Watercolour chart

Courage, Sydney, courage - give it time; people are preoccupied at this time of year. I was interested, but of course I'm not exactly a newbie; more an oldbie. Why not give us a clue about some of your mixes by listing them, explaining why you've chosen them etc? I know it's all up there if you can see it, but the trouble is that you've got to click on it to see the detail - I will do that, but I too have been preoccupied, what with arranging my festive cigars, ensuring I have enough alcohol in the house, getting the joint ordered, making sure I've sent the very few cards I was ever going to send and ensuring that no one is planning to call on me over Christmas ('it'll be a lovely surprise for him!'; no it won't; it'll be a horrible shock). If you get no takers, bump up the subject again in the new year - I'm sure there will be, because I for one am fascinated by people's palette choices normally. PS - Shirley Trevena showed her (very, very neat) chart on a video years ago; she had all the Winsor and Newton colours shown on a laminated board, and I thought then, I'd never have the inclination to do that, not in a million years - she had hand painted this thing, I believe, and every colour W & N made at that point was on there, in various gradations from the strongest to the most dilute. I'd never have the patience for that - I'm all for making colour mixes and annotating them, but this was devotion so well in advance of the call of duty that I realized that by comparison to her I'm just a lazy old basket. This is Shirley Trevena RI, mark you - she may have a few more distinctions since then, and Lord knows she deserves them. Because the extraordinary thing is that while she is almost obsessive in her detailed study of colours, her paintings are so rich, free, bold and strong, it's as if she just plunges in with the brush almost irrespective of study. Of course she doesn't - there's a wealth of knowledge and learning behind those free and vibrant paintings. She does go straight in with the brush, I believe, with a minimum of drawing: but she knows exactly what she's doing; and having all those colour swatches available, she knows just what will give her the results she wants.

There are newbies out here Syd; don't despair. Resources such as this are often slow burners. You might find nobody looks at them for yonks and then someone will ask you about something you put online several years ago.

I tend to work to a limited palette adding and deleting from time to time and, as a result, familiarity of what I can achieve has developed from experience. As a result I have never used a colour chart or indeed, prepared one although I can see the usefulness of one especially for a newbie. Just because no one has commented on your post doesn't mean that no one has looked at it and benefited from it, Syd, so ne desperes.

Newbies to this site are more likely to be serious about art having migrated here through the various levels of the art Magazines produced by the owners of this site and not necessarily absolute beginners to the world of art... This distinction between newbies to art and newbies to this site needs to be clarified.

I'm using a pc, Syd - the paper doesn't look at all brown to me, but even enlarging the picture I'm having SOME trouble reading it all; most of it's clear, though. I was interested by all sorts of things on your chart, but perhaps especially by the way you've got these subtle differences in the earth colours - Burnt Umber, for instance, mixed with just a little Raw Sienna (I think, memory fades a bit!) - I wonder how many of us think to modify a colour like that.. (it makes a stonking gurt green, too, mixed with Pthalo Blue or Prussian). Beginners' paintings can be crudely coloured - they'd be less so if they made themselves a colour chart showing these dilutions and subtle mixes, especially in watercolour. I'll be making a return visit to your chart in the fullness of time - ie, when Christmas is over.

Itchy finger strikes again at Erebus Central. Yes, Syd - a lovely print. Variations in colour charts - well yes, there'll be some; but much? I don't know - the only charts I make, in the loosest sense of the term, are colour swatches to test lightfastness; and I don't keep those or use them for guidance in mixing: just cut them in half, leave one half in the window, the other put away in a drawer - which is one reason why I'd never use Gamboge watercolour, which didn't only fade, it disappeared entirely over the month of my test. This is one thing I recommend people do - you can get by without charts, but it does help to know that your painting isn't going to change after you've (with any luck) sold it.