ARTICLES

The Limited Palette

It's easy to look at all the colors in the landscape and feel compelled to have a tube of paint for each (and there are nearly enough pigment colors available to do that!) However, an overdose of pigments actually denies you control over your color mixing. Fewer colors force you to mix more and begin to see the inter-relatedness of color. A limited palette has few enough pigments to be practical, but versatile enough to allow the artist to mix any color they want. Some painters use severely “limited” palettes with only the three primaries — red, yellow, blue — and white. The palette I recommend is also based on the three primaries, but includes a cool and warm variety of each, plus a few other colors. I suggest starting with this palette, which helps reinforce temperature relationships. Then, over time, begin to introduce new colors to see what effect they have on your color mixes.

There is no such thing as an ideal landscape palette. While there are many common colors used amongst landscape painters, every artist’s palette varies according to their tastes and color intentions. For example, every palette will contain the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue), but which variety of those colors each artist uses may be different. In addition, every artist has certain pigments they enjoy working with.

Be organized and consistent. Your palette is more than just place to squeeze out your colors, but a unique roadmap for thinking about color and color mixing. Always place your pigments in a consistent and logical order. This will help you work faster and smarter. I arrange my colors according to the color wheel since I tend to evaluate colors chromatically. Then I place neutrals or earth colors off to the side. Avoid the spotty-palette syndrome, wherein colors are randomly placed in different spots each time you paint. Arrange the colors along the sides and top of the palette, not along the bottom. You swipe paint in a downward motion; if your paint is on the bottom, you'll swipe it right off the palette. Develop a strategy that makes sense to you and use it consistently.

Cool and warm varieties of each primary. Each of the colors shown is described as leaning toward the cool side of the spectreum (blues and violets) or the warm side of the spectrum (reds and yellows). This helps you see the relative temperature of colors and how they relate on the color wheel. See Mapping pigments to the spectrum, below.)

Titanium White

A versatile, all-purpose white. Very opaque with the ability to strongly influence mixtures. Tip: Replace the oil-based white with an alkyd-based white to speed up drying time. (See The Advatages of Alkyd Colors )

BLUES

Phthalo Blue (warmer blue)
A relatively warm blue (as compared to ultramarine) with a shift toward green. Straight from the tube, phthalo is fairly dark. It is one of the few colors whose brilliance is heightened by the addition of white. Caution: Phthalo is so intense that it easily overpowers any mixture unless used very sparingly. Tip: Pre-mix phthalo with a little white, as shown here, to help distinguish it from ultramarine on the palette.

Ultramarine Blue (cooler blue)
Among the landscape painter's most essential colors. A strong, transparent blue with a subtle shift toward violet. Straight from the tube, ultramarine is fairly dark. It is one of the few colors whose brilliance is heightened by the addition of white.

REDS

Alizarin Permanent (cooler red)
A magenta-like color, leaning closer to the violet side of the spectrum. As a transparent color, it needs to be mixed with other colors in order to achieve adequate covering power. Traditional alizarin crimson is not lightfast and has a tendency to fade. Instead, use Gamblin Artist's Colors alizarin permanent, a lightfast alternative to traditional alizarin crimson.

Cadmium Red Light (warmer red)
Compared to alizarin, cadmium red light leans toward the yellow and orange side of the spectrum. (Cadmium red medium is also warm, but is darker than cadmium red light.) Napthol red or red "hues" serve as alternatives to cadmium red should you wish to save money or avoid cadmium. Both have strong covering power and hold up well in mixture.

yellows

Yellow Medium (warmer yellow)
Cadmium yellow medium or hansa yellow medium are warm yellows. They lean toward the red side of the spectrum more than the "cooler" lemon or nickel-titanate yellow. Hansa yellow is a good alternative to cadmium if you want to save66 money or wish to avoid cadmium. Both are very opaque and hold up well in mixture.

Lemon Yellow or Nickel Titanite Yellow (cooler yellow)
Compared to warm yellows, cool yellows have less of a red component, with an ever-so-subtle shift toward the green end of the spectrum. Lemon yellow is the traditional cool yellow; however, the cool attributes of nickel titanate (a pigment with which many artists are unfamiliar) are more apparent than those of lemon yellow. It is also very opaque and holds up well in mixture.

Yellow Ochre and/or Raw Sienna (neutral yellow)
Yellow ochre is classified as an earth color, but it may be considered part of the yellow family. If you add violet to its complement, yellow, you can get a color similar to yellow ochre; thus, it can be considered a neutral yellow. Yellow ochre is similar to raw sienna, which is a bit darker and redder. Raw sienna is a particularly good color for underpainting.

NEUTRALS

Burnt Umber (warm neutral)
A versatile earth color, used not so much as a generic "brown," but as a neutralizing color to be mixed with other colors. It has a subtle reddish tint, which is revealed when lightened with white. When added in relatively equal parts with ultramarine blue, it makes a rich, neutral dark.

This ends the limited palette. All colors listed below are optional and are not abosultely essential.

Greens

There are many green pigments available. However, you can learn more by mixing your own greens from various yellow and blue pigments. If you want to include store-bought green pigments in your palette, you should have both a cool green (viridian) and a warm green (sap). If I were going to choose only a single green for my palette, however, it would be chrome oxide green. It is neither cool nor warm, and can easily be modified with the yellows and blues in your palette. What’s more, it holds up so well in mixture that it can handle being manipulated in a variety of ways.

Viridian (cooler green)
A relatively cool green, with less of a yellow component. It is particularly good for starting mixtures for the cool, dark green shadows sometimes seen in nature. It can also be warmed with yellow pigments. As a transparent pigment, it needs to be mixed with more opaque pigments in order to achieve covering power. When lightened with white, it reveals a mint-like hue.

Sap Green (warmer green)
A warm green, with a shift toward the yellow end of the spectrum. As a transparent pigment, it may need to be mixed with other, more opaque pigments in order to achieve covering power. When lightened with white, it reveals a yellowy-olive hue.

Chrome Oxide Green (cool/warm all-purpose green)
Out of the tube, chrome oxide green is a medium-value, somewhat neutral olive color. When lightened with white, it reveals a pale yellowy-olive hue. It holds up well in mixture, so it can be easily be manipulated by other pigments.

ADDITIONAL COLORS

There are a number of other colors that many landscape artists enjoy using. Although it is not absolutely necessary to purchase them separately (they can all be mixed from the red, yellow and blue primary pigments in the limited palette), they can be quite handy when working outside when there is not as much time to premix colors. Many of these colors are also richer in intensity than their mixed equivalents. When any two primary colors are mixed, there is some reduction of intensity. For instance, hansa yellow mixed with cadmium red light does not produce an orange as vivid as cadmium orange.

Dioxazine Purple
Mixing ultramarine or phthalo blue and either of the two reds can easily produce violets; however, this mixture will be more muted. Dioxazine purple is such a strong and "perfect" violet, that it is a handy way to quickly access violet, especially when working outside.

Naples Yellow
When mixing greens, it's good to have a few extra yellows on hand. Naples yellow is less intense than the hansa, cadmium, and cool yellows, but it has a lovely warm golden hue. It might be considered an "earth" yellow. Naples yellow pigment traditionally contained lead, but most brands now produce lead-free formulas, which is often designated by the word "hue" in the name; i.e., "Naples Yellow Hue."

Cadmium Orange/Mono Orange (Gamblin)
Oranges can readily be mixed from yellows and reds; however, they don’t have the same richness or purity as cadmium or mono orange. Gamblin’s mono orange is an excellent substitute for cadmium orange if you want to save money or avoid cadmium.

Mapping pigments to the spectrum

To understand the cool and warm varieties of each pigment, it is helpful to see where each falls along the color spectrum. The magenta-like alizarin permanent, for instance, lies closer to violet end of the spectrum, while cadmium red light is relatively warmer and leans toward the yellow end of the spectrum.