What's On Your Palette?

My Colors: Color Chart  

Sue, You've Got Me Thinking!

My friend Sue has just started Oil Painting and she has been asking many questions about colors, color mixing and palettes. Sue is a Professional Pastel Artist and she has only recently decided to try Oil Painting--she has done amazingly well! All of Sue's questions really got me thinking about my palette colors and how they have changed since I started taking Oil Painting classes.

After writing down my palette and re-reading Richard Scmid's Alla Prima, I decided to start making color charts.  Color charts take a long time and are a lot of work but I want to know what my colors can do. The first color chart is my palette colors across the top (horizontal) and then the top color mixed with an increasing amount of white (the vertical). Look at the beautiful bright color choices that I mixed! And, there are still color charts to make now of each color mixed with all the other colors...many more charts to do.

So, here is my current paint palette:

Sara Palette Summer 2018

Warm White (Gamblin)

Titanium White (Gamblin)

Radiant Lemon (Gamblin)

Cadmium Yellow Medium (Rembrandt)

Permanent Red Medium (Rembrandt)

Alizarin Crimson (Winsor & Newton)

Permanent Rose (Winsor & Newton)

Cerulean Blue Hue (Gamblin) *

Ultramarine Blue (Gamblin)

Viridian Green (Rembrandt)*

Pthalo Green (Gamblin)

Winsor Violet Dioxazine (Winsor & Newton)

Ivory Black (Gamblin)

*Denotes sometimes color (this is not always on my palette).

Play Colors: I own and use (but not always) Indian Yellow, Cobalt Blue, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre, Yellow Ochre Light, Naples Yellow.

Notes:

This is my current palette but this does change. Only since April have I been using Pthalo Green, it is currently what I would call a ‘Play” color. I want to see what it does and how it interacts with my palette. Right now I love the dark purple that I get when I mix Pthalo and Alizarin or Pthalo and Permanent Rose. Also, I like to mix my own greens, I don't use much "tube" green when I plein air paint.

I tried using Gamblin’s Cadmium Yellow and I did not like it, it was cheaper and less toxic but it did not have the same color or consistency (butter) as that of the Rembrandt paint.

In looking back at numerous oil painting class notes, my palette is most close that of my favorite art workshop instructor,  Vianna Szabo. I have removed from my palette the Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow, and most earth colors (which I had from previous classes and workshops). I have found that each Instructor will prefer different colors and mediums, but ultimately the artist has to choose and try what works for them. 

I have tried many colors and many palettes, this is where I am today--subject to change, of course.