My Palette of Colors

Thomas Couture said, “You will see that the art of drawing surpasses everything else, and that the qualities of color and light are only secondary to it.”

My goal for this year has been to simplify my approach to painting and a lot of other things. I have been successful in that aspect more than I ever expected. The latest thing I’ve simplified is my palette of oil colors: I’m doing away with Blockx oil colors once they are used up and resorting back to my original brand Old Holland. Old Holland colors are more highly pigmented than other brands I’ve used and much less apt to crack over time. I’ve found that I can layer Old Holland oil paints with less trouble than other brands using amber and beeswax. Lastly, Old Holland has come out with a line of acrylic paints that I can use on my frames for similar colors.

One question I asked myself was can I buy the color in bulk? I buy almost exclusively from Art Supply Warehouse. Buying in bulk saves a lot of money. A lot!

Are there enough colors to get great mixes? Do my chosen colors allow me to depict the value, hue, temperature and chroma of the colors I find in nature? Color use is a highly personal choice so you know I’ll pick colors that allow for lots of contrast and a full tone scale from white to black. Rembrandt is my favorite painter!

What colors work for the core theme of my art? Light reveals color, so the colors I choose and mix are my representation of light. Nature’s appearance continually changes as it is illuminated by varying light which cause the colors and reflected lights to change. My goal in choosing a palette is to harmoniously depict these magical transitions of nature. It is estimated that the human eye influenced by these changes can see upwards of seven million varied colors.

Are there too many colors complicating my color choices? Too many colors can create havoc mastering the artist instead of the artist mastering the palette. I love to paint in rhythm and a limited palette greatly helps me to make quick choices for rapid application of paint to canvas. I want to understand my colors thoroughly and mix them in a way that depicts my subjects in a beautiful way. I want my palette to give me easy harmonious color mixtures.

Are the colors single pigments making for less muddy combinations?

Old Masters in days gone by learned to do much with little. Mastering a limited palette allowed them to understand their palette thoroughly and thereby manipulate the pigments in ingenious ways to accomplish their desired end.

I like to use yellows and oranges in light areas and violets and earth colors in shadows to achieve the depth found in nature. I try to look for the color shifts that accompany value and tone shifts. Always remember that white cools as it lightens and that is one reason I love Cadmium Yellow Light; I can mix a small amount into my lights helping them retain the warmth I want them to possess.

My base palette starting with white and black:

1.     Cobalt (Aureolin) Yellow Lake which is transparent and great for glazing my favorite painting technique.

2.     Cadmium Yellow Light

3.     Old Holland Red Gold Lake (transparent glazing color and my only double pigmented color)

4.     Cadmium Red Medium

5.     Royal Purple Lake (transparent glazing color)

6.     Blue Lake (transparent glazing color)

7.     Cerulean Blue

8.     Ultramarine Blue

9.     Cobalt Blue

10. Yellow Ochre Light

11. Raw Sienna Light

12. Transparent Oxide – Yellow Lake (transparent glazing color)

13.  Transparent Oxide – Red Lake (transparent glazing color)

14. Burnt Umber

Before starting a painting I like to choose colors that create depth and separation.

I absolutely love earth colors and try to pick transparent ones to glaze over other colors. Being a nature and wildlife artist I like to use them to make my paintings have a more natural atmosphere.

  I love to use transparent colors most especially when working on a panel when I can use amber medium for deep transparent colors that grow more beautiful with age as they transform before your eyes.

My usual palette would be Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red Medium, Blue Lake, White and Black with a contrasting blue such as Cerulean or Old Holland Red Gold Lake thrown in for temperature change between the background and foreground. I might also throw in a couple of earth colors such as Transparent Oxide – Yellow Lake. It all depends on the particular subject. One of the first questions that arise for me when sitting in front of a subject is, “What colors do I see?” That is after asking does the subject have good contrast. I could substitute one of the other blues for Blue Lake a transparent blue.

I hope this gives you a few ideas if you are looking to set up a core palette to use for your art. Don’t forget to practice and experiment with your colors until you know their every characteristic. Thank you for stopping by Boyd Greene Fine Art.