A simplified palette
 

It still seems to me that a good way to go about color choice is to begin with Flake or Zinc and Umber for general use, branch out with Ivory black, light red and yellow ochre to hint at hue, and add whatever other colors are required for the task at hand. Being very deliberate and choicey toward the later. Mind you this approach will never set the Thames on fire! Truthfully, to me, those color theories and cited palettes are impractical and sort of consumer/product line biased.

Setting the Thames on Fire
 

When I read the last post I couldn't help but think of Turner's "The Burning of the Houses of Parliament."

I wonder what pigments he used to "set the Thames on fire"!

Peggy,

You can find a work in progress (W.I.P) if you follow this link, http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/show...threadid=69100

Apologies in advance, as I know you're a professional portrait painter, and I am mostly an imaginative, multiple figurative painter. This face below is still being refined, and has very far to go. Please feel free to say anything you wish.

I will order some of the W & N white after the holidays and will let you know how it went.

Michele,

I am sure someone will do a paint chip analysis of the Turner, or may have done one already. However, as I believe Speed says it, when a painting is done, it is done. However, if I should come across such an analysis, I will post it for you.

Michele,

Regarding your Thames on Fire pic, yes I think you are on to something. The (very) basic approach I spoke of would (I think) come very close to his results. He probably introduced a bright pigment like chromium or cadmium yellow and I notice a navy/french ultramarine mixed into the greys. There are some nice cerulean blues in there as well. I suspect some nice transparent madders too but one would have to see the actual painting in life I think.

I think it's true that much of the appeal of the painting has to do with the play between restraint and full, albeit choicey, higher chroma passages. It's all speculation unless someone out there has more concrete information.

Kim,

Wonderful work! I've very much enjoyed seeing your work on the other sites, and this piece is very ambitious. I've been out of town, thus my delay in getting back to you.

I like the feel to your piece, it is very lyrical. If I were doing a straight forward anatomical critique of the detail you've posted, the eyes are a little low on the face. The eyes are usually half way between the chin and the top of the head. But this is not a straight out commission, it is a narrative piece, and many of the rules that hold us to certain conventions in portrait art do not apply to figurative art, where the story is most important. The head is beautiful and sensitive, as well as solid and dimensional.

This may be a little bit of a stretch from your moving and sensitive drawings, but I am reminded of the drawings and illustrations by the great Medical Illustrator, Dr. Frank Netter. He was the undisputed master of his field because his illustration told the story. From discomfort to disabling pain, you knew from his drawings what the patients were feeling.

I am very excited to see the progression of this piece. And I am interested in finding your reaction to the titanium. I was just attending an Allan Banks workshop, and was using lead white to a degree I was unfamiliar with, so we are both experimenting! I think it is valuable to have all the tools available in your arsenal. Lead white has interesting properties, as does titanium. Allan did introduce me to Davey's gray. He uses it to tone down the volume on a chroma that is too high. Davey's gray is transparent, and whisper thin. It does its job without a fuss. I think I might be adding it to my palette.

Best of luck!

Peggy

Just a quick follow-up for anyone who might pull this up in a search later on, which is something I do quite often.

After much trial, error, and a hundred questions asked and answered, and making enough color and value charts to paper the White House, I have finally settled on a palette that is actually larger than what I started with. I don't use all these colors at once, of course. And if anyone has seen my stuff you'll notice I never have more than one predominate hue per painting - usually an earth color. But in order to feel comfortable that I can mix absolutely anything here's what I'm now using (Rembrandt Artist):

Cadmium Yellow Light
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Red Light
Permanent Madder Deep (Alizarin)
Ultramarine
Pthalo Blue - Green Shade
Viridian
Stil De Grain
Yellow Ochre
Raw Sienna
Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Raw Umber
Titanium White
Flake White (Grumbacher)
Ivory Black

You've all been most gracious, and I truly appreciate your taking the time to reply.

Minh

BTW ... Khaimraj, I just figured out who you are. Thanks for all your help over the past year!

Did you paint cross-referent charts with value scales for all of those colors? That must have been a big job!

I did something like that this summer and kept asking myself if I was paying enough attention to what was happening so that the grinding experience wouldn't be for naught.

It didn't feel like much of it was registering at the time but now, as I try to mix a hue or match a previously mixed one already on the canvas, I realize the charts were well worth the effort.

Hi Deladier,

Yes, I've painted nine values of the Munsel chart, and nine values of another chart with 12 colors which is slightly different. Actually, I've painted several of each using different color combinations in order to narrow down the number of tubes I have to carry.

What I found, however, was that in order to properly do either chart (all nine values of each hue) I needed all the colors I started with and even added two more. It's less than some people carry, more than others. And there are probably two or three colors that I'll rarely use, if ever, because I want to eventually work in classical portraiture. However, I am now confident that I can mix anything with my little bag of stuff so I'll never be caught short.

It was alot of work, and right now I'm doing more studying than painting. But I know it'll pay off as my work improves.

Minh Thong

Intense pink?
 

I'd suggest you add a new quinacridone rose for intense pinks. Cadmium reds go flat(dull) and crimsons go cool.