What Type of Palette Do You Use?
For oils, mostly a glass palette that rests on the top of my taboret.
The Paint Colors/Brands I Use
Various brands: Grumbacher, daVinci, Winsor & Newton, Daniel Smith, Utrecht, LaFranc & Bourgeois, Permalba titanium white, etc. As I use up paint tubes, I replace with either daVinci or LeFranc.
If I work with abstracts, I use a split primary palette plus Viridian and Burnt Sienna. If I work with a still life, I use the palette recommended by Richard Schmid in his book, Alla Prima. (Cad Lemon, Cad Yellow Pale, Cad Yellow Dark, Yellow Ochre, Cad Red Medium, Terra Rosa, Alizarin, Trans Oxide Red, Viridian, Cobalt Blue, and Ultramarine Blue (plus white). I made the 12 charts with these colors recommended by Schmid.
Why I Use These Colors
The split primary gives me the availability to mix just about any color. (The resultant colors are depended on what primaries you use.) When I started painting, I started with a range of about a dozen colors that were required for a course. As I read, I kept notes on split primary palettes. Those primaries along with the colors recommended by Schmid will be the basic colors I foresee using in the future. I have used these palettes for about two years.
Tips and Tricks
- With the split primary, I lay out the warm and cool color next to each other. For instance, Cad Red Light along side Alizarin Crimson. With the Schmid palette, there is a pre-determined layout for the colors. A tip on mixing colors. Take two colors you want to mix and squeeze a dab of each opposite each other about 6 inches apart. With a palette knife, spread a color going from thick to thin. Do the same with the other color overlaying the first color. Now you have a 'run' that shows mixtures with different amounts of each color.
