MITRA Forum Question Details

​While there are always new developments happening keep in mind that pigment research is really driven by the much larger concerns of the commercial coatings industry, so often new offerings are focused around optimizing performance for industrial processes, or reducing costs, and only rarely open up a new color space or greatly improved lighfastness performance that would be relevant to the arts. If you want to keep your own tabs on some of this a good entry point, that is not overly technical, might be a broad trade magazine like PCI - Pigment and Coatings Industry:

http://www.pcimag.com/topics/2627-paint-and-coating-pigments

Of course some innovations break out into the public press, such as the recent discovery of YInMn Blue which was covered by many outlets and which we wrote a short article on

http://www.justpaint.org/yinmn-blue/

as well as Gamblin

https://www.gamblincolors.com/new-blue-color-oil-paint-yinmn-blue/

But as we both point out, it will be quite expensive and overall does not really represent a new exciting color space. At most it should provide some increased exterior durability and have a role in specialized applications where a strong reflectance of near-infra red radiation might make a difference.

So, long story short, almost every year the major pigment and coatings manufacturers are touting and highlighting new offerings to the commercial world, including paint manufacturers like us, but that very few if any tend to pan out as being of any interest for the artist community  in the way that broad new chemistries, like the Pyrroles, Napthols, Azo Yellows, Quinacridones, or Phthalos have provided at different times in the past.

One question in return, that always interests me - what pigment property or quality are you looking for or would interest you? What do you find lacking in what is currently offered? As sometimes there could be a niche pigment out there that could fit your need but simply is not widely used for cost or other reasons.

Sarah Sands
Senior Technical Specialist
Golden Artist Colors