Lately, I've noticed that my wide ranging palette has shrunk, to ten go-to pigments that cover all my needs:
Titanium White
Cadmium Red
Spectrum Orange
Cadmium Lemon
Oxide of Chromium
French Ultramarine
Permanent Mauve
Yellow Ochre
Raw Sienna
Burnt Umber
I have a paint mixing ritual which suits almost every painting: French Ultramarine and Burnt Umber, mixed to make a black. White added to this to make a range of greys. The black added to Oxide of Chromium for a shadow tone green, then separate greens mixed with Oxide of Chromium and Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Lemon, for the light side. The greys end up in the clouds, while sky blue is mixed from Ultramarine and white.
When things get too green, the Cadmium Red and Spectrum Orange kill the bilious notes and liven things up. The basic colours can be turned warm or cold as needed - yellow greens for grass, blue greens for nettles, violet blue for evening skies, cool blue for cool days.
So, shrinking palette, good or bad thing? It could be the main reason for my samey colour chord, as noted in this post, but that could equally be taken as a sign that I'm getting it right - I've accurately caught the colour scheme of the small patch of land I paint.
Some colours I stopped using because I found them too difficult. Viridian, for example, gives me problems. Too cold on its own, odd and out of place in tints, too assertive in mixed greens. It makes a good black, and beautiful greys, when mixed with Alizarin Crimson, but I currently have no use for those colours.
I've just started a small painting using a restricted palette, and I went with Burnt Sienna, Golden Ochre and Indigo as my red, yellow, and blue. Three primaries and their mixtures should be enough to take you through most of your colour solid, but the compromised colours of these three pigments provided an extra challenge.
As an exercise, a restricted palette is good because it makes you think hard about colour choices, and really work the pigments you've allowed yourself. So far, the painting doesn't seem particularly less colourful than previous paintings that used a wider range of colours.
Next week I'm going further afield, so we'll see if I find new solutions for a new landscape. Meanwhile, here's a drawing of a horse in which I mucked up the head.
Titanium White
Cadmium Red
Spectrum Orange
Cadmium Lemon
Oxide of Chromium
French Ultramarine
Permanent Mauve
Yellow Ochre
Raw Sienna
Burnt Umber
I have a paint mixing ritual which suits almost every painting: French Ultramarine and Burnt Umber, mixed to make a black. White added to this to make a range of greys. The black added to Oxide of Chromium for a shadow tone green, then separate greens mixed with Oxide of Chromium and Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Lemon, for the light side. The greys end up in the clouds, while sky blue is mixed from Ultramarine and white.
When things get too green, the Cadmium Red and Spectrum Orange kill the bilious notes and liven things up. The basic colours can be turned warm or cold as needed - yellow greens for grass, blue greens for nettles, violet blue for evening skies, cool blue for cool days.
So, shrinking palette, good or bad thing? It could be the main reason for my samey colour chord, as noted in this post, but that could equally be taken as a sign that I'm getting it right - I've accurately caught the colour scheme of the small patch of land I paint.
Some colours I stopped using because I found them too difficult. Viridian, for example, gives me problems. Too cold on its own, odd and out of place in tints, too assertive in mixed greens. It makes a good black, and beautiful greys, when mixed with Alizarin Crimson, but I currently have no use for those colours.
I've just started a small painting using a restricted palette, and I went with Burnt Sienna, Golden Ochre and Indigo as my red, yellow, and blue. Three primaries and their mixtures should be enough to take you through most of your colour solid, but the compromised colours of these three pigments provided an extra challenge.
As an exercise, a restricted palette is good because it makes you think hard about colour choices, and really work the pigments you've allowed yourself. So far, the painting doesn't seem particularly less colourful than previous paintings that used a wider range of colours.
Next week I'm going further afield, so we'll see if I find new solutions for a new landscape. Meanwhile, here's a drawing of a horse in which I mucked up the head.
