There has been a few times when I prepared to paint in plein air on to arrive on the scene and relized I for got a color I needed to paint. Have you ever done that? Also there would be just too much stuff to haul with me to paint.
In this blog post I will discuss with you my limited palette that I use whenever I paint in plein air. My colors went from twelve or more to six due to limiting the colors I bring with me. It has been refreshing and a big comfort to limit the amount of colors I bring.
By using a limited palette it allows me to develope a color harmony through out my mixing. It is very cost effective to not just bring but buy just a few selective colors. For example I may need a warm green that has a local color of yellow in it. By using a limited color palette all I have to do is just take these three colors and mix them to get close or right at the color I need. I would mix a phthalocyanine blue with a cadmium yellow medium mix the two with just a very small amount of blue to the yellow to get yellow green. I also can disaturate the intensity by mixing the color's compliment or using any color with alter the saturation. I could use white, gray or brown any of these colors will cause the color to lose it's intensity. Those three colors are the most common colors to disaturate the color intensity.
Before I place any color on to my stay wet palette I get my container of Liquitex slow dri gel which is a medium and mix it into my limited palette of color.
Here is my limited color palette.
The three colors at the top from left to right are titanium white, cadmium yellow medium and yellow orchre.
Finally, the three colors at the bottom from left to right are as following: cadmium red medium, phthalocyanine blue and raw umber
The three colors at the top from left to right are titanium white, cadmium yellow medium and yellow orchre.
Finally, the three colors at the bottom from left to right are as following: cadmium red medium, phthalocyanine blue and raw umber
MIXING COLOR TO GET BLACK
In order for me to get close to a black if I ever need it in my painting I would mix up the following color cadmium red medium, phthalocyanine blue and raw umber.
MIXING COLOR TO GET GREY
In order for me to get a grey I would just add titanium white with the three colors I just mentioned above
MIXING COLOR TO GET A COOL GREY OR A WARM GREY
f I need to get a cool grey, there would be a little bit more of blue. If I need a warm gray then I would mix more brown in the color along with titanium white.
MIXING COLOR TO GET BROWN
If I need a brown I would mix all of the primary colors red yellow and blue. Whenever your mx these three colors you get a brown.
MIXING COLOR TO GET ORANGE
If I need a orange I would mix cadmium yellow medium and cadmium red medium.
MIXING COLOR TO GET VIOLET OR PURPLE
If I need a violet or purple I would mix cadmium red medium and phthalocyanine blue equally. In order to get a cool violet I would mix a little bit more of blue than red. If I need a warmer violet then I would need a litte more red to mix.
I hope you have learned the reasons in why I use a limited color palette. Remember that to bring down a colors intensity or pureness it must be mixed with another color particullarly gray brown white or the color's compliment. The color that is accross on the color wheel from it.
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