Trying to simplify my palette
 

I have done the standard ten-color color wheels (Yellow

Take a look at Richard Schmid "ALLA PRIMA, Everything I Know About Painting".

In this book he divulges his palette and suggests a series of color charts based on it. His palette might not be for everybody, but it is complete, economical (with exception of the yellows), and most importantly, permanent. The charts are lengthy and require commitment to see through. I did them this summer and they were my introduction to oils.

If not for the charts - as it seems you have been exploring your own mixes - at least you should investigate his palette. He arrived at it the hard way and has been gracious enough to share that knowledge.

While you don't have the book, take a look at his FAQ page, where he explains his palette and choice of manufacturers:http://www.richardschmid.com/faq.html

Greetings.

Minh,

If you just use the "search messages" function (at the top of each Forum page), you'll discover that Richard Schmid's, and many others' palettes are already posted.

http://forum.portraitartist.com/foru...?s=&forumid=31

Minh,

Although there are a staggering numbers of paint colors, hues, values, and mixes, and when you add in the equally staggering number and kinds of paint manufactures, it is easy to see where a new artist could be totally knocked for a loop by the choices. (Which is why finding an artist whose work you respect and using their palette at least gives you a point to start.)

Having said that, I cannot understand why you feel the compulsion to eliminate cadmium orange and all the greens. Phthalo, maybe (it is somewhat redundant with the viridian....), but your palette seems perfectly serviceable as it stands. I certainly couldn't live without cadmium orange. There is no other color, no yellow, no red, and certainly no mix, which is as warm and brilliant as cad orange.

I have had a moveable palette for many years. I've studied under a number of teachers, and adapted some colors as they were introduced, and eliminated others.

I would look at my palette after a week. If I found that I hadn't been dipping into a certain color, I would eliminate it from the palette the next time I loaded it up. If I found that I was constantly running back to my paints to squeeze out a little of an eliminated color, I would add it back.

The one thing I would have you consider with your palette is to actually add in two colors. I would suggest you add an opaque white, titanium. Flake and Permalba are both more transparent than titanium, one of the few truly opaque paints (although I might get some flack on this, I would replace the flake white and Permalba with titanium...) I would also have you consider adding Dioxazine purple, one of the few truly cool colors. With cad orange and diox purple, you control the full range of warm to cool.

Peggy

Minh,

You will find that the Mars colours are the cleanest of the earth range. For Cadmium Yellows, I shifted to Permanent Lemon Yellow (Rembrandt], it's a bright lemon yellow. Makes good greens with just about anything.

Burnt Sienna is not Transparent Red Oxide. It is Sienna that has been heated. Transparent Red Oxide is a man-altered iron oxide; it may be just a mix of Blanc Fixe or Alumina Hydrate with a Mars colour.

I was always taught that it is better to mix any Umber (yellow,blue,red as you wish); the Manganese Dioxide in the Umber is a pronounced drier, but without the positive traits of Lead White.

What you maybe searching for is very clean colours.

If you can find it, Irgazine Red is a cleaner red than Cadmium Red. It is expensive. I use Irgazine Scarlet, but that has to be hand-mulled.

Peggy,

I have never used pure Titanium Dioxide White. It must be an experience.

Kim,

Titanium white is warm, full bodied, and delicious (sort of like English beer....). I can't imagine being able to lay in a nice impasto without it. In the soup of a freshly painted nose, for example, the titanium highlight will set right up on top, pristine and pure, not disappearing into the soup an hour after it is placed. I sculpt and model with my paint, and I control the body by the consistency of the titanium white that I use. Rembrandt has an oilier content, and Yarka has a thicker body. My favorite is W/N.

Permalba, by comparison, is thinner, cool, and oily. You can't sculpt Permalba up into lovely thick impastos.

You should give titanium a try! I like a paint that stands up to the plate and gets the job done.

Peggy

A horse of a different color
 

Minh,

The palette you are using is an adaptation of the palette taught to the books author by the legendary teacher Frank Reilly. I studied with John Murray an ex Reilly student for 10 years. The palette is based on the Munsell color wheel, which has been scientifically proven to be the most accurate and is THE industry standard for color measurement. (note: yellow and purple are not compliments, yellow and blue-purple are)

The only difference is how the nine value steps between black and white are calculated.

Reilly used nine steps between black and white pigment as his basis, while Munsell used a theoretical black and white since he was categorizing color not limited to pigments.

The concept of the Reilly palette is to have the ability to mix the greatest range of colors using the least amount of pigments. However in some instances (ex. bright magenta) this isn't possible and you need to add other colors.

That said Rembrandt used a yellow, a red, black and white with not too shabby results. But we wouldn't call him a great colorist, would we?

I try to use the least number of pigments as possible without sacrificing my end result. Unity is more easily achieved with fewer colors. I only keep the appropriate amount of colors on my palette for the painting I am currently working on.

That being said, as a beginner you should definitely limit your colors and concentrate on form and modeling. Don't get hung up on color at this point (repeat after me: Rembrandt used four colors!) Color may be the most obvious aspect when viewing a painting but it's by far the least important. Sez me!!!

Thanks for all the replies, everybody. It's very helpful.

Mr. Mattelson,

I started out with six colors (split primary), and when I actually painted I used less than that. But when I got the Faragasso text and started doing all the exercises, I decided to buy exactly what was specified. So now, I've been practicing mixing the nine neutral grays, mixing the ten-color Munsel wheel and creating nine values of each of those colors, and making chroma swatches of each hue. I've got enough homemade color charts laying around to paper the White House :D

Now that I have a little better handle on color, I want to reduce the number of paint tubes, yet still be able to make all the Reilly charts. Unfortunately, I've found some rather unique pigements in my Rembrandt paint. Like PR101 for Raw Sienna and Burnt Umber, PR254 for the Madder Deep, and a couple others. I was just curious. I'm probably going to replace the Rembrandt earth colors with Old Holland, I love the rest of the set though.

Thanks again,
Minh

Peggy,

You have given me the answer to something I have been trying to figure out. Now, let's see if I can make use of it. Thanks a million.

Kim,

Let me know how it works for you! I'd love to see what you are doing...

Peggy

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.