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Limited Pallette
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Message
Posted
I see from the poll on the front page that only 6% admit to more than half a dozen colours in their limited palette. As one of them I'll accept the challenge to explain why I include more colours. I suspect there will be a lot in common with those that use six or less colours as they are mixing all their colours from primaries. I generally do the same but when using a limited palette allow myself the luxury of three of each primary, plus Burnt Sienna to mix my darks. My primaries are: Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, Cerulean, Alizarin Crimson, Light Red, Cadmium Red, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow. These give, with the Burnt Sienna, a flexible palette. I used a very similar selection, give or take a colour or two, for years but got this selection from a Brian Ryder DVD and find it works well when working in oils. Like Brian Ryder I also occasionally use one or two 'specials' depending on the subject matter in addition to the above.
Posted
Stub, only four votes were cast! I think you misread the graph...
3 colours - no votes
4 colours - one vote (me, I think) - 25%
5 colours - no votes
6 colours - one vote - 25%
other - two votes - 50%
The discussion was interesting, though. I still don't regard my basic palette of 4 tubes to be limited. It makes ALL the colours. It isn't limited. It's just small.
Posted
It wasn't possible for me to vote in the poll as it stood, because I use different palettes for different media. I certainly have used as few as three colours in watercolour, but rarely in anything else. And I've never really had a stable palette anyway - it weaves in and out of a selection of colours that can differ radically depending on what I'm up to. I really don't want to get hung up on this kind of thing - there is no virtue whatsoever in using a limited palette, but that's the way it's sometimes presented. (That doesn't mean there's any vice in it, either.) A lot of people talk about the virtues of colour harmony - and suggest this can be gained by using three or four colours only: but HOW does this guarantee harmony? The colours are still different.
The trouble with art is that we use very often arty-farty language to talk about it - what do we mean by "harmony", in practical terms? Is harmony a good thing anyway? Is it not likely to be another term for pedestrian and dull, unexciting? Does excitement not derive from the discordant?
There, a bit of controversy for you - I'm in that sort of mood and feel like a jolly good stir... It should keep us going for a bit, at least: just to round it off - on the whole, I use the split primary system, plus earth colours, and sometimes black; I use it because I can predict what a mix of colours will do and don't end up trying to match a hue by throwing one colour after another into the mix and ending up with a sinister-looking black that something's died in. Is that a "limited" palette? Or is it a palette chosen deliberately to achieve a particular colour range? And how much does it matter.... ?
Once you get beyond the teaching palette - than which I think there is none better than the split primary approach, because it teaches you about complementaries and colour mixing - I honestly don't see any point in worrying whether your palette is "limited" or not, other than that it's obvious nonsense to buy an expensive colour that you could mix if only you knew how; and even then - perhaps you can afford it and like the convenience! Who's to say you're wrong? If you want a limited palette and are happy with it, good; if you want a paint-drawer with every colour in a manufacturer's range to hand, just as good. Neither makes you a better person of course: but I don't think the one makes you a better artist than the other, either.
Sits back and waits for the fireworks.....