New Color Palette

I can't believe it's been over 2 months since my last post but I'm excited to share my new palette with you.  Since moving to California, I've wanted to scale down my palette from 6 colors to 3 (plus white).  Well, I almost succeeded.  I'm down to 4 but really liking the results. Finding that I like mixing the secondary colors myself.  It's more personalized.  I can quickly mix a warmer or cooler version of any color.  Initially, I started with Cad. Yellow Light, Cad. Red Light & Ultramarine (from my previous palette) but quickly found that the Cad. Red Light just didn't give me the range for bluer reds that I needed.  I needed a more true red.  Pyrol Red (Blue Ridge Oil Paint) resolved the issue but I still felt a lack of punch to my palette.  In the past, I've added Phthalo Blue on occasion but when I went to place an order, no one had it in stock.  So I tried Pthalo Turquoise Blue.  Thank goodness that everyone was out of Phthalo Blue.  Below is a color chart I did with Phthalo Turquoise.  I always do quick color charts when I add to my palette.  It gives me a good sense of how a new color will fit in with my existing palette.  I was surprised by some beautiful blues that I got from the study.  So far I'm really liking the results and having fun. 

I've taught many classes on color and students always complain about doing color charts but in the end they walk away with so much knowledge about color.  Buying a book of color charts or color "recipes" doesn't teach you about color.  It's when you experience with your palette of colors that you truly see how the magic occurs.  So go grab a palette knife and mixing.

Palette Journey

Choosing a color palette is a funny business.  I've been on this journey recently and finding it exciting and frustrating at the same time.  I LOVE COLOR but that can sometimes get in the way to picking a new palette.  I'm a little unsure about where my palette has settled, so I'm still tweaking away.  I thought I'd share some questions to ask yourself if you are looking to change up your palette.

• What are your reasons for changing your palette?  For me it was a move to the west coast.  As I discussed in last week's post, I felt the need for a new language to describe my new home and surroundings.  For you, maybe you're bored with your palette, lack of harmony in your work, you have no set palette (just randomly placing color each time your paint) or constantly making mud (making mud means you don't have a solid understanding of how your colors interact).
• Do I want a limited or expanded palette? - I'm a big fan of a limited palette but see advantages to a more expanded palette.  I highly suggest a limited palette if you are struggling with color or you lack color harmony in your work.  Understanding color is simpler if you limit your choices. Limiting your choices does not mean limiting your color.  When I went to a limited palette my understanding of color mixing jumped exponentially.  I found I could mix any color I needed because I understood how my colors worked together.  If your palette contains 10 to 20 tubes, it is more unlikely that you understand how each of those colors interact with each other.  An expanded palette works if you are someone who doesn't like to constantly mix color, time is issue and cost doesn't factor into the equation.  But keep in mind that if you are struggling with understanding color, an expanded palette will be more challenging. 
• One palette does not suit all - I have my "basic" palette but when I switch to figurative work, I will add a few additional colors.  I know many artists that have slightly different palettes when they paint florals versus landscapes or a different palette for plein air.  It all about understanding the different needs for given situations.  
• How to decide hues for your palette - My previous palette included a "warm" & "cool" version of the primary colors plus white.  My new palette has been scaled down to the 3 primary colors with an additional "specialty color. I quite enjoy mixing color and making my own black because I can adjust them as needed for each painting.  Some people just want to dip into Cad. Orange and not have to mix it.  Do you mix your colors on your palette or let them mix on the canvas?  It comes down to what works best for you. Just don't get complacent and stick to a routine just because it's what you've always done.

In the end, a color palette must suit the artist.  If you can't express yourself with your color choices than it's time for a change.  I do believe that students should have a good understanding of a limited palette before adding additional hues.  Regardless of the number of colors on your palette, doing color charts (Yuck, I know) really is a great way to understand your particular palette.  I did similar color charts like Richard Schmid's. Invaluable. 

As promised, I will share my palette once the kinks are worked out.  No need for you to see the sausage being made.

Art Tip #115

Do you think while you mix color?

The next few posts are going to hopefully get you to think & evaluate more about how you approach color mixing.  Here are a few questions to ask yourself.  I will be breaking these questions down into individual posts as we go along.  Just the tip of the iceberg.

1. Do you premix the majority of your palette?  Premixing helps you harmonize your painting.  Having the entire color scheme mixed next to each other allows you to see the spectrum of values, hues & saturation.   It also weeds out any "Screaming Mimi" colors that don't work before they hit the canvas.  This will help keep your painting "fresh" because you aren't constantly scrapping & remixing colors.                                                                                                      

2.  Do you have temperature variety in your palette.  Ex. If you are painting a pomegranate, did you just mix a range of light, halftone & dark reds or did you think about shifting the temperature & saturation of the reds as well?      

3.  Do you think about the saturation of colors?  Putting the purest of color in your focal point will work but if what's around it is just as saturated doesn't that dilute the focal point?            

4.  Do you mix colors that will be next to each other on the canvas?  I tend to mix color from my focal point out.  Mix colors that lie next to each other in order to judge value, temperature & saturation.

5.  Do you mix with a color in mind?  A student recently asked me how to mix Cerulean Blue.  I said I didn't have a clue.  I don't mix to a particular "color name".  My goal to mix the correct color for a specific spot in a painting.  I never think "Oh, I need Cerulean Blue" there.  Instead, I'm thinking that the color needs to be more warm or cool or more saturated or less or needs to shift in value.  Keep tube colors out of your head, let what's next to the color dictate what direction you go.

If you were to watch me mix color or paint, you'd think I was just letting the paint flow without a care in the world.  Reality is that my brain is going full speed.  I constantly have a running list of questions.  Not thinking is the worst thing for me.  It gets me in trouble every time.  While some of it is intuitive that comes from years of building my fundamentals but it doesn't allow me to turn my brain off.  So grab your palette knife & start mixing but bring your brain along for the ride.

Art Tip #109

In the Green

                

          

One of the most common areas of difficulty for beginning & intermediate students is mixing believable greens.  Greens that will harmonize & not look like you squeezed the color "straight out of the tube".  Last week I talked about making my own dark/black.  That dark is the basis for all my greens which I add...can you guess?  My favorite Indian Yellow.  This gives me a dark, fairly transparent mossy green that is the "mother color" of all my greens.

I then add Viridian or more Ultramarine Blue for a "cooler" version of the mossy (warmer) green.  I will occasionally add Phthalo Blue if I really need to push the color.   I try to lighten my colors with different tints of yellows, purples, greys...just about any color but rarely do I add pure white.  While white will lighten & cool, it also makes colors chalky.  

You can see from above that while I start with a desaturated green, I'm able to make beautiful saturated colors with a variety of temperature shifts.  Harmonizing my greens happens because they all have a little bit of that mother color mixture in them.  

It is but a very small sampling of green mixes.  This way of mixing greens & having a limited palette gave me the confidence to mix any color.  What better way to start your day at the easel already knowing that your palette will be harmony each & every time.