Welcome to
The Painting Lesson
by Linda Carson
big black pig studio
98 King St. N., Waterloo Ontario Canada
www.bigblackpig.com
Phosphorescence
Phosphorescent materials reflect ordinary visible light, just as other materials do. But they also absorb some light, then emit it slowly. That is, you can "charge up" phosphorescent materials in light, turn out the lights, and watch them continue to "glow in the dark" for several minutes.
Under a so-called "black light" (a light fixture that emits only ultraviolet light) most things look dark. Phosphorescent materials not only "charge up" but also fluoresce under black light.
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For example: A digitized image of the phosphorescent painting doesn't do you much good. I can tell you that the rings are striped with "glow in the dark" paint, but you'll have to take my word for it. (However, the image on your computer screen is created with phosphorescent materials. An explanation of how a CRT screen works is more than I care to tackle here, but I thought you'd appreciate the irony.) |
Most phosphorescent materials and paint appear a pale greenish yellow.
Consumer alert: I've seen other colours of phosphorescent paints available in stores, but they all appear to be the regular stuff with some other conventional pigment added in. These paints don't phosphoresce as strongly as the ordinary greenish yellow stuff does.
Back to the main lesson?Art & Text (C) Linda Carson 2002
Loosely translated, that means:
"Please don't copy this material or redistribute it
in some other form, for any reason.
This is my livelihood."