Paints and Palette

Your palette is your working area. How you set it up will determine how effective you will work. How you place your paints is a personal matter but there are ways methods or set-ups that will help make your painting experience more productive.

Color:

There are many colors of paint made by many manufacturers. There are expensive paints and there are cheap paints. The quality of your paint should be determined by your budget. You should use the best that you can afford. You will be asking a good sum of money for something you have put your heart and soul into. Therefore you should use the best that you can afford. Emile Gruppe, a great teaching artist and author of many fine books on painting, said; “Paint like you are a millionaire”.   Use good paint and use a lot of it.

The basic paints you will need can be broken down into two categories; tone(value) (light, medium, dark), and temperature (warm or cool). Your primary colors are Yellow (light, warm), red (medium, warm) and blue (dark, cool). The basic store bought colors are listed below with their potential characteristics in relation to all of the above. They are listed in the way they should be placed on your palette. Again, there is no one way of doing this but this way makes sense.

Color                           Primary relation     Light Category        Temperature
White                           None                        Light                          Neutral
Cadmium Yellow       Yellow                      Light                          Warm
Yellow Ochre              Yellow                      Light                          Warm
Raw Sienna                Yellow                       Medium/ dark          Neutral
Cadmium Orange      Yellow/Red              Medium                    Warm
Cadmium Red            Red                            Medium                    Warm
Alizarin Crimson        Red                            Dark                          Warm
Burnt Sienna               Red                            Dark                           Neutral
Diazonine Purple        Red/Blue                  Dark                           Cool
Permanent green       Blue/Yellow             Medium                     Cool
Phalo green                 Blue /Yellow           Dark                            Cool
Cerulean Blue             Blue                          Medium                      Cool
Ultramarine Blue        Blue                          Dark                            Cool

Breakdown

White is the absence of color used to tone (lighten other colors or as a color unto itself)

Lemon Yellow or Cadmium Yellow Light  (This is your light yellow)

Cadmium Yellow is a primary color. Can make green or orange   This is a bright medium value Yellow

Yellow Ochre an earthy color like yellow can mix with blue and make green (a more earthy yellow Medium in value)

Raw Sienna a darker earthy color brown-ish( I consider this a dark yellow as it makes green when mixed with blue.)

Cadmium Orange Secondary color. Made of two primaries.  This color saves time and money as you do not have to mix it.

Cadmium Red is a primary color.  It comes in Light, Medium, and dark shades.

Medium Reds:  Carmine, Rose Madder.  These colors help you create special reds and red variations.

e.g.  Rose Madder helps make specific pinks and lavender colors (  The Purple Loosestrife appearing along roads in late summer can be made with this red.

Alizarin Crimson is red based and a warm transparent color.  I treat this as a dark red.

Burnt Sienna is an earthy color with a reddish tone

Diazonine Purple is a secondary color; a mixture of red and blue.  Like orange this is two primaries pre mixed, saves time.

Permanent Green is a secondary color. A mixture of blue and yellow.  Has a distinct tone.

Olive Green:   Olive toned green.

Sap Green:    A concentrated green.

Pthalo Green is a secondary color. A mixture of blue and yellow (This color can be bought in green or blue hues)

Cerulean Blue is a light blue and is a primary color.

Ultramarine Blue is a dark blue and is a transparent primary color.

Pthalo Blue is a dark rich blue and is a primary color.  (This color can be bought in green or red hues)

Note:  Pthalo Blue is a beautiful rich blue.  It is very concentrated therefore it can overwhelm in its application.

Black can be used alone or to darken other colors.  

Summary

In short you have the primary yellow in three shades or values.

The secondary orange

Primary red in three shades.

Secondary Purple

Secondary green in two shades.

Primary Blue in two shades.

Note: There are many different shades of green, blue, and red. The shades you use are or should be a matter of your personal preference. This set up regardless of the shade you select establishes two major things on your palette. Light to dark and a foundation of the primary colors.   The mixing of any of the colors above can provide the artist with any combination of colors in the spectrum. Black can be used to darken colors the same way white can be used to lighten colors. Remember this is a guide to be organized and effective with your most important tool; Paint.  The exact colors you use are your preference. Maintaining a light to dark and primary based organization on your palette will make your job easier.

You can create any color from the three primaries.  I purchase Orange, Green, and Purple for ease and convenience.  The colors above refer to oil based products.

The colors above in oil may not exactly match the colors of the same name in acrylic.  Oils dry slower and can be manipulated a bit easier.  Acrylics dry rapidly.  Some people swear by them, some people swear at them.  There have been times when I have mixed acrylics and the colors have dried so fast that what I originally mixed can no longer be used.

Oils can be unsafe to use.  Solvents are harmful to your body.  Turpentine splashing on your skin is absorbed very quickly and can affect your nervous system.  Odorless products are not odorless.  They have unique odors.  Turpentine doesn’t smell too bad but is very bad for you as a liquid and as a breathable substance.  My wife became very sick from the odors.  I switched to watercolor as a result.  However I was saved when Windsor & Newton came out with water based oils.  I am not endorsing any specific companies in my blogs.  I have no sponsors so I am only sharing what I know from actual use.  But Grumbacher and Holbein also carry water based oils.    The bottom line is to stay healthy.  Water based oils regardless of who sells them are a healthy alternative to turpentine based solvents.

Acrylics do not have the same issues as they are water based.  However, understand that acrylics are a polymer based medium.  Polymer is plastic based.  Once your paint dries it is solid and unchangeable. If you forget to clean your brushes you will be throwing them out the next day which can be expensive.

In my work I use oils primarily and I also use acrylic.  It depends upon the subject, size of the work, and the time required to meet any deadlines.  Acrylic dries fast by using evaporation.  The water evaporates leaving the pigment.   Oils dry slower  sometimes almost too slow.  How you use these mediums will depend upon your own styles and work ethics.  Both can be very enjoyable and rewarding.  Both can cause headaches.  Knowing what to expect makes your use of them less frustrating and more enjoyable.

I try to continue this blog as often as possible but recent deadlines have commanded my full attention.

Thanks for reading.

If you have questions email me at don@ donjalbertfineart.com