I tested the MOST EXPENSIVE paint in the world.. (not what I expected)
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Now I wonder what other hyped, mythical, elusive tools and materials are just hogwash 😬…
Let me know in the comments what else you would like to see put under my skeptical microscope!
That’s a bargain 😂
Sadly, all of the lapis lazuli is like this, no matter the medium, no matter the brand. Believe it or not, that Schmincke tube you have there is actually one of the more pigment-saturated versions there is. Usually, it's mostly binder and fillers.
Is Mosou Black useful for painting. It is supposed to be about as black a black you can get.
$200 Blockx Amber Painting Solution and Blockx Amber Varnish
Michael Harding "Chinese vermillion" made with real Mercuric Sulphide (highly Toxic). Goes for £90 for a 40ml tube.Just because old masters used it doesn't make it superior. Unless you are a restorer, why use it today when there are better cheaper pigments available?
Alpay: "The most well known example of use of lapis lazuli.."
My brain: "Minecraft, of course!"
Alpay: "...is the Girl With The Pearl Earring."
My brain: "Yes, of course it is! That's what I was thinking about too.."
🤣
Hahaha same 😂
I was thinking of all it's witchy properties 😂
I was thinking ancient books, but yes, Minecraft also. 😁
Nope, thought first of the Virgin Mary
So usually paint manufacturers don’t get the pigment from the pigment refining process because it’s too lengthy and expensive. Instead they grind up the entire stone and mull it into paint. It’s far cheaper and that’s also why it turns up so pithy and weak. Ultramarine is chemically identical to Lapis Lazuli which is why we use it, because it’s far cheaper to get the pigment from synthetic ultramarine than from genuine lapis lazuli
This matches my rant on the minerals side of it - the lazurite in lapis is the blue part, but the whole rock isn't pure. A synthetic could be!
I’d love to see a handmade version and think it would be wonderful in glazes according to old masters but as with anything the magic ingredient is love and joy. 🦋✨
Synthetics aren’t as brilliant but they work.
@@tinayanotitinaro7569 Ultramarine is chemically identical to lapis lazuli. You’re falling for the hype here.
@@DustyMusician is it really
Lapis lazuli is meant to be glazed over a blue underpainting (different values of blue and white) that uses a less expensive blue. The result is brilliant.
Ah, the method of application, an important note. Similar to using a low chroma red as underpaint then glazing with a brilliant transparent red. For example, Vermeer's 'Girl with a Red Hat.'
Why are we not told this from its makers.
And is that the way it has always been used?
(The old Masters etc)
@@Lily-2019 Most markers probably don't know such procedures, they want you to use it up and purchase more. And yes, the old masters understood the abilities and 'personalities' of their limited available pigments.
@@pollyester6627
Interesting.
THANKYOU
I am always curious about color and the different brands, …. But you really must try a color to feel the possibilities it Can have for your painting. I never Trier Lapis Lazuli. My favorite blues are French ultramarine blue and cerulean blue 🩵🦋💙
I made my own. I got a large piece of Afghani Lapis and crushed it, then powdered it and mixed it with some linseed oil, walnut oil, and/or poppy oil. I only mix up enough paint for a few weeks, but my guess is that I could make 4-5 times the amount of paint in that tube for less than $100. There’s something very satisfying about making your own paint and if you get your lapis (or other mineral) ground to a fine powder, you can store it that way forever.
crushing the stone isn’t enough to get the vibrant blue color the people from centuries ago used to praise so much. the reason why you get so much paint is because it’s mainly made of impurities and oil, the pigment itself is virtually nonexistent.
to get the best results, after crushing the stones into super fine powder, ideally by milling it in water for a few days, you need to extract it using a mixture of melted beeswax and other ingredients. when melting these ingredients, you add the stone powder, then after mixing the entire thing into a paste, you let it dry for a bit.
the extraction part comes next: you take big buckets filled wit hot water, then take you hardened blue wax, you submerge it in the water and basically kneed it for a while until the paste loses its blue color and turns gray.
you’ll notice that while squeezing the wax, the blue pigment will start running into the water.
after you’re done with the entire wax, congratulations you have acquired what’s almost 100% pure pigment sitting in your bucket.
dry you pigment then make your paint using it, you’ll notice a huge difference in the vibrancy of your paint
I didn’t use the method the other commenter mentioned, just washed and filtered repeatedly over the course of a day. I didn’t get a lot, but the resulting blue is spectacular. All the more so because I made it myself and love the history behind it.
@Imm Kk I use Afghani lapis, which is a vibrant blue and I selected pieces that had little quartz or pyrite. The blue, I can assure you, is quite vibrant and striking. I don't think it is at all necessary in today's world, but I did it as part of an exercise where I followed old world recipes. This included using homemade gesso and rabbit hide glue, Lead white, Maroger's formula, etc.
@@JSGilberti also grabbed some pure stuff.
It's very very blue, looking forward to testing it.
To the posters here, it sounds like wonderful color you have achieved.
Back in the olden days when Lapis Lazuli was used, bright colours (which were often very expensive) were used as thin glazes over grisaille. They weren't mixed with other colours.
Look at my reply, on Vermeer, above. Yes, he mixed it heavily with other colors.
That and how slow glazing is is a reason most people never bother with it anymore, modern paints made traditional methods kind of obsolete
@@juliesczesny90not titanium white. Not cadmium yellow.
You should judge the pigment like this by making your own paint. Oil paint manufacturers will stretch a pigment like this out way too far making its tinting strength almost non-existent. Less pigment, less strength. Although there is no comparison to the synthetic potent ultramarine or the king of power blues Phthalo.
I agree with this. I assume this tube has such a drastic dilution of the true pigment. Id like to see someone have the powdered our pigment, and make their own
I’m a restorer. Lapis Lazuli was NEVER mixed with other colors or used thickly on its own. The underpainting was mostly grisaille, meaning “black and white”, or brown and white. Lapis lazuli was glazed over. Lapis lazuli was almost always only used in the drapery of Madonnas….because it was expensive and “deserving”! It’s a shame that artists these days don’t learn anything about technique and science of materials.
This colour was likely used as many glazed layers to build up the colour and intensity. Comparing it that way with ultramarine would be very interesting
This comment is underrated. The method this pigment was painted with was layering like old masters. Additionally, there were hardly any blue pigments at this time, so this is primarily one of the reasons it was so valuable throughout history.
Carlzen is right. I’ve used Lapis Lazuli with Tempura painting over a grisaille and you can achieve a solid effect with many layers of glazing
Rather poor exploration of the medium? Useless for the way he paints, certainly. No thinning or layering. I’m into water color and adore the well tempered moody nature of stone pigments. The thrill of painting with semi precious jewels! I find they require a different approach/expectations/color combinations. He did buy from Schmincke where nothing is ‘economical’ unless caught on sale. . ❤Schmincke!
An undercoat of other kinds of blue.
I agree. You have to build up the colors to achieve the effect you want. What's more, lapis lazuli should only be reserved for use in painting the Virgin's cloak, a celestial heavenly background, or a turban that is destined to be the "Mona Lisa of the North", not some pedestrian parrot. That's why it's not working and it's sacrilegious! I'm just joking! 😆
Ive run into this before, what i discovered is that the expense in the past was not the stone but the preparation of the stone. Modern manufacturers like schminke or daniel smith just grind up lapiz lazuli and mix it with a binder. To make the beautiful ultramarine of the old masters requires a much more in depth grinding and washing process to eliminate the impurities and increase the intensity of the pigment.
Lapis was always an expensive stone
I think you are missing the reason why it was valuable...as a pigment that was permanent blue was a rarity...often used as a glaze...not as a solid colour...it has wonderful luminosity when glazed...the benefit of modern ultramarine is has both properties of transparency and a more solid pigment...I would not necessarily say is is overrated. Historically it was valuable...blue was one of the important colours necessary to bring volume and completeness to paintings. Historically it was a valuable resource. it is valuable only now due to its rarity and difficulty in obtaining as most if not all comes from Afghanistan whose history of a warring country has made obtaining it difficult. It may not be used much now but for restoration it is important. .
It was also extremely important in painting the clothing in religious pictures.
It’s a lovely parrot and a good test subject for blueness.
Have ever you used it for glazing?
When Lapus Lazuli was used as a blue in painting, our modern colors did not yet exist. At the time, the paint was probably meant to be layered rather than mixed. That would have been the best way to experience it's intensity. Prussian blue, and Ultramarine blue date from the 19th century, and Phthalo blue (Phthalocyanine) is from the early twentieth century. Like you said, Ultramarine is much better, and that is pretty much why it was developed.
I don't use oil paints, so my exposure to Lapis Lazuli is through watercolors. We've become very used to Ultramarine's intensity. I suspect one of the reasons it has the reputation for "most expensive" comes from it have been used in huge quantities to get the results that classical artists got.
I think, tho, that the price of Yinmin blue is substantially more expensive, now, than Lapis, yes?
I don’t think it is but I might be wrong… it’s probably useless too 😂
Love to see yinmin blue tested
Same here. I use watercolour and have never tried oil, so throughout the video I kept wondering how the lapis lazuli would work in a watercolour paint, and if its transparency would be less of a problem. My local art store does have the Schmincke lapis limited edition but it was too pricey for me to even consider it. What is your opinion of lapis as a watercolour pigment? Thanks!
No. It was expensive because it was made by grinding a precious stone. Ultramarine is the same chemical composition, so EXACTLY same pigment, but made chemically, so no precious stone grinded. That was the whoel reason why ultramarine was created, to find a cheap alternative to lapisazuli.
@@tiagodagostini OK, thanks! You've just saved me good money.
Artists used to use lapis lazuli to paint the Virgin Mary's robes and they used glazes over a grisaille. Did I spell that right?
I saw someone swatching Michael Harding Lapis Lazuli which is likely the highest quality without extra fillers and it was quite transparent which makes me think it’s best suited to many layers of traditional glazing to build up a jewel like luminosity. Manufacturers did a good turn all the same when they invented ultramarine which is better for impasto and they have been doing it with other colours like reds intended for cars too! 🦋✨🚗✨🖌
True of many transparent colors, perfect for glazing. Right, thanks to the automotive industry for the many permanent high chroma modern pigments.
Well the price is not related to quality of color, but to the effort to get it. You need to import lapis lazuli from Afghanistan - that's a hurdle I imagine, and for each stone you get less than 1% of usable pigment in it. I would like to see comparison of this shminke with michael harding lapis lazuli oil paint, and self made one using oil and pure pigment. But that could exceed video budget :D
harding is less pigment rich. and lapis lazuli is also avaible from chile.
@@peepopalaberI can hardly believe that harding is less pigmented then shminke, especialy recently shiminke is more on the disappointing side.
Good to know humanity has been overhyping things since ancient times
😂
Imagine saving money to buy this expensive paint expecting it to be the best paint ever and then you're just completely disappointed because it sucks 😱😭 I would probably start crying 😅🙈
I'm fond of schmincke horadam lapis lazuli, I bought 2 years ago and used till the end of the small tube, and you know, it's such a shame is discontinued! I recently bought the Daniel Smith one and it's different for shade and texture, but I really love it as well.
The hue is not rich blue, nor super pigmented, there's an article from Daniel Smith founder explaining it's uniqueness, after the concerns expressed by a professional watercolor artist.
It's useful if it is used for painting with the glazing technique, building up thin layers gradually. That's how it was used and using this method can make it a very intense colour.
Nice idea - but that's not how Vermeer used it. I'm going by the scientific analysis here.
I think the softness and grayness of it is simply what makes it so beautiful. Similar to how terre verte is often a very weak color. Is it worth it? Probably not, but it doesn't mean it can't be a wonderfull pigment :)
There is man in EU who brought back the violet color of the Roman times by rediscovering it’s extraction method. That paint is expensive because it’s takes months to make lol
Do the Genuine Cerulean blue next ,it's also expensive, and Vermillion
Synthetic diamonds may be just as genuine and beautiful as ones that took millions of years to form and French ultramarine was a colour that was revolutionary and wonderful but there is a history and spiritual quality to the original that is worth appreciating. It’s all in eye of the beholder as with anything or anyone we love. 💖 I’d love to see how it would work in glazes. It may shine like a jewel in layers or traditional glazing but it could be too that that formulation wasn’t as intense as it would be hand made. And it may depend on if you are a luxury lover or not. Some people think a hundred thousand dollar handbag is worth every penny and for them that is true.
Crush it, shove it into a synthetic Ultramarine, you got me!
Next you should try YinMin Blue. And compare it to Lapis Lazuli, Ultramarine, and Cobalt Blue. Yes?
lapis lazuli is meant to be a pure glazing color not ment to be mixed with anything else, its possible you mixed with titanium which over powers, try stack lead white or crementiz white
I’m VERY surprised ! Thank you for saving me money 😄👍🏼
I prefer it for glazing. It has a beautiful natural tint. Also use lead white with it for a better experience.
Schimnke probably used the smallest amount of lapis lazuli pigment. Cornelissen in London still sells the pigment.
old masters used lapis lazuli mixed with linseed oil. the paint you tested has resin oil which is not the same. old holand is the paint that uses recipes of old masters.
This is awesome! Yes, right in the beginning, it looked so transparent, as you explained @8:30
In the time we live in now, we are blessed with many new pigments at affordable prices, and better quality than previous centuries. Sometimes you read a certain will to 'paint like the old masters' so that is pure sentiment, the old masters would probably have been very happy with our tubes.
Is there a chance that its this way because the pigment is diluted in this formula? That if more pigment was added to the oil? Would it then thicken it to an unusable texture??? I wonder.
It sounds like the pigment hasn’t been rendered into a liquid form, so whenever you mix a different color into it, that color is just coating the individual grains of the ultra fine powder, rather than blending the colors.
I see glazing by the old masters wasn't just for cost-cutting, but practicality until French Ultramarine and Cobalt finally emerged around the 18th-19th centuries.
I just saw a makeup artist ground up a piece of lapis lazuli to see how it worked as eyeshadow the way ancient Egyptians may have used it. But mostly it makes me think of wonderful paintings of the Madonna. 🦋✨ A few people have said it’s toxic with water which making me reconsider the watercolour version but have to research to see if it’s true and not jump to conclusions. Maybe Daniel Smith found a way around that or perhaps as long as you don’t eat it or only ingest in small amounts are fine. 💖 I hear celery juice and infrared saunas are both good to clean the body of toxins so a helpful thing for painters.
🤔no doubt, crushed gemstone could be a potential irritant - wait until you learn what's in "cobalt blue" / "lead white" (now restricted) / "cadmium ANYTHING"
☝😬Celery Juice will do nothing (and probably tastes gross lol) However, Iron(III) ferrocyanide (aka PRUSSIAN BLUE) IS LEGIT MEDICINE for similar purpose - its absorbs heavy metal contaminant (Specifically thallium & cesium based radiation poisoning as well as non-rad cesium poisoning.)
I had to pause and comment.
I LOVE when you’re just casually holding your battle ax in your videos! 😆🤣👍 It always makes me smile!
Well yea, its expensive because the pigment is rare, not because its an absolutely amazing chromatic characteristic lol it's as if someone made a paint out of gold. It would probably suck, but it would be hella expensive because gold is
"Lapppppiz lazuuuuuli...even the name is starting to annoy me."..... yo you had be laughing so hard I laid down some paint not where I wanted it (not a big deal). SO FUNNY!! Thanks for a good laugh buddy! 😃
😂
I think the problem is, it's price is due to it's rarity and it's existence is due to it's history.
It was really the only blue that had intensity back in the day and was mainly used to show off religous paintings to wow people.
Artists used to have to decide with the client before hand if they wanted to use it due to it's cost, they would then have to price it up based on the blue alone as the painting itself would be a fraction of th cost.
It's like expecting a classic 1930's car to outperform a ferrari just based on the cost of the classic 1930's car.
Apparently this pigment can only be mined in Kotcha, Afganistan. A certain area and it's been that way since the pigment was discovered... which is basically why it's so pricy. I can see why synthetic pigments for it is more popular. I do have water colour of it and it's fine? Watercolors you want that sort of transparency though.
The lapis lazuli we have today, for the most part, isn’t like it was back in the day. True LL paint, the pigment needs to be separated from the grey sodalite pigment thru a costly and time consuming process! The pigment from that process is VERY bright, vibrant & BLUE!! Just like ultramarine blue. Look up the process, it’s actually quite interesting!
This makes me think that the colours of old had to be glazed with over and over to get the intensity up. So, lapis looked very intense compared to other colours because all other colours were more duller that lapis, which makes lapis pop out.
I would really like to see how would it look if you glazed over and over with lapis lazuli. I think that would be a nice experiment.
Amazing video, btw. :) Thank you.
He just had a cheap version. This isnt actually what Lapis Lazuli is like
in watercolor a lot of brands like D. Smith and small paint makers offer this paint and I have no idea who buys it. Even in the most thickly applied swatches I've seen it looks like water with a particle of weak blue in it. And I love more muted natural pigments - potter's pink and viridian for example are a couple of my favorite paints, but those are far more vibrant in comparison and are really useful in mixing.
I just discovered you who I consider is a fine artist BUT what hits me to hear you say over and over again that you don’t care about what people say, I don’t want to cross my boundaries but it’s a little concerning that when I paint . That very moment of peace of expressing myself… I have invested feelings and skills in a painting. I learn every time I watch an artist . That defensive mode does not sit well with me. Through criticism we can better our art on every level and for ourself. Just my honest feeling about it. I am
Not a professional but I need criticism good or bad . Thank you for sharing,great work. Jose from Melbourne Australia
Never fell for it and dropped mad $$ for lapis. As an artist acrylic paint maker friend of mine in NYC said of lapis, "Because of the rarity and extraction process to get the pure stone particles makes it expensive, end results are not much chroma, it's a rather dull grayish blue."
Too many complexities getting perfect lapis. Even if multiple glazes with it makes an exquisite difference, ultramarine is satisfactory for me.
I had a similar experience with cobalt violet (Windsor and Newton) years ago, it was the most expensive paint in the shop 80 punts (old irish money) and the experience was similarly underwhelming
Shout out to Jean Baptiste Guimet for creating the synthetic form of Lapis Lazuli (PB29 Ultramarine Blue) and spearheading its wide and inexpensive accessibility we see today
Does it have Pyrite and teensiest bit of gold, to sparkle??
@@juliesczesny90 i wish it did tho. I read down below that the Lapis Lazuli used was impure, like no refining done. It'll be so expensive to get genuine refined LL, I'm sure it'll be gorgeous
@@juliesczesny90 did you use LL like you described before? How did you get it?😮
Blue is the rarest color in nature. Its really complicated for plants to make blue, In order for a molecule to appear blue to humans, it needs to absorb red light, the lowest energy part of the visible spectrum. This is why lapis was so prized for artist in olden days.
This was a valuable experiment.
I agree! I was excited to get a genuine lapis lazuli watercolor in a set. When I painted with it I was so underwhelmed.
Totally!
Love seeing that Pus In Boots in the background 🐈
I'm still convinced the gem stone pigments have got to handle light better than inks. They sure work great when cut properly and put in settings. It just stands to reason that this sparkle has got to help pigmants. Will diamond dust do good? What about gold its shinny?
I prefer the lapis and love the parrot!!!
That smock is super cool
It’s almost like you’d be fighting with the paint. Not necessarily a painter’s dream 🫤 “Lapizlázuli… even the name is starting to annoy me” 🤣🤣🤣
Lapis Lazuli was also the blue part of King Tut’s sarcophagus and other miscellany found in is tomb. The blue and the gold rimmed the headdress.
Did you try enchanting your brush with it?
Its for glazing not for underpainting. See Jan Van Eyck works.
Nothing bad to say about Japanese surprise boxes, but please major art brands, sponsor this guy, he has top quality content :)
I was expecting something beautiful as I love the colour of Lapis Lazuli, what a shame it sucked. Thank you for saving me from ever thinking its a good idea to treat myself to some in the future. I love your honesty and delivery. ❤
Looks like the perfect blue for a Zorn palette! 😏
The Lapis Lazuli watercolor is also quite subtle. With my style I don’t have a use for it at the moment - but never say never - I might find a need for it at some time. Thanks for your honesty & time on this review-I enjoyed it❤
Are there paints that are specifically made to last forever? There could be some use in making paints from minerals there... I guess. I'm not a painter.
Dude love your paintings but I suggest you must take lapis lazuli from Minecraft its plenty over there very cheap
Imagine what the masters of the past would have been able to achieve with modern paints.
I think what you might have overlooked is that there's a reason traditional Lapis paint isn't common anymore. Better blues have been invented/discovered since. As a modern painter is doesn't make sense to use it other than for historical novelty. You have to remember though that for centuries Lapis was the ONLY blue paint available PERIOD!
If you drape a mirror with fabric it will not reflect light. Same way with lapis and Titanium oxide. You want to prop it up to the light and let it bounce through the matrix, then look at the refracted light, like a prism.
Hello can you please do a video about oil paint and sizes from tubes to cans? And what artists who like To Paint on large sizes can buy thank you!
You are missing the point of the Lapis Lazuli paint... It is a glaze and would have been used as such by Vermeer or Klimt or any of the other Master's who used it.
It was never going to work the same manner as a mass produced chemical pigment and likewise would never have the strength.
It is by nature a small expensive amount of ground pigment that would not overload any binder but form a subtle but luminous glaze which under raking light would sparkle and glitter.
Modern pigments after the introduction of Diazo chemical pigmentation have a bulk and weight far superior to the older natural shades. No amount of raw indigo, woad or other plant dyes can match modern blue hues.
Your description of how people would use it is from a modern painters perspective and not that of a specialist who would use such paints for effect and luminous glazes.
As for its cost, this has nothing to equate to its value... It is inexpensive as a glaze using ground gemstone. Sure you can buy a dozen larger tubes of modern blues for less, but that is not its role.
I am a little disappointed in your presentation of your findings in that it IS just your opinion from your own limits. This was chosen by others exactly because of what you see as its failure, but they saw as a method of providing something unusual and unique.
do you reckon it lost some of its vibrancy from being in the tube for so long? i wonder what the difference would be like tube vs powder with different mediums
I’m not surprised at its weak colour. I haven’t bothered buying any in any kind of paint because I’ve been told that the best mine for high quality pure blue Lapis came from Afghanistan mines and those mines have been shut down (I could be wrong info may be out of date). A lot of Lapis out there on the market (mined some other parts of the world 🤷🏼♀️) is a lower grade meaning it has white calcite and pyrite crystalline formations in it which would naturally weaken the colour intensity if all of that is ground down into it. 🤷🏼♀️
It is a stunning rich stone in its highest grade though these days some of that is colour enhanced too unfortunately.
I've never tried this pigment in oil but I have tried it in watercolours and it is equally disappointing.
No complaints about his assessment of it as a modern option for normal painting. In centuries past, it held up to the hype because you basically didn't have any other options fit getting that intense blue.
There are a lot of grades of genuine ultramarine pigment, and whatever Mussini uses is not a high grade, because the paint would be way more expensive if it was. Kremer sells a bunch of different grades of genuine ultramarine, and you can really see the difference between the cheap Chilean pigment, which is a relatively dull blue, and the highest grade "Fra Angelico blue" pigment that costs six time as much ($390 for 10 grams). That's the stuff that's comparable to what Renaissance painters used. Mussini's paint is probably using something more like ultramarine ash, because it's cheaper than it should be even if it used the low-grade Chilean pigment.
That said, there's not a strong use case for genuine ultramarine these days, as there are numerous synthetic blues that are at least as good and considerably cheaper.
u need a much higher quality of lapis lazuli paint, what u have is the ash thats been turned into paint (lower quality) to see really good results u need to use higher quality material which costs a ton more
Totally understand how you feel. I bought this a couple of years ago and used a lot of it and had to stop only after realising that I'm not going to get what I want out of it. Now I just use it as a glaze here and there.
Try a layer of ultramarine, then 20 layers of lapuslazili. Let the light shine though it. Howvever at that price, that many layers would cost a lot.
Welp, my whole set of paints costs less than that one tube 😬
Lapis Lazuli is forever lightfast. If the rocks are used in a mosaic, it will never ever fade.
Michelangelo used it in a mosaic in the Vatican Museum. And above the mosaic you can see a painting where again he used it.
The blue on Michelangelos Last Judgment was painted with it.
Botticelli used it on the top layer of his Madonna of the Book.
Pictures, especially phone cameras all fail to capture the color correctly. And even if, the displays again fail recreating it. And all prints are a shaddow of the color.
It is really highly advisable to see the old master paintings in real live or else never really quite "get it".
That said, ultramarine blue or royal blue from Yves Klein is totally different. It looks different and it feels different.
In Amsterdam I saw a giant canvas with royal blue. It was mesmerizing to say the least. But not better than Lapis Lazuli, just different.
I loved this thank u
Thx
i imagine this should be used for multiple glazing layers
I love organic paint
Lapislazuli is a bit of a complicated pigment because the stone itself needs to be treated a lot to produce anything other than grainy grey mud 😅 The pigment is not actually the whole stone it’s a complex in the stone that needs to be separated from all the other stuff.
The reason it is so famous is because a lot of the really vibrant pigment used today weren’t discovered until like the 18th century, which partially has to do with chemistry as a formal science not really existing until fairly recently. So for centuries lapislazuli was the only known way to get that specific shade of blue (doesn’t help that its chemical structure is pretty complex both figuratively and literally) and then it was so ridiculously expensive to make that it was mostly used for religious iconography, which added to its infamy.
Thanks for the honest review, for me Indian yellow oil paint was also not very useful!
When doing my gem charm chart "Lapis Lazuli" was chosen for the sign of Virgo, though instead of the Color ~ the Words were written within the Arch of the 🌈 🌈 for all the colors a Saphire Stone comes in ~ underneath a cup with Wings and the caption IOLITE for the charges of the content. The [LABEL] was the Sight - Obvious for that small tube of paint, in order to /get/ the Ultra Marine "Terrific" it also has to be used {straight} from the apportion, with that some of the tiniest brushes I have is use.
It's not intended for artists - the color is used on fences in thick layers just to show the person doing it can afford it.
Wow very interesting. I thought , because it was the most expensive, it would be mesmerizing. Thanks for saving me one day buying it 😅😅
Interesting. I thought this color was warmer leaning but reminds me of cobalt cerulean. I always associate lapis lazuli with the color caps of ballpoint blue pen. And to those wondering about watercolor, the color's equally disappointing, if not even more than oil paint. Weak tinting and requires lot of paint. I salute modern chemistry for getting us the synthetic pigment, ultramarine.
You can do sfumato easily because it is like transparent
It's a limited resource. It's used for ornamental objects and jewelry. The stone is almost mined out. The very best lapis is just like the ultramarine blue that you showed. That grade of gem is not going to be used to make paint, it is used for fine jewelry. If you want that shade of blue use the cheaper ultramarine blue. Lapis is more a novelty, in my opinion. I have it as a watercolor.
Phthalo Blue gang all the way! 🤤 🙌
I'd say that lapis lazuli was more famously used for the Virgin Mary's robes in religious paintings as a sign of importance towards the subject matter.
Do you think part of the reason might be that they don't put enough actual pigment in the tube today? Or does it's reputation rest on the fact that, in the past, they didn't have anything better?
The use that comes to my mind first is that the robes of the Virgin Mary were always blue and painted with Lapis, although they are very blue and must have been done with a very concentrated version. However, on a sort of symbolic level, it must have felt appropriate for the second most sacred figure in Western Art to be painted in the most precious color, even if that was bad paint.
The only reason this colour is so hyped is because blue was a rare pigment throughout the ages. Therefore, it has been hyped up throughout time but wasn't ever the best pigment to mix. Thankfully, we have much better pigments out there namely Ultramarine(chemically similar to Lapis) to prussian, and now we have YnMin Blue(most bluest of blues I LOVE IT not just hype try it if you haven't).
Great video as usual! What was that fanatstic cello song in the middle there?
I felt the same when I was able to score a used tube. I thought to myself, "what's the big deal?"