Singing The Blues

Did you know there's a new shade of blue available to artists? No, me neither. I heard a part of a radio programme and was so fascinated I had to go and check it out. The paint is called YInMn [or Yin Min] blue. It gets its name from the elements involved in its production- Yttrium, Indium and Manganese. These rare earth minerals are incredibly expensive, but a chemist, Mas Subramanian, was working with a team of scientists on semiconductors, at Oregon University, and serendipitously discovered this amazing shade. [some people call it Oregon blue. That's boring imho]

It is the first inorganic blue pigment in 200 years. When you think about it, other pigments - reds, greens, yellows, grey/black occur a lot in plants and animals. Think about cochineal and raspberry juice, pesto, turmeric, saffron, squid ink...But blue is usually found in minerals. The ancient Egyptians ground up limestone, sand and a copper containing mineral to make the shade known as, predictably, Egyptian Blue [ scientists researching the pyramids discovered that it emits infra red radiation]

Ultramarine, the heavenly blue - is made from the semi precious gemstone Lapis Lazuli - in the 13th century the pigment for the paint was so expensive, it was reserved for paintings of the Virgin Mary- Queen Of Heaven. The Flemish artists loved it too.

Indigo plants first grew by the Nile, colouring its waters - and its name, anil, means Blue. [so the Blue Nile is technically the blueblue]  Nowadays our jeans are dyed with synthetic indigo [aniline dyes]. Global demand for denim is such that we'd need to cover the whole earth with plants six feet high to satisfy demand without the synthetic stuff.

Cobalt Blue [around since 1777] is produced by heating cobalt and aluminium oxide- the colour used in Chinese Porcelain. And it is toxic if ingested.

But the problem many artists have is mixing red and blue to make purple- apparently most blue pigments contain yellow, so the resulting shade is always "muddy"

YInMn does not have this problem - and it appears to be safe and stable, so no issues with radioactivity etc. [I'm old enough to remember when people still had cans of lethal lead paint in the garage!]

The colour has been around for about 4 years now, but it takes a while for a pigment to be tested and considered safe. It is currently available to artists only as paint in tubes- not as a powder. I love this little film of the production [spot the Very British Kenwood Chef!] 

It was only passed for use by the US Environmental Protection Agency a few days ago. 

If you are an artist, but cannot afford the Real Thing, Crayola have brought out a 'YInMn inspired' wax crayon, called Bluetiful.

Well done Mas, for bringing some colour into these grey days...even if the discovery was accidental.