Monthly Archives: January 2022

Four color process: Old Holland and the Zorn Palette

Anders Zorn is the most famous painter I’ve never heard of.  Active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his portraiture earned him fame and fortune all over the world.  He is equally known for using only four colors in his eponymous palette: White, black,  yellow ochre, and vermilion.

The Old Holland paint company pays tribute to Zorn in a series of videos exploring how their oils and his methods work together.  Each video is a hypnotic few minutes of a person mixing four paints with a Bob Ross-style narration by artist Lennaert Koorman.  The color arrays at the end are little works of art that would look good on any wall.  The company offers a staggering number of colors but deserves credit for showing how a limited palette and a painterly eye can capture a universe of shade and shape.  Start with the reds and explore the rest.

Youtube Channel: Old Holland Classic Colours

 

Bird Up: JWST completes major deployments

As the man said after the Eagle landed: “You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.”

The James Webb Space Telescope, largely designed, built, and tested at Space Park in Redondo Beach, has launched, raised itself from the spacecraft, deployed its 5 layer sunshield, and put its primary and secondary mirrors into place.  It will take another few months for the telescope to cool in the shade and then to commission the instruments before science measurements can begin.

It has been a long and contentious wait but the magnitude of this accomplishment is worth celebrating.

Youtube Channel: Northrop Grumman