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Palette Variations
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Message
Posted
I have my favourite colours, ones that I use regularly. But every now and then I like to mix things up, and this time (courtesy of ArtDiscount's very cheap Georgians), it's the oils that I've switched around.
Phthalo Blue and Titanium White remain constant, but Lemon Yellow and Rose Madder Quinacridone have given way to Yellow-Green and Indian Red.
Two paintings in and I'm quite likin' it...
Anyone else fond of changing their palette every now and then? Any thoughts on my new colours?
Rock Pools (Prussia Cove) and Trio
Edited
by Amanda
Posted
Yes. I vary the reds a lot - earth reds especially; I'm rather fond of Venetian Red in all media, and sometimes chop and change between Burnt Sienna, Indian Red, Venetian Red, Light Red, and (in acrylic) Red Iron Oxide. And also Mars Red, in oil. This is why the Michael Willcox palette, previously discussed, has been a good basis for me but one from which I make departures - to keep things interesting.
I haven't actually encountered Yellow-Green - presumably available in just the Georgian range, which I don't use very much. I do use Rowney Golden Yellow, in their Artists' range. And I've taken to using Ivory Black in oil, which I hardly ever used before. Does you good, a change now and then. I might give the Yellow-Green a go: I use Indian Red when I want a very strong earth colour. And your Lemon Yellow and Pthalo Blue are good stand-bys - a bit of Cobalt Blue comes into its own now and then; even the blue Hue colours, which are basically Pthalo but different from the standard Pthalo Blue, are well worth a play.
I know there are painters who have a standard palette and stick to it rigorously, but I never really have - I suppose it simplifies things if you do, but - as I say, I'd get bored.
Posted
Indeed, quite enjoyable paintings. Those cliffs are marvelous. When I recently took up painting again I found that I had collected many tubes of green, such as emerald green, Viridian, Beckers green, sap green, cobalt, phtalo, etc. What am I going to do with all these unopened tubes? Strictly speaking one doesn't need green paints at all. I realized that I must have an unconscious fixation on green. So I have started on a series of abstract paintings, all dominated by greens, except complementary streaks of red. The first is almost finished. I am quite happy with the result.
So all paint tubes can come to good use. One starts out by making abstract studies with those unused paints. Concrete art is big in Sweden. Lennart Rohde belongs to the most celebrated abstract painters.
Mats
Edited
by 9230114
Posted
Greens - quite right, you don't need them; and I don't use them in watercolour at all. In acrylic I occasionally do, but try to avoid it. In oil - well, I've been painting in oil for a long time, and have acquired various tubes of green over the years - olive green (ugh), Viridian, Terre Verte, Pthalo, Rowney Emerald, Chrome Green, and probably more if I lugged my old paintbox out and had a good fumble about.
I like Viridian and Terre Verte still - the latter, with a little Raw Sienna, produces a very satisfactory colour for a distant winter sea, or even the sky at the horizon in certain weather conditions. What surprised me a bit was that recently I needed a strong green, to differentiate a foreground tree from softer greens behind - I thought (don't know why; instinct?) that the Rowney Emerald might do the trick; and it did. Mixed, but not very much. It's basically a Pthalo, I think, but much softer than the standard Pthalo Green which can be distressingly fierce. I know how long I've had that colour, because it was in a box of paints presented to me when I stepped down as chairman of a housing association in 1995 - and I've hardly used it at all since then, but well..... I might use it more (hope they still make it).
So you never know when colours will come in handy - maybe one day I'll even find a use for that tube of Permanent Mauve that's been sitting in the box for even longer than the Rowney Emerald. Any suggestions gratefully received.
Posted
Don't think I've seen it in oil or acrylic - sometimes these hues aren't compatible with oils or resins. But I'll have a peek at a few websites tomorrow: having endless trouble with Google Chrome this evening, which contains all my links to my favourite painty sites, and I can't remember my passwords when using IE. (********* computers, ********* web browsers: why didn't I stick with Firefox?)
Posted
I've stuck with the same palette for some years. It's a split complementary system, with a warm and cool versions of blue, yellow and red. To this I add two earth colours, burnt sienna and either yellow ochre or raw sienna. I still can't detect much difference between these two, except that raw sienna is more transparent and in the tube it appears darker.
I've recently tried raw umber green shade for use in a limited palette. I'd read an article by Ken Howard in which he used it with cad yellow pale, ultra blue and aliz crimson. I dind't find raw umber green shade much different to the normal raw umber.
I've used light red (english red) in portraits, useful although too much of it makes the skin tone look as if the sitter's spent days under a sun lamp.
I think colour mixing is such an art that I'd rather keep to a fixed range of colours and get used to them.