Azure A's List: Art

• pretty much every file on your computer has a file header containing various data, such as what type of file it is, how large it is, and so on. most of the time, you need to carefully avoid bending the file header, because corrupting the header is the easiest way to break the file (with rare exceptions). photoshop RAW format allows us to avoid dealing with headers at all, simply by typing 0 into the header box. if you have a RAW file with no header, you can do just about anything you want to it—bend it in any way you can imagine—and it will still open.
  
  

  

• in addition to the header, PSD (photoshop) files have a patch of must-not-bend data in between each channel. furthermore, the rule for not adding/subtracting byte applies to each channel of a PSD file. since it can be impossible to tell exactly where a channel begins or ends, you should expect these files to break frequently.
• PSD files have features not found in most other formats, which offer some advantages. one advantage is support for layers. by editing a multi-layered PSD in a wav editor, you can glitch one layer without glitching the others. here, i've copied lily (our kitten) onto her own layer, and bent only the layer underneath:
  
  

  

  
  another trick involving layers is to use duplicate layers. if you copy an image to a second layer, and then bend the file, you can effectively create two databent copies of the image, simultaneously. of course, this also gives you more opportunities to mess up and break the file.
  

• “The Bedroom,” Vincent van Gogh’s 1888 painting, with its honey-yellow bed pressed into the corner of a cozy sky-blue room, is instantly recognizable to art lovers, with his signature contrasting hues. But does our experience of this painting change upon learning that van Gogh had originally depicted those walls in violet, not blue
• “We now know much more about the pigments van Gogh used and how they might’ve changed color over time,” Ms. Bakker said. “That’s crucial to our understanding of his works, and to know better how to treat them. The colors are still very vibrant, but they would have been even brighter — especially the reds. Some of the reds were much brighter or have completely disappeared since he painted them.”
• at the turn of the 20th century artists had just started buying pigments off the shelf rather than mixing them in the studio. “One of the disadvantages of living in a very changing environment where pigments were very new was that they didn’t always know how things would turn out,” he said. “The chemical industry was growing hugely and they came up with all kinds of colors, but you never knew how long they would remain stable. Some pigments weren’t stable.” That was the case with van Gogh’s violet, used to depict the walls of his room in Arles. Because the red in the purple paint faded prematurely, probably even during van Gogh’s lifetime, it left behind only the blue with which it had been mixed.
• That may have been fine with van Gogh, Ms. Bakker said, since the largely self-taught artist didn’t regard any of his work as final. He saw pieces as studies that helped him find his style.
• The original hue — seemingly a minor change — presents a more soothing image, said Marije Vellekoop, head of collections, research and presentation for the Van Gogh Museum. The purple and yellow are “not a harsh contrast as we think of now,” she said. “That was something he wanted to express in that picture — tranquillity and a sense of rest.”

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• In other paintings the disappearance of the reds had different consequences. For example, in images of blossoming fruit trees,  blossoms are now white that were once pink because the red faded away. That might lead to changing the identification of the type of tree depicted, Ms. Vellekoop said.
• In a way, his use of complementary colors places van Gogh strictly in the traditions of his time. Although he was radical in his use of bright colors, she said, “he follows the traditional color theory that was already written down in the first half of the 19th century,” she said, adding, “A lot of his artist friends were reading those books,” but didn’t use the pigments so boldly.
• The high-contrast colors of van Gogh’s later paintings are associated with the moment when he came into his own as an artist, developing his own style, in the last couple of years of his life.
• Van Gogh painted three versions of the room in 1888 and 1889, and all now have those pale-blue walls. Scientists and conservators have also created a digital reconstruction of what the painting might have looked like when van Gogh first painted it, with those violet walls, which will also be part of the exhibition.

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• The pigment is responsible for the color of the paint. They can be found throughout nature in clays, herbs, nuts, berries, barks, carbon, charcoal, and soot. They are ground down into powder and usually boiled several times in water to remove impurities
• Lime wash on the other hand is washable. It is made from lime putty, water, and pigment. It has antibacterial properties, is durable, and ages well. Casein can also be added to increase durability. Both paints leave a chalky, matte finish and allow walls to breath
• Flour paint is one of the most versatile paint types and can be used inside or outside, on wood, stone, drywall, wallpaper, earthen and gypsum plaster, masonry and to cover existing painted surfaces. This paint is very thick and can destroy brushes, but the recipe can be tweaked a little to achieve different textures. Flour paint typically consists of water, flour, colored clay and more uncolored clay filler
• Egg Tempera can be used inside or outside and can last for over 20 years. This paint dries in about an hour to a glossy finish. It consists of egg (white and yolk), boiled linseed oil, water, and pigment (Homemade Paint)
• Casein paint is made from milk curds which can be purchased in powered form, but are also simple to make. The recipe is very specific but casein paint lasts a long time, is fungi resistant and compostable. Casein paint can be used inside or outside, on wood, stone, drywall, wallpaper, earthen plaster, masonry and to cover existing painted surfaces. Casein paint consists of nonfat milk, lime, water, filler and a pigment

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