MemberPaint August - September!
If you landed on this page that means you must have received your Member paint of August and September. How exciting. Let me tell you a bit more about the colors:
Historic icons like Miffy, Tulips, Windmills and of course Cheese. The Netherlands has a beautiful history with it's golden age art, where the Dutch masters created their own unique pigments and applied them in ways never seen before.
Color 1: Delfs Blue
Delft Blue is a type of blue and white pottery that comes from the city of Delft in the Netherlands. It became popular in the 1600s as an imitation of Chinese porcelain, which was expensive and hard to get. The pottery usually has hand-painted designs, often showing flowers, windmills, or Dutch scenery.
As a pigments, we can't use the actual "Delfts Blue" as a watercolor. Since made with a type of clay that goes on black and turns blue while in the kiln.
So what did artist do back then, to create this icon blue in their famous paintings? They made their own mixes. The only functional paintmaking windmill IN THE WORLD is "Verfmolen De Kat" in The Netherlands. (Windmill the Cat, yes like the animal), and they still carry this historic pigment.
So ofcourse, I scored some for you. It's a rare pigment only made here in The Netherlands. And it's not even "click and go", No I had to email the mill, tell them who I am, what I do and such. And if it would be possible for me to order some grams. A couple of days later I got a reply, "YES OFCOURSE".
When you start painting with this blue, you might see that it looks very much like a cobalt blue. But as it dries, you'll see that it's semi opaque. Unlike cobalt blue. Also the paint has some "impurities" that will granulate on your paper, while the deep blue pigments doesn't granulate. Leaving this incredible deep blue color, with dark specs of granulation.
Once it's dry, it has a similar look as my favorite blue, Prussian Blue, but slightly less dark. Truly a unique blue.
Color 2: Orange Wave.
Have you ever seen Formula 1? The auto racing sport? If you do, you've seen the Orange Wave of Dutchies supporting Max Verstappen for Red Bull Racing. Dutch Orange is recognisable everywhere in the world. Orange is our national color because we live in a monarchy and their official last name is "From Orange Nassau". ( I love to say "House Orange-Nassau Because it reminds me of Game of Thrones ;-)
Anyway, not that I really care about our King and Queen but the history of that famous Dutch Orange has a story that I do care about.
This orange pigment is a mix of vintage "Verfmolen De Kat" pigments. They're made in before world war 1 and have been hidden for years to protect them from potential enemies. How crazy is this. They don't make this pigment anymore, but I'm glad I got some.
I hope you'll love them as much as I do. A little piece of Dutch history into your paint palette.
Happy Painting