form second, chalcopyrite is the primary copper ore formed in quartz. Third would be cobalt, nickel and arsenic. Then the zinc-lead zone, with zinc sulfide as sphalerite ore, lead sulfide as galena ore, than silver. Finally, the iron rich zone with iron carbonate as siderite ore, the dominate mineral of the world.
 
 

Feldspar is common in granite magma intruding on sandstone sedimentary rock, it hardens into a crystal softer then quartz. Feldspar can be morphasized with pressure to a harder crystal like tourmaline or topaz.

Feldspar is the second most common mixed mineral silicate crystal, made from potassium, sodium and calcium, an alumino-silicate. It contains aluminum in the ore, bauxite, clay and rock. Clay is hydrated silicates of aluminum.

Potash feldspar is microdine, add iron and it takes on red to green colors. Green amazonite was mined and used as a pigment on murals in 1300 B/C, in Egypt.

Plageoclase feldspar is sodium and calcium.
 
 

Kaolinite, is clay and chalk after feldspar. Carbonic acid, is present in rainwater or vapors, this pheudomorphs the kaolinite from feldspar.

Porcelain is made from kaolinite clay and is mined in Cornwall, England and China.
 
 

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock, an intact mineral of quartz sand. It is cemented together by the commonest cement, calcium carbonate.
 

Quartzite is metamorphic sandstone, an intact mineral or solution of suspended silica growing on quartz crystal, sand is broken quartz crystal.
 

Limestone is a sedimentary mineral cemented by calcium carbonate and is made of once living organisms, the dissolved mineral is calcite. In this same category of sedimented rock is salt and gypsum. Powered and heated, "calcined" limestone makes plaster of Paris, mural mortar, we'll get to slaking lime in the mural chapter in Mediums Explained.
 

Marble is metamorphic or recrystallized limestone, being metamorphic is being made with pressure.
 

Gypsum's are crystals of hydrous calcium sulfate, crystal deposits formed as precipitates from sea water or in limestone, These circulating waters contain sulfuric acid generated by oxidation of sulfur ore minerals.

Gypsum crystals are called selenite when there clear, alabaster, when there translucent and fibrous, satin-spar, when there opaque and bendable.

Gypsum heated forms sulfur dioxide gas and sulfuric acid. Heated in the presence of lead, either with fumes or in a natural combinations, will form basic lead carbonate, called lead white. Gypsum, after being heated loses most of its sulfur and becomes plaster of Paris, lime plaster is better to paint on.
 

Hornfels are a combination of clay and fine quartz sand, forming silt which makes shale. Pressure forms hard rock hornfels.
 

Diatomite is diatomaceous earth, a porous chalk like material, a sedimentary rock that forms on a sea floor or lake bottoms. It's a form of opaline silica, microscopic plants secrete silica to form hard shells of opal. Diatomite is a common filler in paint and paper.
 

Fluorite is crystal of calcium fluoride, found in veins with the metallic ores of lead and silver, or with barite, gypsum, calestite and dolomite, or by itself.

Fluorite forms a full color wheel, it's the only non-metallic element that has this capability. There's also a luminescence fluorite which emits a visible light when crushed, heated or radiated. England mines "Blue John" which was carved into bowls, cups and vases. The Chinese mined a green variety and carved statues.
 

Barite is crystal of barium sulfate, called heavy spar, it has no coloring power by itself. Barite is a non-metallic mineral crystal mined in England, filling the cavities in limestone. As barium it's an extender in lead based, cadmium paints and vat dyes
 

Celestite is strontium sulfate, the ore of strontium. This strontium element supplies "the rockets red glare".
 

Halite is sodium chloride, rock salt.
 

Borax is found in dry lakes as in Tibet, it was called "tin-cal", a Chinese word. Boron is also found in boric acid and in the mineral sassolite, mined in Tuscany, Italy. It can be found in a mineral called tincalconite and ten others. Borax and shellac form the paint called "water shellac". Boron hardens metals, and makes soaps and medicine. Molten borax will dissolve insoluble metal oxides and is the flux for soldering, brazing and welding metals.
 
 

Trona is soda ash in its hydrous state as in sodium carbonate. In its anhydrous state, it's soda ash. 1/5 soda ash and 4/5's sand quartz, make glass, with enough heat.
 
 

Sodalite is sodium aluminum silicate with sodium chloride, it forms in massive crystals, like over an acre!
 
 

SULFUR is abundant in gypsum and as an anhydrite from sea water, it is also found in limestone to some extent. Sulfur was used as an insecticide in 1000 B/C, ancient Greece gathered it in Delphi, from a deep crevice exuding sulfurous gases from Mount Parnassus. Sulfur burns a blue flame and emits sulfur dioxide gas.

SULFURIC ACID is sodium carbonate and is used in making glass. It was once called "oil of vitriol", a di-basic acid of sulfur made from sulfur tri-oxide. To "vitriolize", means to treat with sulfuric acid, it gives a glassy appearance to metallic sulfates; white vitriol is made from the lead or zinc ore, blue vitriol is made from copper, green vitriol is made from copperas, a ferrous sulfate, iron.

SULFIDE contains the free radical or more electropositive element, it effects changes with other ores.

SULFATE, to treat with a salt of sulfuric acid will make a sulfate. Lead sulfate compounds form on lead, you "sulfatize" when you roast galena, the lead ore that contains sulfur.

SULFUROUS ACID is dissolved sulfur di-oxide gas in water, to form salts called sulfites.

SULFITE is the salt of sulfurous acid which makes the cadmium sulfides from yellow to red. Arsenic sulfides are yellow-green, yellow, orange and red. Copper sulfides are green to blue. Lead sulfides range from white to red. Note: Oil coal-tar colors go from hansa yellow to ultramarine blue moving around the magenta side.
 
 

CEMENT, like in Portland Cement, is made of lime, from heated gypsum, sand and alumina which is the oxide of aluminum present in clay. That makes cement hydraulic, the clay absorbs water and the cement sets quickly, too quickly for mural work. Heated gypsum burns off sulfur as it becomes lime, any traces left behind would also be bad for a mural's pigments. So don't use gypsum lime for murals, use limestone lime. Soak, or slake the lime from six months to twenty years, the longer the better and add 3 sand to 1 lime to make cement. Use a fine sand or marble powder for the last coats, three coats are better than one and six coats are better than three.

CEMENT FONDU is a cement with a high aluminum content,

KEENE CEMENT has alum salts added and makes a very hard mass.

CASEIN CEMENT, casein added to cement makes it harder and set faster.

HIDE GLUE CEMENT, Add less then one percent hide glue into the cement to slow setting from ten minutes to two hours.

OXYCHLORIDE CEMENT is also called , PLASTIC MAGNESIA. It's calcined magnesite, it's calcined just short of becoming magnesia [as limestone becomes lime], and made into cement with a strong solution of magnesium chloride. This is CAST STONE. 

ALLOCHROMATIC, is an element coloring term meaning an outside element is included in the compound.

ANISOTROPIC, Crystals in which light travels at different velocities in different directions.

AMORPHOUS, without crystalline structure, like the opal or glass.

CLEAVAGE, a breaking point along a face, variable.

CUBIC SYSTEM, four pyramids or tetrahedrites block together and make a cube, this system has the highest symmetry, the triclinic has the lowest. The other systems are Tetragonal, Orthohombic, Trigonal, Hexagonal, and Monoclinic.

HABIT, is the shape of a crystal. There are seven systems, and thirty two classes within the systems.

PARTING, similar to cleavage but along the twinning axis.

PSEUDOMORPHS, A crystal inside a rock may change it's chemical composition and still keep its original shape, common to quartz.

FRACTURE, broken.

AGGREGATE, A mineral without an obvious crystal shape, crystals forming masses as gold and silver [dendritic], tree or plant like, or the kidney-shaped hematite [reniform].

COMPOUNDS, Two or more elements form compounds. Oxide compounds are combined with oxygen and a metal element, hydroxides, carbonates, silicates, sulfides, sulfates, arsenides, antimonides, Tungstates, and chromates are all compounds.

CARBONATES, carbon compounds.

GANGUE, other minerals found with the mined ore.

GOSSAN, The "iron hat" of gangue minerals with iron and manganese oxides, the soluble minerals sink lower in the earth to form azurite, malachite, and cuprite. Sulfur sinks still lower and forms sulfides like chalcocite.

HALIDES, contain halogens, negative elements, fluorine, chlorine, iodine and astatine.

NATIVE, Uncombined with other elements, natural.

OXIDES, a mineral combined with oxygen as the sole anion. These are usually hard because of close packing.

HYDROXIDES, have the complex anion [OH].

PSEUDOMORPHS, A crystal inside a rock may change it's chemical composition and still keep its original shape, common to quartz.

SILICATES, Silicon combined with oxygen, SiO₄.

STREAK, The color left behind from an abraded (usually rubbed on frosted glass to test) mineral.

SULFIDES or SULPHIDES, Metallic ores formed in the presence of sulfur and the absence of oxygen, C0₃2-.

TENOR, The metal content of an ore.
 
 

ANTIMONY native is Naples yellow, a very early pigment replenished in the Vesuvius eruption of 79 A/D. Antimony oxide was made artificially since the early eleventh century. Antimony sulfides are found in the mineral galance stibnite, in Italy and Human, China.
 
 

ARSENIC, Arsenopyrite is arsenic's main ore. Arsenic disulfides are red realgar and yellow orpiment, both were used in the early Egyptian days in paint.
 
 

COPPER ORE native, is brittle unless it's heated (annealed) as the ancient Anatolias did in 6000 B/C. The ancient Eskimos ground fish hooks out of this native copper. Copper pitch ore was used all through the Neolithic Period.

CUPRITE is a cubic transparent ruby-red crystal, formed as a secondary mineral from exposed copper ore. TENORITE is black copper oxide.

CHALCOCITE is another secondary mineral of copper, found in metallic sulfides, precipitating in still waters as a soluble sediment.

CHALCANTHITE is retrieved from the chalcocite sediment, this is the basis of the ancient blue vitriol, and it made blue and green frit. Notice, it's the complementary color of cuprite. I'll point this out in color wheel oppositions.

ANTLERITE is copper's chief ore mineral, it's a copper sulfate.

CHALCOPYRITE is the primary ore formed in quartz.

CHRYSOCOLLA has a hardness of 2.5, it's a light cyan colored ore that the Egyptians wore as jewelry, they matched this color with copper and tin glass frit. Small scarabs were found glazed and considered as good luck pieces, it was a sample of the color pigment they sold on the ancient world market.

MALACHITE is a secondary mineral ore of copper carbonate, a native green pigment when crushed.

AZURITE is another hydrated salt of copper carbonate, this one's a deep cyan color which looks blue, it was also used as a pigment all throughout the ancient years, it was transparent to opaque. Soak azurite long enough and it will turn green, ammonia turns copper blue.

ACETATE is a salt by acetic acid or vinegar. A hydrated copper acetate was said to be the first artificial color, I made some and it was cyan on the green side. It was made by the Romans in 1000 B/C and was called vertigris. They would have had to suspend Egypt's chalcocite sediment in vinegar to precipitate a salt. Egypt had murals of wine harvests 2500 years earlier. I suspect Egypt made it first, before Rome, since they did so much with copper.

PHTHALOCYANINE is copper with one of it's atoms removed to make a non-metallic pigment. This pigment doesn't react to sulfur as metallic copper does, it is transparent and covers the colors from yellow-green to cyan. This is perhaps the most important color ever discovered.
 
 

GOETHITE is iron hydroxide crystals found yellow to brown in earthy masses, it's an ore of iron that contains the natural yellow ferric oxide pigments.

IRON OXIDE ranges from white calcite, yellow, yellow ocher, sienna, red oxide, brown and green umber to black. Adding heat [calcine], brings out the red side and adds a transparent quality if silicates are involved, as in sienna. Magnesium is the purple side of caput mortuum, present in iron.

HEMATITE is iron ore, heat it to 1830 degrees and get iron. Hematite naturally crushed and oxidized leaves a red streak powder that was the stone-age red and Egyptian rouge.

PYRITE is iron sulfide and sulfuric acid, dissolved in water to leave behind limonite. Fifty four percent of pyrite is sulfur, decomposed pyrite is hydrated iron oxide.

LIMONITE is a secondary ore of iron that forms yellow to brown oxides. This is the second bit of proof that yellow and brown are the same color (Tint to shade) in my color wheel, CENTERING COLORS.

SIDERITE is iron carbonate, going from yellow to brown.

CALCITE is a native iron pigment mineral that is white. Iron will make all colors.

CALADONITE is a green earth iron silicate mineral.
 
 

GALENITE or GALENA. Galena is lead sulfide mineral, native, and it contains sulfur. Roasting the galena ore produces a basic lead carbonate, white lead sulfate. Also formed is a water soluble salt compound of lead arsenate.

CERUSSITE is a native lead carbonate mineral, white lead.

VANADINITE washes to lead vanadate, a red-orange crystal.

WULFENITE is a transparent orange crystal.

LEAD ACETATE is a colorless crystal formed by acetic acid touching lead, it is water soluble and called sugar of lead. Lead acetate can be used as a siccative.

LEAD IS CORRODED with fumes of acetate and carbonic acid in steam. It forms a white lead sulfide or oxidized white lead and contains the free-radical that effects so many pigments. This is artificial basic lead carbonate, our white pigment. Hydrogen peroxide will stabilize and remove the free-radical, turning lead sulfide to lead sulfate, a stable white lead.

LEAD CARBONATE is formed by mixing in solution, lye and carbonic acid with lead acetate. It's the whitest lead but not as opaque as white lead oxide.
 
 

CINNABAR is the ore of mercury, mercuric sulfide, the red crushed ore is the color vermilion. Cinnabar is found in crystal and masses in South Central Spain and in China. China did more carving in it than painting with it. The rest of the world found it a very useful pigment. The Carthaginians and the Romans both worked the Spanish mines for cinnabar.
 
 

TIN ORE is found in cassiterite, a tin dioxide, the principle ore of tin, along with wood tin. The symbol for tin is Sn, for stannum.

Tin ore is found in rock forming minerals like feldspar, quartz and mica. First, tin was exposed on cliff faces, where the rocks eroded exposing the veins. Eventually it entered streams and rivers to be stream mined. Tin was mined in Eastern Greece, ancient Anatolia, Upper Syria, the Tigris Euphrates Valley, Afghanistan, the Mekong River and England. Egypt's paints were tin based.

TIN OXIDE is black and fires white, mix tin oxide and cobalt oxide with heat and you get cerulean blue. You can get a similar blue by mixing and firing tin and copper chalcanthite with quartz sand like the Egyptians did, this made their highly prized frit colors, which they traded through the Phoenician's, ancient-world-wide. Smelt tin ore and copper ore and you'll get bronze. Bronze is the metal the Egyptians made their saws out of to cut the limestone for their great pyramids.
 

ZINC: The zinc primary sulfide mineral is water soluble, and is often found with galena.

ZINC SILIATE: Zinc silicate comes in a variety of colors, transparent yellow and green, opaque white, yellow, green, red, brown and black. All these colors were found in the Franklin Mines of New Jersey, 22 miles from where I was born.

ZINC OXIDE: Zinc oxide is called zincite and is colored white, yellow, orange and red.

40,000 B/C- Tribes mined flint in Egypt and France.

6,000 B/C- Neolithic communities like Anatolia hammered copper, Copper works were found in Catal Huyuk, a culture in Turkey.

6,000 B/C- Eskimo's N W of Hudson Bay had copper fish hooks made from glacial copper.

5,000 B/C- Pre-dynastic Egypt mined gold, silver, chalcedony, [a milk colored quartz], chrysoprase, a nickel stained apple-green chalcedony, green feldspar, [light-green amazonite], green fluorite, malachite, [crushed malachite was their green eye shadow paint]. Hematite was red rouge. Lapis lazuli was jewelry.

4,700 B/C- Egypt's IV Dynasty smelted bronze.

4,000 B/C- Egypt's casting gold, copper and bronze, bronze saws cut the blocks of lime stone for the pyramids of Giza. They burnt gypsum and limestone for plaster and cement to cover walls, make columns, and as supports for murals. An Iron and nickel alloy knife was made and found, probably from a meteorite.

3,400 B/C- Afghanistan and Mesopotamia were mining lapis lazuli.

3,000 B/C- Galena was found in every country from Morocco to Greece, from Russia to China. Neolithic miners dug for flint in England, a small figurine of a pregnant woman was found at the back of a limestone cave. Old Kingdom Egypt was painting murals of miners, smelters, farmers and "the good life".

2,700 B/C- Gold found in the Royal Caves of Ur, sprinkled on the dead.

2,000 B/C- The Nubia people mined 1,000 tons of gold for Egypt. The Phoenician's smelted galena and silver. Bronze was all over the Mediterranean and China.

1,500 B/C The Hittites of Anatolia smelted iron, Zinc was smelted from lead.

1,350 B/C King Tutankhamen, of the XVIII Dynasty had smelted tools of iron, a Life-like gold casting of him was in his tomb.

1,100 B/C The Phoenician city of Gadez, became a tin market. 1,000 B/C Greece was smelting bronze also.

1,350 B/C King Tutankhamen, of the XVIII Dynasty had smelted tools of iron, a Life-like gold casting of him was in his tomb.

1,100 B/C The Phoenician city of Gadez, became a tin market.

600 B/C Clay plate painting of "miners" at Corinth, Greece.

Here's the mineral palette back when Sandraca (sandracca)was King and Zeus had a son named Castor. Castor is also the brightest star in Gemini. Castor oil was added to sandaraca (sandracca) about 2000 B/C, to soften, extend and make it pliable. Sandaraca was a major medium into the A/D's, when mastic, wax, egg, and oil started replacing it.
 
 

ANTIMONY GALANCE, stibnite ore was roasted or found native.

GYPSUM, native calcium sulfate, calcined to 250 degrees.

IRON, native ore calcite, oxide.

LEAD, Lead white, "ceruse", basic sulfate of lead, native or burnt galena ore.

LEAD, "White vitriol", made with sulfuric acid fumes.

LEAD, Lead white carbonate oxide, made by acetic acid fumes and carbonic acid fumes on lead in a closed container.

MAGNESIUM, carbonate found native, the whitest ore pigment.

MICA. Silicate laminated natural, native. Japanese pigment.

SHELL, powered.

TIN. Calcined tin oxide.

ZINC oxide found native.

ZINC "White Vitriol", made with sulfuric acid fumes.
 
 

BONE and HORN. Roman "atramentum", charred deep black.

CARBON. Oil soot, lamp black. IRON. Iron oxide, native.

MANGANESE. Black manganese dioxide native, ancient "pyrolusite".

ROCK, Slate gray, crushed.

SULFUR. Ultramarine ash, the first washing contains some matrix rock, this leaves a cool opaque gray.
 
 

ARSENIC. Orpiment, arsenic sulfide, native, Egypt early, 3000 B/C.

ANTIMONY. Naples yellow, native, 500 B/C, replenished 79 A/D in the Vesuvius eruption.

IRON. Yellow ocher natural, "minette", "sil", "chamois", heated to gold ocher, flesh ocher and red.

IRON. Raw sienna, heated to burnt sienna and translucent vermilion.

IRON. Amberg yellow, a very bright fresco yellow ocher no longer available, native.

LEAD. Lead oxide white heated to a cool yellow, "Massicot", "King's Yellow", "Cassel Yellow", lead also heated to orange, red and brown.

ORGANIC-ANIMAL. Indian Yellow is magnesium euxanthate, an early lake used in sandaraca, mastic, cara cola, water and oil pigment until 1899. Made from cow's urine, India. Two colors, yellow to brown and orange to yellow, transparent.

1800, England, COLOR, Indian Yellow, the best and very permanent transparent yellow was brought to England from India, where it had been used as a pigment for as long as India had cows. The raw product is called Monghyr, magnesium euxanthate natural organic, after a city in Bangal. England made this in oil and kept it's ingredients a secret for eighty years. It was in brown to yellow and orange to yellow, two dual-toned colors.
Artists' Pigments, A Handbook of their History and Characteristics, by Robert L Feller, National Gallery of Art, Washington. 3.5 Chemical Properties "The glucuronic acid portion of the molecule confers upon it considerable water solubility; the euxanthone portion permits compatibility with oily media. 3.6 Oil Absorption and Grinding Qualities The oil absorption given by Doerner (1939) is up to 100% 4.1 Chemical Composition The principal constituent of Indian yellow is a mixture of the calcium and magnesium salts of euxanthic acid.

ORGANIC-PLANT. Tree sap, "gamboge" transparent, alcohol base, Thailand.

ORGANIC-PLANT. "Turmeric" root, "curcuma" root, transparent yellow to brown, India, Asia.

ORGANIC-PLANT. "Saffron", flower power, bright yellow, India.

TIN. calcined from white to pale yellow to pale magenta.
 
 

ARSENIC. Realgar, arsenic di-sulphide, native, Egypt 3000 B/C. "Risalgallo", Roman, red-orange clear crystal.

IRON. In clay, burnt sienna, high in silicic acid until calcined from raw sienna, than it's high in silica and is transparent.

TIN, calcined from pale yellow to pale magenta.

ZINC. Zincite, native zinc oxide, ore of zinc, a brittle mineral ranging in color from yellow, orange to deep-red, opaque.
 
 

COPPER. Cupric crystals native, transparent red.

HEMATITE IRON, ore, native red streaks of iron oxide, where abrasion has ground off hematite ore in place.

IRON, in clay, "cinabrese", Cennini described a native light vermilion red that is now exhausted.

IRON, in clay, "Armenian bole", red ocher.

IRON, in clay, "sinopia", native red oxide, Roman 100 B/C

IRON, in clay, "sinopis", a very light red ocher from Asia Minor, exhausted.

LEAD. "Minium", red lead oxide is made by heating white lead in the presence of air, turns dark in fresco as all leads do, this was a mastic, oil and wax pigment that is unaffected by alkalis. Phoenician, 1000 B/C, Greek, Roman, 500 B/C.

MERCURY. "Cinnabar" native, is the ore of mercury. "Vermilion" natural was one of the two most prized and expensive pigments of the ancients, not counting gold. Mercuric Sulfide.

ORGANIC-PLANT SAP. Brazilwood lake, blood red transparent. "Dragon's Blood", ruby red lac, Singapore, as ancient as karmes.

ORGANIC-PLANT FLOWER. Safflower red, "Carthame".

ZINC. Zincite red, native red oxide zinc ore.
 
 

COBALT. native is a pale violet-magenta color. Cobaltite is a native mineral ore, cobalt arsenic sulfide, it's an opaque cool magenta color.

IRON. in clay, "Pozzuoli Red". A rosy opaque magenta, Roman.

ORGANIC-ANIMAL. "Carmine", cochineal insect, a transparent dyestuff precipitated on clay, also roasted darker. "Karmes" another insect, similar color, 2000 B/C or earlier. "Nacarat carmine" is the highest quality color.

ORGANIC-PLANT ROOT. "Madder lake", boiled Rubia Tinctoriun root on clay or transparent water based in wax soap, Egypt, Greece. Light rose to dark magenta, not for fresco.

TIN. Highly heated tin oxide makes a pale magenta.
 
 

IRON. Burnt green earth, ferrous hydroxide and silicic acid, transparent like sienna.

IRON. "Caput mortuum" is red ocher or oxide calcined, or native.

IRON MANGANESE. Raw umber, "umbra", "terre d'ombre". Manganese dioxide and iron hydroxide. Calcined raw umber makes burnt umber.
 
 

MANGANESE. Manganese violet oxide, native.

ORGANIC-ANIMAL. "Tyrian" is Greek, "Ostrum" is Roman, "Byzantium", are all names for purple, from the Murex shellfish family. The color ranged from pink to blue transparent. According to Pliny it was the celebrated "Imperial Purple" of the Romans.
 
 

COBALT. Black oxide of cobalt fires cobalt blue. China 2500 B/C on pottery, 500 B/C Roman, maybe earlier, they made a smalt after the Egyptian frit of copper.

COBALT-TIN. Cobaltous stannate, cobalt and tin oxide in potash glass, light cobalt blue colored smalt, Egyptian or Greek or Roman.

COPPER. "Azurite" natural, blue-cyan, Egypt 3000 B/C, "chessylite", hydrous copper carbonate.

COPPER. Copper hydroxide plus copper carbonate, "blue verditer", "mountain blue", "Bremen blue".

COPPER. chalcanthite, "Blue vitriol", copper salts and sulfuric acid fumes make a copper sulfate.

IRON. Pompiian blue lake, a ferris-cyan, Roman 100 B/C.

SULFUR. Lapis lazuli native, 3000 B/C, sodium sulfosilicate ore.
 
 

COPPER. Chrysocolla, a native copper silicate, first a pigment in Egypt, than a jewel, crushed glass-frit than became a pigment of the same color.

COPPER. "Egyptian blue" 3000 B/C, copper silicate transparent, "Pozzuoli blue".

COPPER. Frit, copper salts fused in potassium silica glass, Egypt 3000 B/C.

COPPER. Verdigris, hydrated copper acetate crystals, water or resin soluble. This color is usually listed under green, [vert] meaning green. Since this was the first artificial color made by the Romans, I made some. Using materials I knew they had I put copper in ammonia, this turned the ammonia blue, a few drops of acetate acid [vinegar] and the color changed, it precipitated a light cyan-green salt. Mixing the salt with damar, I painted with it, and, well it does go a little farther, I mixed the salts in sulfuric acid and it turned clear. I was stirring the mix with my steel palette knife and it put a copper plating on it! I wonder if the Romans ever rust proofed any of their iron. I remember reading once, that at an Egyptian excavation they found some clay pots with holes in them for wires, the archaeologists thought they were using them as storage batteries for plating, I believe it.

MANGANESE. Manganese also makes a cyan hue, I don't know when it was first used, but it was sold as a liquid in a blatter.

ORGANIC-PLANT. Indigo, India. Woad, England. Both transparent cyan dyes, Indigo was the better.
 

COPPER. Malachite, ore of copper, copper carbonate. Crushed into pigment.

IRON-COPPERAS. ferrous sulfate, "green vitriol", transparent.

IRON. Ferrous hydroxide plus silicic acid, native, "Veronese green earth", "tirolean", "bohemian", translucent.
 
 
 
 

YELLOW,Imperial yellow is from the flowers of the "sophora japonica", it contains flavonal quercetin, similar to the famous Indian Yellow, both had staying power and were a golden-yellow color when used full strength.

Yellow wood sap from the sumac tree, "rhus cotinus" works, flavone also occurs in vines of weld, from Northern India. Four other sources of yellow are; safflower and saffron, the root of the "curcuma tinclora" and the husks of pomegranate with carbonate of zinc.

ORANGE, henna "lawsona alba".

RED, Cochineal, ground female "coccus cacti" insect, originally from Central America, imported to Morocco. Soluble in ammonia. The coloring matter is carminic acid, an anthraquinone derivative.

Karmes Scarlet is the oldest Magenta color, made from an insect found on the oak tree, it secrets an alcohol based lac and is found all over Europe.

Madder root from the "rubia tinctoria" from red to magenta to brown. Found from Anatolia to Persia. India and China use the "rubia cordifolia", which is a cooler magenta color. India exported madder, indigo, weld and Indian Yellow. The three primaries plus an ultramarine blue color.

Brazilwood, named the country, its color is clear in wood and boiling it makes a magenta dye, to dye red, you add a tin mordant, Brazilwood dye comes from the local "caesalpinia" tree, Logwood, from the "haematoxylon" tree makes hematin, boiled, it turns violet to blue-black.

BLUE, CYAN, Indigo, Grown in India, the "Indiagofera tinctoria" thrives in the tropical climate, the active ingredient is found in the leaves, an indol derivative is fermented from a sugar, this precipitation is insoluble in water. Alkalis dissolve it and form the sodium salt indigo white, which oxidizes into many shades of blue. Aniline blue has the same chemical composition and replaced it in 1870. This blue was the most important color in Chinese rugs.

Open a new window, Go to, MATCHING 36 TUBE OIL PIGMENTS TO RGB WITH COLOR EXAMPLES,  CLICK HERE

Here are some permanent chemical pigments used in oil and acrylic paints today.

1.    Antimony = Naples Yellow

2.    Cadmium = Yellow, Orange, Red

3.    Chrome Green = Green

       Chrome + Alumina = Transparent Corumdum Red

       Chrome + Cobalt = Blue/Green

       Chrome + Tin = Pink (light Magenta)

       Chrome + Tin + Silica = Red

       Chrome + Tin + Calcium = Red, Magenta, Violet

       Chrome = Tin +Tin + Cobalt = Ultramarine Blue, Purple, Violet

4.    Chromium = Green Opaque

       Chromium + Iron + Manganese = Black

       Chromium Trivalent = Green

       Chromium Hexavalent = Yellow

5.    Cobalt = Azure Blue

       Cobalt = Uranium = Green

       Cobalt + Zinc = Ultramarine Blue

       Cobalt + Chromium + Manganese = Black

6.    Copper = Green, Turquoise, Red, Ruby Red Violet

       Copper Oxide = Green

       Copper Oxide + Zinc = Brilliant Green

7.    Ferric Oxide Lead Silicate = Yellow

       Iron = Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Brown, Black, Cyan, Ultramarine Blue

       Iron Oxide = Opaque Red

8.    Gold = Magenta

9.    Lead = Yellow

       Lead + Chromate = Red

       Litharge = Red Minium (Roman)

10.   Divalent Manganese = Yellow to Brown

       Manganese = Brown, Red, Magenta, Violet, Purple

11.   Magnetite = Black

12.   Molybdenum = Smokey Gray to Blue

13.   Nickle = Gray, Blue, Purple, Green , Yellow, Brown

       Nickle Oxide = Slate Blue Gray

14.   Potassium Oxide = Yellow Green

15.   Platinum = Silver

16.   Silver = Dull Silver

       Silver Chloride = Yellow Side Silver

17.   Selenium + Cadmium + Sulphur = Red

       Selenium + Cadmium = Orange

       Selenium + Sulphur = Yellow

18.   Salt fires Glossie

19.   Tin = White

       Tin + Chrome = Crimson

       Tin + Vanadium = Yellow

20.   Titanium = Opaques

21.   Uranium = Red, Black

22.   Vanadium = Emerald Green, Yellow Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Brown

23.    Zirconia = Pink, Magenta

       Zirconium + Vanadium = Cyan, Turquoise

24.   Clay = Glossie Red Oxide (Terra Sigillata, Roman)

25.   Clay = Black (Terra Nigra, Roman)

ANTIMONY isNaples yellow, Antimony oxide white, is Timonox, a British trademark, 1920. It reacts less than lead white with sulfur, has none of the drawbacks of zinc and would give titanium the best run for the money, plus, we would still have Naples yellow, a very dense yellow to light skin color the portraitist used as a base instead of white. If we had a union we would bring antimony back along with Indian yellow, brown side and orange side.
 
 

ARSENIC native yellow is orpiment, a sulphide of arsenic. Native red arsenic is realgar, an arsenic di-sulphide. These are ancient colors not available today, the best crystals looked clear and transparent to me. Arsenic tri-sulfide is made today if you can find it.
 
 

COBALT turns black with sulfur.

COBALT Oxide is black, calcinated it becomes cobalt blue, fired in potash glass it becomes smalt, a popular early Roman color.

COBALT blue today is a mixture of cobalt oxide, aluminum oxide and titanium white, not the same color and not really necessary to the palette. When a color can be mixed using two pigments, you don't need it, but it could be handy as in the brighter Ultramarine Blue.

COBALT violet is a very important cool magenta, [cobaltous phosphate] by Bocour, New York, is the best I've ever seen, there is also a German cobalt violet dark, [cobaltous oxide arsenate] if they still make it.

COBALT salts with potassium nitrite make the color aureolin yellow.
 
 

COPPER turns lead, zinc lithopone [zinc sulfide on barite] and mercury, black.

COPPER is turned blue by alkalis like ammonia, the color is precipitated from the ammonia with acetic acid, vinegar. This makes the ancient Roman color, verdigris.

COPPER turns black with sulfur.

COPPER ARSENATE is emerald green, the most poisonous of all colors.

COPPER CARBONATE BASIC is malachite green native and azurite blue native. Native colors are usually unaffected by anything at all, they are inert.

COPPER non-metallic phthalocyanine cyan to green should replace all other copper colors, they are inert and safe to use.
 
 

IRON RESISTS LYES, SULFUR AND ACIDS AND MAKES THE MOST COMPLETE COLOR WHEEL OF ALL THE ELEMENTS, BY ITSELF.

IRON is ferric oxide, iron and the gas cyanogen make ferrocyanide, a salt of ammonium ferrocyanide, makes Prussian blue.

IRON hydroxide's are the yellow to brown ochers, based in clay.

IRON oxides are the calcined yellow to brown ochers, turned into red ochers or red earths, even higher heat would bring up the violets, until finally, caput mortuum, a purple brown. Raw sienna is an iron hydroxide, burnt sienna has been calcined, higher heat would make a vermilion transparent because of the high silicic acid content in the clay.
 
 

LEAD SOAPS TURN YELLOW IN OIL, POPPY OIL IS THE LEAST YELLOWING BUT THE SLOWEST DRYING OF THE DRYING OILS, WALNUT OIL IS NEXT, THAN LINSEED OIL.

LEAD sponificates or turns clear in oil, apply lead thickly in the last coats or with age you will see through it to a lower color. Today's lead white is much thinner and slower drying than in the old days.

LEAD has a free radical atom that will leave the lead and turn some colors black, this is white lead sulfide. Hydrogen peroxide will stabilize and remove the free radical, turning white lead sulfide into white lead sulfate, a stable white. Roasting lead ore, glance, will also produce basic lead sulfate, like the ancients did.

LEAD will turn black with hydrogen sulfide, and permanently yellow with heat. Like the ancient massicot yellow, and King's yellow. It will also heat to orange and red. The red lead is the fastest drier.

LEAD can not be used in fresco, the lye turns white lead brown, permanently. Nor can it be used in water colors or pastel, the sulfur in the air will turn it dark.

LEAD is very poisonous, Titanium white is the all around better color, with zinc white a close second, but it is too brittle. Combine lead and zinc and you get the best of both.

LEAD turns these colors [metals] black; tin, copper, cadmium's [they are sulfur colors], ocher's and earth's if poorly washed will also contain iron sulfates, Nickel yellow and nickel Naples yellow, they don't seem to make antimony Naples yellow any more, Arsenic will also turn black.
 
 

MANGANESE native black oxide, manganese carbonate white, manganese green, blue and violet are all good dryers.
 
 

MERCURY and sulfur make vermilion, the natural pigment cinnabar is no longer available, today's synthetic vermilion's doesn't contain either element, so there safe to use in any combination.

MERCURY, basic sulfate of mercury is bright yellow and turns black with sulfur and copper.
 
 

SULFUR will turn all lead colors black, also tin, copper, cobalt, cadmium's, manganese, arsenic and antimony.
 
 

TIN oxides turn lead black, it works with all other metals.

TIN oxides are black, by calcination they become white, tin oxide [stannous chloride] plus cobalt oxide [cobalt sulfate] fired together become cerulean blue, tin and copper fired together become an even cleaner cyan tint, like the Egyptian frit.

TIN chromate [stannic] is yellow mineral lake.
 
 

ZINC oxide white covers less well then lead white, but does not yellow as lead does. It works well in water color. Hydrogen sulfide reacts to make a different white, zinc sulfide from zinc oxide, there both good, Zinc can be made yellow, orange or red.

ZINC does not work with fresco or tempera emulsions, lyes and acetic acid effect it.

ZINC white and sulfuric acid make white vitriol transparent.

ZINC fades Prussian blue, cadmium yellow, cobalt yellow and coal-tar pigments when used in water colors and gouache.
 

ATOM, smallest particle of an element with all it's properties.

ATOMS, are measured in Nanometers, [1nm = 10m[-]9th].

ATOM CENTER, the nucleus is occupied by protons and neutrons of similar mass. This is the mass of the atom, the volume is made by the cloud of electrons.

PROTONS, have a positive charge, the number of protons equal the atomic number, hydrogen has one proton.

NEUTRONS, have no charge.

ELECTRONS, have a negative charge orbiting the nucleus, electrons and protons are equal in quantity, so there equal in [+-] charges.

ATOMIC NUMBER, the quantity of protons in the nucleus.

ATOMIC WEIGHT, is comparing the atoms of each element to the hydrogen atom.

ISOTOPES, the neutron quantity changes the atomic weight of atoms with similar atomic numbers, so each element has isotopes and different atomic weights, all based on the weight of one carbon isotope.

SHELLS, electrons orbit on seven tracts or shells, lettered K to Q outward from the nucleus. Each shell has a limit to the number of electrons in it, 2 for K, 32 for Q. Hydrogen has one nuclear proton and one electron in K shell, Lithium, with three protons, has a full K shell and one electron in the L shell.

INERT GASES, will not combine with other elements, they have 8 electrons in Q shell, other elements are considered stable if they can attain a similar outer shell content. Atoms trade electrons with other atoms so their electron cloud can become identical with inert gases, the nearest inert gas.

IONS, This trading leads to atoms becoming electrically charged and known as ions, gain an electron, gain a negative charge. Lose an electron and gain a positive charge, remember, electrons are negative.

ANIONS, are negatively charged ions, they have gained one [-] electron.

CATIONS, are positively charged ions, they have lost one [-] electron.

VALENCE, the "hook" to hold another "hook", hydrogen has a valence of one, it can hook up with another atom with one valence. Valence is the chemical binding power +/-.

VALENCY, the process of gaining or losing electrons. [Na] sodium, has one more electron than the nearest inert gas, neon [Ne], it's written Na+ to show it's a cation. Fluorine [F] has one less and is written F, meaning it's anion. Valency is the number of electrons an atom will gain or lose to attain the configuration of the most similar inert gas.

MONO VALENT, ions Na+ and F- are both charged by one electron off being stable and inert.

DIVALENT, magnesium has two more electrons than neon, the closest inert gas. By losing both it becomes a divalent cation, written Mg2+.

ATOMIC STRUCTURE, [C] carbon and [Si] silicon have atomic structures midway between two inert gases. Carbon can either gain four electrons to become C4- and resemble neon or lose four electrons to become C4+ resembling helium.

REPULSION, The electrical charge of protons keeps other protons away by mutual repulsion, they have similar spinning directions. When two atoms link, the interaction is by the outermost electrons. There's three ways to do this.

IONIC BONDING, is two elements forming ions of equal and opposite valency, the spare electron of one atom separate to fill a vacancy in the outer shell of another atom. The pair of ions are held together electrically. Groups of ions can be linked this way, a divalent cation can link with two univalent anions.

COVALENT BONDING, shares electrons, two or more atoms coming close together share, and both or all, have eight in their outer shell. Solids containing ionic or covalent bonds are rigid.

METALLIC BOND, metals pack the ions closely together and leave the outermost electrons free to move independently. This lets them be hammered thin, form wire and conduct electricity.

COMPOUNDS. When the linked atoms are of different elements, the result is a chemical compound.

COMPLEX, more than one compound.

COMPLEX IONS. In many minerals, subgroups of atoms are bonded in a covalent way forming complex ions or radicals. A common example is the tetrahedral arrangement of four oxygen atoms around a single silicon atom, to give a complex anion, written [SiO₄]4-.

ELECTRICALLY BALANCED COMPOUND, the complex anion [SiO₄]4- must be bonded to a cation or cations with a total valency of four, to get an electrically balanced compound. Two atoms of the divalent metal Mg would fit and the mineral forsterite has the composition [Mg2]4+[SiO₄]4-, or it could be written Mg2[Si04]4-.

MOLECULES. Heating a mineral causes the atoms to vibrate faster, breaking the bonds between them. In this way the independent groups in steam, called molecules, move freely. Share electrons, be a molecule.

AMORPHOUS. Substances that do not have the atomic order of crystals are amorphous, they don't have the directional properties of crystal. Opal, natural glass, and flint are amorphous aggregates.

ION SHAPE. Crystals are made up of ions having the shape of spheres, these fit together leaving a space in the center. Three oranges and a pea. The carbonate ion has this shape, a pyramid with three sides and a bottom. The common complex ion [CO₃]2- is carbonate.

TETRAHEDRON. Four oranges and a grape would make a Tetrahedron, the shape of the silicate anion [SiO₄]4-.

OCTAHEDRON, is two pyramids joined base to base.

CUBES, have all equal sized ions, four polyhedra pyramids equal a cube, as in coordination polyhedra and close packing.

POLYMORPHS, are the structures possible by a compound, Si02 makes five different structures. Diamond and graphite are polymorphs of carbon, graphite is two dimensional, flat and weak. The diamond is a three dimensional latrahedrally-oriented covalent bond, strong and possibly twinned.

TWINNED, two crystals joined inside, interpenetrating each other.

ISOMORPHOUS minerals with identical crystal structure.

SOLID SOLUTION. Olivines are groups of minerals, magnesium [Mg₂SiO₄] and iron [Fe,₂SiO₄] are forsterite and fayolite, melted together. If the olivine contains 75% forsterite it's written like this, [Mg0.75Fe0.25]2SiO₄.

Light is a painters element, it has shape when it is confined and it's intensity and mass can be measured. Full sunlight's weight is equal to the weight of a single grape, spread out over an entire football field, and that is constant weight. This light reflects off the primary and compounded elements we see around us. Permanent pigments are made of these elements, either organic, inorganic or synthetic. Each element, in it's natural and calcined state is capable of making and reflecting only a select portion of the color wheel. It also has painting characteristics unlike any other element, so if you like a pigment for its characteristics, it cannot be replaced.

Three examples are; 1, lead, no other element dries as fast or is as opaque. 2, Cobalt natural, (cobalt aluminate blue spinel is just another pre-made color for you to buy), and 3, antimony Naples yellow, probably the artist's most favored color before Ostwald and the ASTM's intervention. They matched the dried color with new cheaper elements without regard to its natural characteristics. Rubins would have had them flogged if they tried that while he was alive. Today there just aren't enough artists that know about the differences. We need a paint manufacture that cares!

So, simplifying your choices is the name of the game here, what colors and what characteristics are most needed to complete a full color painting. Use the transparent pigments that are available and be selective in choosing the opaque ones.

There are twelve to thirty six colors in my basic color wheels, it's mine because no one else ever put it in print in this order, I want it to be yours. This is original concept work here.

I start with yellow at the top and "Read Red Right," the three R's of color. Play the wheel like a typewriter. There are only twelve colors to remember, forward, backward and centering across the middle. Across the middle is what makes the Real Color Wheel different from all the rest. It matches the pigment color wheel with the RGB/YMCR color wheels so they both work at there best.

In a twelve color wheel, Yellow is represented by "Y," Magenta by "M," and Cyan "C." A pure unadulterated yellow would be YYYY, half yellow and half magenta would be YYMM, or the color red, each color has four characters. Orange is YYYM. Scarlet-crimson is YMMM. The sixth color away from any color is halfway around a twelve-color wheel making it the opposite, or the complementary color. The opposite of YYYY is MMCC, Ultramarine Blue.
 
 

YYYY=Yellow, YYYM=Orange, YYMM=Red, YMMM=Scarlet-Crimson, MMMM=Magenta, MMMC=Purple, MMCC=Ultramarine, MCCC=Azure, CCCC=Cyan, CCCY=Turquoise, CCYY=Green, CYYY=Yellow-green.
 

There is no pre-made transparent pigment paint for the color MCCC, Azure, Cobalt Blue is a close color but opaque. It matches the ancient color of Azurite. Cu₃[C0₃]2[0H]₂, a copper idiochromatic color. Azure can easily be made with copper phthalocyanine blue and a good ultramarine blue or a little cobalt violet [magenta]. In fact with a cobalt violet, [the cool magenta], you won't need ultramarine blue, you can make it. One way or the other, Azure is a beautiful color that nature uses often.

Each element can only make its own range and texture of colors. No other element has its similar unique capabilities. Modifying the element can make its opposite or complementary color, as the cuprite crystal of copper and the sediment of copper do naturally.

By explaining minerals and crystals, and the elements that make and color them, you will understand the real color wheel and know the pigments that make it go 'round. This color wheel joins the pigment and the light color wheel together as one, and agrees with the nature of your eyes "afterimage."

To make the light color wheel match the pigment color wheel, replace Yellow's neutral dark (which has a Green tinge, with Burnt Umber), (that's the Red's normal dark). Than change Cyan's centering dark to Ultramarine Blues dark. Now all the colors in both palettes will have working oppositions.
 
 

ALEXANDRITE EFFECT, The chrysoberyl alexandrite is red in candle light and green in daylight.

ALLOCHROMATIC, minerals colored by a foreign element are called allochromatic. Ruby is an aluminum oxide colored by chromium, so it's allochromatic foreign and not written in the symbol AL₂03.

IDIOCHROMATIC, minerals colored by elements which are a regular part of the chemical composition. The peridot crystal is in the olivine category, it's magnesium, iron, silicate. The green comes from iron, making this an idiochromatic home color [not foreign] crystal.

ANALOGOUS, colors are side by side on the color wheel rim.

INCIDENT ANGLE, lights entering angle.

REFRACTIVE INDEX, when light enters a cube or amorphous structure the incident ray is slowed by the atoms inside. The ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum compared to the speed in the structure is called the refractive index. In crystals other than the cube, the light splits in different directions at different speeds.

REFRACTION, The deviation of a ray of light upon entering a transparent medium, is refraction away from the normal. The emerging ray is separated into the colors of the spectrum. Red refracts most, violet and magenta the least.

DOUBLE REFRACTION, an incident ray enters and splits, each ray traveling at a different speed.

DISPERSION, diamonds, glass and water give dispersion of light with the proper incident and reflecting angles, thus splitting up white light into its spectrum colors. The water droplets in a rainbow are at the proper angle of refraction to give each color seen by you. Each person sees their own rainbow. The axis from the sun through your eye to the center of the rainbow's circle is the basis for the angle of an incidence you see as the rainbow's refracted light. Any medium in which the high-frequency light travels more slowly than the lower frequencies are called dispersive.

DIFFRACTION, diffraction is light bending around the edges of a mass.

ISOTROPIC, crystals in which light travels in all directions at the same velocity.

INTERFERENCE COLORS, a thin film of soap or oil will change the direction of the incident ray laterally and cause the prism effect, as the thickness changes the color's change.

LUMINESCENCE or FLUORESCENCE, is stimulated by radiation.

PHOSPHORESCENCE, persisting luminescence after stimulation.

PLEOCHROISM, the change of color when viewed from different directions.
 
 

On the ELEMENT PERIODIC TABLE, #22 through #30 are the coloring elements that give color to crystal compounds. Elements color in harmonies. Analogous, is side by side around the rim of the color wheel. Centering, means moving from the high chroma rim to the center's natural dark position. Complementary colors are opposite colors, 180 degrees apart, triadic colors form an equilateral triangle, they're 120 degrees between colors. Split-complementary colors are on each side of the opposite color, making a "Y".

Aluminum- Easily displaced, makes yellow and sometimes blue.

Arsenic- Yellow, orange red.

Cadmium- Green, yellow-green, yellow, orange, red to deep red, a substratum dye. Cadmium is not a solid pigment.

Chromium- Analogous system. Green [emerald], Yellow-green, Yellow, Orange, and Red [ruby].

Cobalt- Oxides and native, Magenta [MMMM] and cool magenta [MMM1/2C], natural or calcined to Ult.Blue [MMCC].

Copper- Green [CCYY] in malachite, Cyan-green [CCCY] in turquoise, cyan-blue [CCCM] in azurite, all analogous colors of the copper element.

Iron- Yellow [YYYY] in sapphire, Blue [MMCC]in spinel, opposite colors. Green [CCYY] and Red [YYMM] in sphalerite. Coppreas, green vitriol, or ferrous sulfate.

Lead- White,Yellow, Orange, Red.

Manganese- Light Pink-Orange [YYMM] in spessartine and rhodochrosite.

Nickel- Yellow-Green [YYYC] in chrysoprase.

Titanium- White pigment, titanium dioxide. Titanium is a centering element that goes from Yellow to Orange, then Red to Brown and Brown to Blue in the Rutile crystal. It is the only element that can cross over the center dark, reaching it's complementary color Ultramarine Blue. The Real Color Wheel uses this pattern to darken Yellow instead of using Black as in RGB color wheel.

Vanadium- Green [CCYY] in beryl, Yellow [YYYY], Brown [YYMMCC].

Zinc- Yellow-green in sphalerite. 

SPECIFIC GRAVITY, [S/G] The ratio of size to weight by water displacement, Corundum SG=4, four times the weight of the same volume of water. Archimedes' Principle, SG= A/A-W.

ELEMENT SYM No. S/G

Aluminum Al 13 2.7 metallic, ore bauxite.

Antimony Sb 51 4.6 brittle metallic, ore stibnite.

Arsenic As 33 --- poisonous, pentavalent As+5.

Astatine At 85 --- rare element, halogen family, unstable.

Barium Ba 56 3.5 malleable, active, divalent metal, compounds in barite.

Beryllium Be 4 1.8 hard, light, divalent, steel-gray metallic element,

idiochromatic primary and secondary colors.

Boron B 5 --- ore of Borax.

Bromine Br 35 3.1 liquid, dark-red fuming, resembling chlorine and iodine.

Cadmium Cd 48 8.6 divalent metallic element, allied to zinc, Pigment in 1842.

Calcium Ca 20 --- divalent metal, compounds limestone, chalk, gypsum.

Carbon C 6 --- Diamond and graphite are organic, polymorphs of carbon, graphite's two dimensional atomic structure is flat, and is soft graphite, black, The three- dimensional tetrahedrally-oriented covalent bond of diamonds is strong, hard and clear, the opposite of carbon. Diamonds can receive the full range of colors from other elements, they are allochromatic.

Chlorine Cl 17 --- Gaseous, combined in salt.

Chromium Cr 24 --- Brittle metallic, source of red in allochromatic compounds.

Cobalt Co 27 --- Metallic silver pink element.

Copper Cu 29 8.92 Malleable, red-brown metal element.

Fluorine F 9 --- Non-metallic corrosive pale yellow gas, combined in fluorite.

Gold Au 19.3 Yellow malleable metal.

Hydrogen H 1 --- Colorless inflammable gas, lightest element.

Iodine I 53 4.93 dark-gray crystalline solid, heats to a dense violet vapor.

Iron Fe 26 7.86 Malleable metallic, silver element. A full spectrum element.

Lead Pb 82 11.34 Malleable, blue-gray metal.

Lithium Li 03 .53 Silver-white. Soft, lightest metallic.

Magnesium Mg 12 1.74 Silver-white metallic, burns white hot.

Manganese Mn 25 7.2 Brittle, gray-white element, allochromatic.

Mercury Hg 80 13.55 Fluid silver-white metallic element.

Molybdenum Mo 42 10.2 Hard, silver-white high melting, metalloid.

Nickel Ni 28 8.9 Hard silver-white, malleable, allochromatic element.

Oxygen O 8 --- Colorless gas, converts elements into oxide compounds.

Phosphorus P 15 1.82 Solid non-metallic element in two allotropic forms, yellow, poisonous, inflammable and luminous. Red, now rare, is less potent, [SG] 2.20.

Platinum Pt 78 2.5 Malleable, gray metallic element.

Potassium K 19 .86 Silver-white metallic, oxidizes rapidly.

Selenium Se 34 4.8 Gray, non-metallic allotropic element, resembles sulfur.

Selenium Se 34 4.5 Red, similar to gray.

Silicon Si 14 2.4 Non-metallic element, amorphous and crystalline forms.

Silver Ag 47 10.5 Malleable silver element.

Sodium Na 11 .97 Soft silver-white metallic element, oxidizes in moist air.

Strontium Sr 38 2.6 Bivalent metallic element found only in a combined state.

Sulfur S 16 2.07 Nonmetallic solid element, used to form sulfates as white lead pigment, and sulfides, burns blue.

Titanium Ti 22 4.5 Dark gray powdered metallic element

Tin Sn 50 7.31 Malleable, low melting silver colored metal.

Tungsten W 74 19.3 Bright-gray, metallic.

Uranium U 92 18.7 White, radioactive, metallic.

Vanadium V 23 5.96 Gray powder metallic, rare.

Zirconium Zr 40 6.4 Metallic, resembles titanium.

Zinc Zn 30 7,14 Blue-white metallic element.
 

00, DIAMOND, 

C, [Hardness] H10, Diamonds can receive the full range of colors from other elements, they are allochromatic. This section describes the color and properties each element adds.

01,

LIDDICOATITE, a six sided continuous crystal, clear and colored by iron. The colors of magenta and green are separated in sections and graduated from one end to the other in each crystal, a natural color opposition. All mineral opposition's match my pigment and light color wheel.
 

02

CHALCOPYRITE, CuFeS₂, [Hardness], H3.5, [specific gravity] SG-4.2. Ore of copper, tetragonal crystal system. It occurs on crystals of galena and has a brassy yellow opaque, metallic color. Idiochromatic colors of iron. 

03,

SPHALERITE, Zn,S, H3.5, SG-3.9, zinc blend, ore of zinc, cubic system, idiochromatic colors.

ZINC, yellow-green, standard color #11, [CYYY], transparent.

IRON, Idiochromatic colors from, yellow, tan, brown, black, orange and red. High dispersion showing the spectrum like a diamond.

CHROMIUM, crimson and dark green. Transparent to opaque. 

04,

CINNABAR, HgS, H2, SG-8.09, sulphide of mercury ore.

MERCURY, red, standard color #3, [YYMM], opaque, vermilion-red to brown is the color scale for the masses, and transparent scarlet is the color for crystals. Cinnabar has internal coloring, idiochromatic coloring, because the color comes from the element that's crystallizing. In this case mercury, the liquid metal. The amorphous mass is crushed and used as the pigment vermilion, it's a heavy and a fast drier. Precious and rare. 

05,

GALENA PbS, H2, SG-7.6, ore of lead, sulfide, cubic crystals often twinning. Oxides are white lead pigment. 

06,

REALGAR, AsS, H1.5, SG-3.56, monoclinic crystal system.

ARSENIC sulphide, red standard color, #3, [YYMM], transparent to opaque. Realgar was crushed as a pigment by the ancients as the first red. It's an idiochromatic crystal pigment.

07,

ORPIMENT,As₂₃, H1.5, SG-3.4, monoclinic, transparent to opaque.

ARSENIC di-sulphide, orange standard color, #2, [YYYM], yellow to orange pigments, crushed, idiochromatic pigment.

08,

STIBNITE, Sb₂₃, H2, SG-4.6, ore of antimony, orthorhombic crystal system, lead-gray metallic. Antimony oxide native, is Naples yellow pigment. 

09

PYRITE, FeS₂, H6, SG-5, cubic, metallic brass-yellow. 

10,

PROUSTITE, Ag3AsS₃, H2, SG-5.6, trigonal, transparent. SILVER and ARSENIC, crimson color at it's best. It tarnishes because of the silver content, idiochromatic, silver added the deep magenta to the red of arsenic. 

11,

PYRARGYRITE, Ag3SbS3, H2.5, SG-5.85, ore of silver, trigonal.

SILVER AND ANTIMONY, a deep warmer crimson than proustite. Idiochromatic, deep crimson, transparent, dark in mass. 
 
 

12,

CUPRITE,Cu20, H3.5, SG-6.14, cubic, crystals found on copper.

COPPER, crimson, standard color #4, [YMMM], transparent. Crimson cuprite crystals are opposite in color to the turquoise colored copper sediment, chalcocite. Idiochromatic. 

13,

CHRYSOBERLE, BeAl₂O₄, H8+, SG-3.74, orthorhombic crystal.

BERYLLIUM, standard yellow centering to brown crystal.

ALUMINUM, yellow is aluminum's home base, but color isn't really it's strong suite, it's the light tricks.

The "cat's eye" gem, it has an opposite color line of light inside, a pale ultramarine blue. Instead of just giving color, aluminum has an array of light tricks to perform with.

14,

SPINEL, MgA1204, H8+, SG-3.6, cubic octahedra, idiochromatic.

MANGANESE, deep transparent red pigment color that lightens to Cadmium Red opaque. The Ruby is Cadmium Red transparent. Idiochromatic.

ALUMINUM, adds yellow sometimes, enhances other elements. CHROMIUM, allochromatic chromium, which gave the red to rubies gives spinel a real kick in the red mass dark, and it never leaves the red spectrum color.

COBALT, bright blue, with allochromatic cobalt, it does well here in aluminum's opposite second home.

15,

ZINCITE, [Zn,Mn]O, H4, SG-5.6, Native zinc oxide, ore of zinc,

MANGANESE, yellow-orange to deep red, idiochromatic, it could be a pigment, rare, brittle, and opaque.

15, ZINC SILIATE, is found in New Jersey, at the Franklin Mine.

ZINC, yellow, yellow-green and green transparent, and opaque white, opaque yellow, orange, red, brown and black. Idiochromatic zinc makes all the colors except those in the cyan spectrum. 

16,

CORUNDUM, Al₂O< sub>3, H9 STANDARD MOHS', SG-3.99, trigonal system, transparent.

CHROMIUM added for red and green, allochromatic.

IRON, blue, cyan, dark-green, yellow, orange, red and magenta. All transparent, all brittle, and all expensive as crushed pigments.

Ruby is the standard transparent red, #3, [YYMM]. It's opposition color mixing to dark neutral is Thalo Blue,(Cyan). In pigments, Thalo Blue Transparent mixes dark with Cadmium Red Opaque also. The other oppositions in paint are acrylic Thalo Green and Acra Violet by Liquitex. Burnt Umber (for yellow) and Opaque or Transparent Ultramarine Blue. All covered later in the painting section.

Sapphire blue is the standard transparent blue, #7. [MMCC].

Sapphire yellow is the standard transparent yellow, #1, [YYYY].

Sapphire pink deep is the standard magenta, #5, [MMMM].

ALUMINUM is just one surprise after another, here it is, the softest metal element making the hardest hydroxide, only the softer carbon element makes a harder crystal, the diamond is H10 STANDARD MOHS'. 

17,

QUARTZ, SiO₂, H7 STANDARD MOHS', SG-2.65 trigonal, clear crystal with allochromatic colors.

MANGANESE, standard purple, #6, [MMMC], transparent, amethyst crystals are from magenta to purple.

IRON, rose quartz is a light magenta. Citrine is from yellow to orange, centering dark, through brown. Iron also gives black [deep-red] to onyx, and red and orange in fire agate.

A second verity of quartz is mass and opaque, the aggregate crystals are too small to see.

COPPER, green to cyan, chalcedonies, jasper, and red carnelian, two opposing colors.

NICKEL, yellow-green standard color, #12, [CTTT], chrysoprase. Quartz has a complete range of colors except for ultramarine blue. All are allochromatic with foreign elements, giving color to the crystal. Brittle, and easy to crush into pigments. 

18,

OPAL, Si02+NH₂O, H6.5, SG-2.1, amorphous crystal, diffraction from spheroids give color. Transparent, translucent and opaque in different crystals. 
 

19,

RUTILE, TiO₂, H6.5, SG-4,23, tetragonal.

TITANIUM, red to brown and yellow to brown, colors centering to neutral dark. Just on the other side of the darkest center in the coloring wheel, brown is mixing with ultramarine blue and getting cooler, some of that blue color shows up. Titanium is the only element that can cross over the dark center. Idiochromatic. Transparent, translucent and opaque in the same crystal. Purple rutile is also found in the Alps, diochromatic.

20,

ANATASE, Tio2 H5.5, SG-3.9, tetragonal, metallic luster.

TITANIUM, yellow to yellow-brown or red to red-brown, brown to a neutral dark by continued mixing with the opposite spectrum colors, ultramarine, azure and cyan. All idiochromatic with titanium.

21,

CASSITERITE, Sn0₂, H6, SG-6.9, ore of tin, tetragonal, metallic. The crystals are clear, yellow, red-brown or black. A one trick pony. This is the yellow pigments natural trip to neutral dark.

22,

HEMATITE, Fe₂O₃r H5r SG-5.26, ore of iron, trigonal reniform masses, Cadmium Red streak, metallic.
 
 

23,

HALITE, NaC₁, H2.5, SG-2.2, salt is a cubic crystal that may show orange, spectrum purple #6 [MMMC] or blue coloration. It is brittle, soluble, and transparent. 

24,

FLUORITE, CaF₂, H4, SG-3.18, cubic system. Fluorite is allochromatic, it accepts a range of eleven colors, there is no cyan color. Fluorite is also a fluorescent, green to violet, Translucent. 

25,

CUMENGEITE, .Pb₂₁Cu₂OC_{142< /sub>[OH]40, H2.5, SG=4.6, cubic or tetragonal, two different crystals, depending on the majority mineral element.}

LEAD, standard ultramarine blue color, #7, [MMCC], opaque, idiochromatic. Cumengeite.

COPPER, standard cyan color, #9, [CCCC], opaque, idiochromatic. Boleite crystals. 
 

26,

MALACHITE, Cu₂[C0₃][0H]2, H4, SG-3.6, mass or monoclinic systems.

COPPER, green standard color, #11,[CCYY], opaque, crushed pigment, idiochromatic.

27,

AZURITE, Cu3[CO₃]2[0H]2, H3.5, SG-3.7, monoclinic.

COPPER, Standard Azure color, #8, [MCCC]. Cyan-blue transparent to opaque, shows blue in mass. This was a popular ancient pigment color, crushed, rare. 

28,

CALCITE, CaCO₃,  H3 STANDARDMOHS', SG-2.7, trigonal crystals, also aggregate and mass, colorless transparent to translucent. THE COMPLETE PRIMARY PIGMENT TRIAD REAL COLOR WHEEL IN CRYSTAL.

IRON, Yellow allochromatic.

COPPER, "Iceland Spar", Cyan, allochromatic, polarizing filter.

COBALT, "Sphaeroc Cobaltite", standard Magenta Cool,#5, [MMMM], allochromatic.
 

29,

ARAGONITE, CaCo3, H3, SC-2.94, orthar