What can I do when logged in?

You can submit new articles, so we can make unique versions of them and distribute them for you.
If you want to simply publish the same article on 800 websites, you can tell us to do that.
You can see the archive and current status of all your article distributions.
You can order any number of high-quality articles - just let us know your keywords.
You can browse the archive of all the articles we have written for you.
You can order our Complete Service (10 high-quality articles plus 10 article distributions).
You can purchase more credits for our services and check your affiliate earnings.
Much more ...

SpinDistribute.com Article Directory

The following article was published in our article directory on June 9, 2010.
Learn more about SpinDistribute Article Distribution System.

Re-discover the joy of making your own water soluble paints

Article Category: Arts and Crafts

Author Name: Rob Tyrrell

Like a great deal of artists, pet portrait painters are constantly open to ways of saving money, so what better way than by making your own paint! It's possible to make all forms of paint yourself, however, water based paints are easier to manage than oil based ones, making them a good starting point. One of the best water based paints to make yourself is egg tempera, a medium that has a long history in art and if used with a properly prepared support can remain in good condition for centuries.

As tempera is comparatively brittle once dry, a support has to be inflexible and stable in normal atmospheric conditions. Supports that are vulnerable to movement, only bring disaster. Good materials to use are MDF treated with a gesso primer or, as a more traditional support, water colour paper or acid free card mounted onto a stretched canvas.

Begin by making up a pigment paste, do this by simply putting dry pigment into a small jar with just enough distilled water to make a thick paste. The the amount of water needed will vary from colour to colour as each has it's own degree of absorbency. Mix well until smooth. This pigment paste can be kept until you need it.

To make up the required amount of paint, crack an egg and separate the yolk. Dry the yolk sac by rolling around in the hand or absorbent paper. Hold the yolk and cut the sac with a scalpel, letting the liquid run into a glass jar. Whilst stirring add distilled water until the consistency of thin cream is achieved. Gradually work small amounts of the egg mixture into the pigment paste on a flat piece of marble or glass using a palette knife until the desired consistency is achieved. To test the binding power of the paint, use a brush to apply a small amount to a piece of glass, when dry, peel it off with the palette knife. If it is ready it will come off as a skin, if it crumbles, add more egg.

As egg is the binder used here, it cannot be kept for any length of time, as it will putrefy. So it is always best to make the paints as and when you need it.

If you wish to make your own water colour, you need to be sure that the pigment is worked into a very fine state using a marble or glass slab and muller. The best results can be gained using a stone slab (marble is ideal) as you can get a fine texture with less effort.

The main binder used for water colour is gum arabic and this can be bought at most art stores. Very small quantities of water colour can be made up by mixing the ground pigment directly into gum arabic to make a soft, semi-fluid paste. For a less casual approach, work the pigment to a paste using water alone, this can then be mixed with gum arabic in a ratio of one to one, as needed. Ox gall is used to improve the flow of water colours, can be added to the painting water if required.

Keywords: painting,water colour, pastel,make,create,portraits

Learn more about SpinDistribute Article Distribution System. We also offer a Pro Article Writing Service to everyone who needs premium quality well-researched articles.

SpinDistribute.com Network

Each article you submit at SpinDistribute.com is sent through our innovative Article Distribution System to our network of more than 1840 publishers - about 55% of them are high-quality article directories, 30% of them are niche blogs and 15% of them are other content-rich websites.

To achieve the best possible success we only publish your article to most related websites. This means your article will show up on approximately 640 - 880 most related websites which will give you great SEO results.

We also offer a separate Professional Article Writing Service to everyone who's looking for high quality web content and well researched unique articles.