Color palettes: How to Organize your Paint

I had a professor who was always aghast by the way I would arrange the colors on my palette. He tried to convince me that his way was "the right way." I even tried to consciously do his way, but after a couple of days I would forget and just start putting the paint back on my palette however I wanted it to be that day.

There are merits to putting the paint on your palette exactly the same everyday, well I can really only think of one: you will always know where each color is?

Some artists will create the color wheel, some will separate their palette by warm and cool colors, and some are all over the place. In the end, it super doesn't matter. Like at all. No order of paints will make you a better painter, just do what feels natural. 

To prove to all of the naysayers that there is no right way, I present some of the works by photographer Matthias Schaller. Here he has taken photos of the actual painting palettes of famous artists. He has taken over 200 of them! To read and see more, click here or here. 

But here is the question I would like answered, why do these still exist? Did the artist's mom think it pretty and keep it in her cedar chest? Or maybe the palette dried over night and the artist was all, "Hey that looks cool." Either way they are a small window into the temperament and painting style of each artist. 

Marc Chagall /  J.M.W. Turner 

Eugene Delacroix / Georges Seurat

Francis Bacon and his studio

It super makes sense that Bacon would use a canvas as his palette, he probably lost his palette in that mess of his. He was a crazy, crazy dude. 

Vincent Van Gogh / Pierre-Auguste Renoir 

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Pronghorn: Part 3

Most of the time I have spent working on the pronghorn has been taken up by me just staring at it. I wish I had realized that I should have moved the image up about 1/2 an inch before I started painting it. Oh well, here it is:

Of course I am trying to figure out the background. I thought that I had, but no go. I kind of want to do it in a orange, but we shall see.

Types of Palettes: Wood, Glass, or Paper

There are many options for an artist when it comes to painting palettes. Not only is there a variety of materials, but also of shapes. And as with most things, it all comes down to personal preference.

Your palette can either be handheld or tabletop, a variety of different colors or just gray, and made out of glass, wood, or paper.  It is all up to you, but knowing is half the battle (thank you GI Joe).

Handheld vs Tabletop

A handheld palette is the traditional favorite; you see a lot of old master self portraits with a handheld palette. They have, however, come a long way and are quite a bit different than what you normally see in old master paintings.

Handheld palettes are useful for several reasons. By holding your palette in the same light as your canvas, a handheld palette can allow for better color and value gauging. It obviously increases mobility, again very nice when working on a large painting, and it can help you maintain a more continued focus by not needing to look down or away from the painting.

They come in a variety of sizes and shapes. One company that I have heard a lot about is New Wave: Fine Art Products (you can also purchase them from Dick Blick). Warning: They are expensivo!

Tabletop palettes can also be really great. One, you don't have to hold it! Being clumsy, I only use tabletops. Tabletops also have a larger range of sizes, as in they can be huge and who says you have to put your tabletop on a table?

And as an added benefit, you can also make them at home (I will have a step-by-step in another post) on the cheap.

Color of your Palette

The color of your palette should match the ground, or imprimatura, of your painting, so that the color you are mixing on your palette appears as the same color when applied to your canvas. Otherwise you can get very frustrated when mixing what appears to be the "right" color, only to find that it looks different up on the canvas.

Allow me to give an example: an artist who has a natural wood palette and paints directly onto a white canvas may run into a color mixing problem. When making colors on his palette, the color his eye sees is influenced by the color of the palette. When he takes that paint and puts it onto a white canvas the color will appear to be different because now it is being influenced by the pure white of the canvas verses the tan color of the wood.

I paint with a gray-colored palette because I like a more cool, neutral ground, which helps me unify my colors. In the image below you can see artists utilizing two different types of grounds and painting from two different colored palettes:

Wood vs Glass vs Paper

Wood:

Some artists are all, "Wood is horrible, you can't clean it, I don't like it!" But then others are all, "Wood is the bestest!" Sadly it all comes down to preference, and, in this case, your wallet. A good wooden palette should cost you at least $50.00.

Wood is harder to clean than glass or paper, but that doesn't mean it is horrible or difficult to clean. They do take more upkeep; if you want to keep your wooden palette nice, you have to be nice to it.

Glass:

I use glass because it is easy to clean. I love that I can allow paint to dry on it for days then scrape it off with no problem. But it can break. I have broken two over the past year, though that was more from packing up and moving things with the whole Cousin situation... Glass also affords you more flexibility with colors. By simply placing a different colored piece of paper under it you can create different ground color options. You can also make your own glass palette for super cheap! Like $10 cheap!

Paper:

Paper palettes are made of a waxy paper and come in a variety of colors and sizes. They're a nice default option because any hobby or craft store will carry it, and they're the most transportable of the three options. They can be great when going to school because they are light and are easy to bring with you when painting outside. Paper was the first palette I ever used when learning to oil paint. However, I don't love using it because it doesn't allow for great glazing as it is harder to thin paint, and even with the wax film the paper sucks oil out of the paint.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Paint Brands: Professional vs Student grade

I have rewritten this blog post, to see it go to: 

katherinegriffinstudio.com

The most perfect paint brand that money can buy is...the one that you most prefer. :) Which could potentially sound frustrating and expensive and wasteful, but it isn't. Finding a good brand for a good price is easy, but finding a bad brand for a good price is also easy.

Let's quickly talk about what makes a paint good or bad, and then we will get into brands. 

Straight out of the tube, a bad paint can very easily masquerade as a good paint. The color and texture could all seem adequate, but once the beginner starts painting they will meet with nothing but frustration. Here is why: 

The lefthand square is my illustrated version of a student-grade, cheap, poorly made paint. The righthand square is a high quality, well-made paint. As you can see, the purple pigments of the poor paint are uneven and lacking in quantity. Paint makers make up for the lack of pigment by adding fillers to the paint in order to add more body to it. This would be like adding corn starch to a soup in order to thicken it. The same way that starch does not alter the flavor of the soup, the fillers do nothing to the color, but they do thicken the mixture.    

Fillers are a problem because while they do not alter a single tube's color, once you start mixing different colors together the amount of filler to pigment is overwhelming and you end up with mud. Fillers also make it difficult for paint to stretch, and you will need to use a larger amount of paint from a poor grade to cover a canvas than you would from a professional grade. 

Now let's get into brands. Not all brands are created equal, and therefore not all brands are within my budget. Below is a list of brands that are worth your money. The list is according to each brand's price for the color Yellow Ochre and it is arranged from most expensive to least. I picked Yellow Ochre because it is color everyone needs, a paint every company makes, and it is a Series 1. I also included each brand's most expensive paint in order to show range. This list, however, does not rate quality.

Note: The "Blick Price" is referring to the site Dick Blick Art Supplies. They always have great prices, and I arranged the prices for the items according to their price point when possible. Please note that their prices do fluctuate, so this list will not always be exact, but pretty close. As you can see two are not sold on Dick Blick's website. Please note that if you purchase the paints from other sites, not only will the prices most likely be different, but the arrangement of brands will be as well. 

A few brands that you should avoid are Winton by Winsor and Newton, Grumbacher Artisan Paints by Grumbacher, and Utrecht. 

Both Winton and Grumbacher Artisan are their respective company's student brand and should be avoided. Utrecht, decades ago, was THE paint to have; however, now they have been purchased twice over and both times the quality significantly suffered.  

However, how do all of these paints rate amongst fellow artists? Great question: 

Note: As you can see, some of the paints that I included in my own list of professional paints are not included in the final poll (Rembrandt, Vasari, Grumbacher), however I included them because I have read many a review from other sites about them. Please remember that the above poll, while a great one and a good comparison, is one of many and not the final say, for sure. 
I have also included one 3% in my list, and that is Blue Ridge. Blue Ridge is a one-man-show with a small but faithful cliental. I personally would love to try his paints. Maybe next time I need something I will. 

This was a poll, taken on the site Making A Mark, of 30 "professional quality paints" with 74 respondents. To read more about the poll read here and here.  

But which paints are worth purchasing? Do I go more expensive or cheap? To be honest, I am sure that the more expensive paints are luxurious, but not necessary. I find little need, unless you have lots of moneys, to purchase the poll's top three and my own most expensive top seven. That being said, however, I would also not purchase anything below Blue Ridge on the poll. 

So which brand should you try out? Finally, I am going to answer this. Any beginner would be more than happy with M. Graham, Gamblin, Grumbacher, or Winsor and Newton. 

But what do I personally use? Primarily M. Graham. For a few reasons: their price, general availability, and their environmental work ethic. Their facilities are completely solar powered, and they do not use any type of solvent to clean their machines. Each color is made by one person, and the paints are of a solid quality. 

At M. Graham, we've made conscious choices about our product, our processes and our materials -- all with an eye towards protecting and preserving our people and our environment.

I will be writing more on "Going Green" as an oil artist later. Also, on occasion I use Grumbacher and Gamblin. I actually prefer their tubes; the tube opening is smaller and allows for better control when dispensing paint. 

If you have any questions or better ideas about paint brands, please leave a comment! For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Painting Shadows and Lights: Warm vs Cool colors and Transparent vs Opaque

For an updated version of this post, go to my website, katherinegriffinstudio.com or click here for the new post. 

In my post about color palettes I recommended that every beginner painter have a simple but practical color palette consisting of both cool and warm primaries. I would like to quickly explain why.

Along with using opaque colors in highlights and transparent colors in lowlights and shadows, it is also important to have the correct correlating color temperature for each. If the light hitting an object is a warm light, the highlights will be warm and the shadows will be cool. If the light hitting an object is cool, the highlights will be cool and the shadows will be warm.

It is important to not think of shadows as just being black, gray, or cool blue. Shadows are more often than not warmer than we realize.

Sometimes the difference in color temperature between a light and shadow is so small it is difficult to tell which is which and it does take practice. When considering the temperature of a shadow ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is the light source natural? Daytime light usually has a cool, blue tint to it, making all of the shadows warm.
2. Is the light source artificial? Most artificial lighting is warm. At night, look around your house and notice how cool the shadows are verses during the day.

And remember, just because a shadow is purple, doesn't mean that it is a cool shadow. Purple can also be warm. I will be writing another post about shadows and the colors that compose them.

Below are some works by my favorite street art duo, Etam Cru. You can see that even though they use arbitrary colors, they still maintain (for the most part) a warm and cool temperature in order to create shadows, highlights, and depth.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Types of Paints and When to use them: Opaque, Semi-Transparent, Transparent

For an updated version of this post, go to my website, katherinegriffinstudio.com or click here for the new post. 

There are three categories for a paint's opacity: opaque, semi-transparent, and transparent.

One is not better than another, they just have different functions. For example, in my crude illustration, you can see the difference between layers of transparent paint on the left and opaque paint on the right.

On the left, transparent layers were glazed, or painted, one on top of the other (how to create a glaze will be covered in another post). When light passes through the transparent layers, it passes through all of the layers, bounces off of the white ground, or opaque underpainting, and then back to our eye. The eye then processes all of the colors as one, and sees a red-orange. This red-orange has a depth that cannot be achieved by mixing the same color on your palette.

On the right, opaque layers are painted on top of one another. While some of the layers may be painted thinly to show colors beneath, the eye processes the colors as individuals. Instead of seeing a red-orange, we see red and yellow paint.

Opaque paints can be thinned with additional oil; however, in order to achieve true glazing/transparent results it is always better to stick with a transparent or semi-transparent paint.

It is important to know when, or rather where, to use opaque paint verses transparent paint. For bright, highlighted passages that you would like to advance towards the viewer, use opaque paint. For dark, or shadowed passages that you would like to recede from the viewer, use transparent. That is it, that is the big secret. Glazing is an exception to this rule, but that will be discussed in a later post.

Let's look at two examples.

This is the photograph "Pomegranate" by Ori Gersht. It is a homage to the Spanish baroque painter Juan Cotan. The pomegranate is exploding because a bullet just shot through it. If you look closely you can see the speeding bullet to the right of the photograph. If it was painted you would paint the lighted areas in opaque paint, the slightly darker areas of the fruit in a combination of opaque and semi-transparent paint, and finally the background painted in transparent paint.

On the right is one of my own paintings called Limao. It is also a study of Cotan. Again, you can see that the lighter, highlighted areas are more opaque, the shadows on the fruit are a combination of both opaque and transparent paint, and finally the background was completely done in transparent paint.



Below is a video that explains the above concepts:

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

What does a Paint’s Label mean?: Lightfastness, Series, etc.

I know that I said I would write next about the importance of cool and warm colors, but first I think I need to explain a few things about the tube of paint itself, specifically the label.

We are going to start left and work our way around.

ASTM Rating: This is the lightfastness of the paint and is a type of standard throughout the oil painting industry. You want a lightfastness of I, and sometimes II. Any lower than that and your paint will change color with time and exposure to light. In fact, never purchase anything lower than a II, it just isn't worth it.

A good example of this is the color alizarin which has a lightfastness of III. This is not good. It means the color is very fugitive, and will change color quickly. However, it is a favorite color of just about everyone. In fact, Turner was once told that the alizarin he used in his paintings would change color with time and he thought it was perfectly poetic. He continued to use the color. Now there is a synthetic alizarin called Alizarin Permanent. A couple of companies make it, Gamblin being one of them. It is the same exact "color," but not pigments. The permanent version is made of different, more colorfast pigments. I love it.

Also never purchase a tube of paint without the ASTM rating. It is optional for the company to print it, but if they aren't willing to tell you, walk away.

Opacity rating: This will tell you if the paint is opaque, semi-transparent, or transparent. I will write more about this in a separate post.

Pigment Content: This will tell you what pigments were used to make that color.

Vehicle Used: In oil paints the binder, the thing that holds the pigment particles together, is oil. However, it is not always the same oil from manufacturer to manufacturer. Linseed has been the oil of choice since the beginning of oil painting centuries ago; however you will also see walnut and safflower oil.

Permanence Rating: This is something made up. What you need to pay attention to is the lightfastness.

Series Number: The higher the series number the more expensive the paint. Series 1 should be relatively cheap in comparison to a series 2 to 5, which would be mega expensive. If you are paying a lot of money for a Series 1 or 2 tube, you are getting ripped off. The cost is associated with the expense of the pigments inside the tube of paint.

The label is usually very helpful, but can also be misleading. Remember, some of these painting companies are just that, big corporations out to make as much money as possible. Avoid paints with "hue" or "mixture" in the title. These are usually inferior pigments masquerading as a better quality paint.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Color palettes: Basic and Beyond

Limited Color Palette, Option 1: Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Alizarin, Cadmium Yellow Light, Burnt Umber, and Titanium White.

Note: For more on Permanent Alizarin vs Alizarin to go my post on paint labels.

As you can see form the image above, you can quickly create a simple, lovely color palette that maintains an overall harmony with my five recommended colors. This really is ideal for the beginning painter and is a great stepping stone for a beginner's first few paintings. However, pigment is not the only issue. If these are the only paints you are allowed, a lack of opacity in these paints, coupled with the lack of easy variation in color temperature, can lead to frustration. And yet, do I paint with more than 5-7 colors in a painting? Not really. Sometimes I will go crazy and have like ten! It is the option of variation that is important.

Limited Color Palette, Option 2, The Zorn Palette: Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Medium, Ivory Black (used in place of a blue), and Titanium White.

Again, as you can see, with just these four colors plus a little color theory know-how, you can create a varied array of colors. However, one more time, even within this array there are limitations that can leave you lacking.

To read more about Limited Color Palette Option 1 click here or here. To read more about Zorn's color palette click here. I will be writing more about Zorn's palette in my post about flesh tones. 

Semi-Limited Color Palette: These are the colors I wish I was originally told to get, when my professor only allowed a limited palette, but first a little color theory.

Orange is the warmest color on the color wheel, with its compliment, blue, being the coolest. As you move towards one or the other you will get a cooler or warmer color. Hence why you can have both cool and warm yellows or cool and warm greens. My semi-limited palette consists of both cool and warm primaries as well as some additional earth tones. 

Cool Colors:

Hansa Yellow (toward green)

Quinacridone Red (toward blue)

Cerulean blue (toward green)

Warm Colors:

Cadmium Yellow (toward orange)

Napthol red (toward orange)

Phthalo Blue (toward red): careful, it has a high tinting strength!

Note: Cadmium Red is also a great warm red, and has a better lightfastness (more on lightfastness later); however, I personally prefer Napthol.

Note: Ultramarine Blue is the original Egyptian Blue and is less of an intense tinter than Phthalo. I don’t personally love the color; I by far prefer the deeper color of Phthalo.

Additional Colors:

                       

Burnt Sienna – a painter’s first earth tone

Yellow Ochre – a must-have earth tone

Ivory Black – a great mixing black with moderate tinting strength

Titanium-Zinc White – a neutral, great general mixing white

Only five more colors than the Limited Color Palette Option 1, it can however make all the difference in the world. You can see some alternative color combinations to my semi-limited palette here and here.

Semi-Limited color palette expansion pack:

           

Secondary colors: Organized in no special order

Permanent Alizarin – (cool, towards blue) one of my favorite colors. I use it in every painting, and most old masters did as well.

Cadmium Orange – (the warmest) a strong orange, but saves you so much paint. It is very versatile and can easily be tinted or changed.                             

Indian Yellow – (it is orange) Cadmium is opaque, but this orange is transparent and a lovely tinter (not a word, don’t care).             

Permanent Green Light: a good, middle of the road green

Olive Green: an excellent earth tone green. Sap Green and Phthalo Green are also worth checking out.

Dioxide Purple: a dark purple, but very versatile.

Naples Yellow: just a great color.  

Additional Earth Tones:

Van Dyke Brown: a cooler, darker brown that dries super fast.

Raw Sienna: not the prettiest of colors, but can sometimes be a good one.  

From here you start adding colors that you find yourself mixing most often. I know that some people think it is silly to purchase a color that you can just mix, but I say why waste the paint? If you know you are going to use it a lot, just buy it.

To read more about the characteristics of each color I recommend checking out the Gamblin site. Scroll down and select the desired color group. Their site is full of useful and wonderful information. You will see it popping up quite a bit in the coming posts. If you are interested in the history of each pigment I recommend Pigments through the Ages.

                       

For additional colors to add for landscape color palettes click here and here, or for a listing of colors used for a "general old master color palette" click here.             

If you would like to know what paints a specific artist, modern or old master painted with, check out the blog Oil Color Palettes.

Below is a video from the Web Art Academy, here they recommend their own palette as well as some additional information about old masters:

My next post will be about why having a set of warm and coolcolors is so useful. For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Color palettes: Limited vs Semi-Limited

There is a debate, sometimes a heated one in fact, about what a beginner's (or professional's for that matter) first color palette should be: a limited palette, a semi-limited, or however many colors you can afford :). I personally fall into the semi-limited philosophy, but first let’s define quickly what these different terms mean.

A true limited color palette is made of only five colors, sometimes six if you are lucky: blue, red, yellow, brown, and white being the main five with a black being the sixth. You will not always find black listed as part of a limited palette, because you can mix your own black using the primaries.

Pros of a limited palette: It allows for easy color harmony throughout the work and ....

To continue reading an updated version of this post, click here or go to my website: 

katherinegriffinstudio.com

Painting Tips and Techniques: Links and Topics

When I was an art student, there were times when I felt frustrated by a lack of specific information. This frustration led me to comb the internets for my own questions and answers. However, even that was frustrating. Sometimes I didn't know the right question to ask, and answers I did find were usually strewn over multiple sites.

And so, in order to help you avoid the same time-consuming, frustrating searches, below is a list of topics, organized into primary subjects, so that both you and I may have the information we need all in one place.

Note: I will be linking each post back to this main idea page as I complete each topic. If there are topics not covered here that you would like to know more about, leave a comment and I will see what I can do.

Paint

Color Palettes: Limited vs Semi-Limited

Color palettes: Basic and Beyond

What does a Paint’s Label mean: Lightfastness, Series, etc.

Types of Paints and When to use them: Opaque, Semi-Transparent,Transparent

Painting Shadows and Lights: Warm vs Cool colors and Transparent vs Opaque 

Paint Brands: Professional vs Student grade

Are Oil Paints Toxic? Yep.

Paint Colors 

Characteristics of an Oil Paint: A Guideline to Purchasing the Perfect Paint Every Time

Which White should I Use: Lead, Zinc, Titanium, etc?

Which Black should I Use: Lamp, Mars, Ivory, Payne's? Or No Black at All?

Yellow Oil Paint: Pigments, Basics, and How to Pick the Right Yellow

Orange Oil Paint: Pigments, Basics, and How to Pick the Right Orange

Red Oil Paint: Pigments, Basics, and How to Pick the Right Red

Purple Oil Paint: Pigments, Basics, and How to Pick the Right Purple 

Vantablack: Can an Artist really own a Color?

Mediums 

Types of Mediums: The Simple Option 

Types of Mediums: Oils, Thinners, Questions, etc.    

How to Keep Solvent Odors to a Minimum while Painting 

How to Avoid and Fix a Yellowing Painting

Brushes 

Types of Brushes: Hog Bristle, Sable, Synthetic, etc.  

Brush Brands and What to Purchase: Level 1, 2, 3, what?

Saving your Paint Brushes: How to Remove Old Dried Paint and Reshape your Brushes

Going Green: Cleaning paint brushes without Turpenoid

Cleaning your Brushes with Turpenoid 

Decanting: How to make your cleaning Oil or Turpeniod stretch 

Painting Supports/Palettes 

Types of Palettes: Wood, Glass, or Paper 

Color Palettes: How to Make your Own Glass Palette 

Color Palettes: How to Organize your Paint 

Types of Supports: Board, Canvas, or Paper and How to Make Them 

Painting Methods 

Three Oil Painting Rules: Fat over Lean, Thick over Thin, and Slow over Fast Drying 

Direct vs Indirect vs Combination Painting: Differences, Terms, and Artists 

Colored Grounds / Imprimatura: What is it, What colors to Use, and Who Used Them

Indirect Painting: The Flemish Technique or Classical Approach

Indirect: Underdrawing

Indirect: Underpainting and Dead Color

Indirect: Overpainting

Indirect: Glazing, true glazing vs color correcting

How to Correct Dull, Sunken Colors: Oiling Out Vs Creating a Couch

Direct Painting: Alla Prima vs Wet-on-Wet vs En Plein Air

Direct: Impasto Painting

Direct Painting: 10 Simple Guidelines to Colorful and Clean Paintings

Tonking: How to Smooth Paint Strokes or Paint Thickness without Disturbing the Paint

How and When to Varnish

How to paint Convincing Shadows: painting the colors that you can't see 

How to Avoid Mixing Muddy Colors

Flesh Tones: Warm and Cool

What you need in order to copy an Old Master or Modern Work

Color Theory 

Hue vs  Color vs Tint vs Shade: What they are and How to make them

A small caveat: There are differing opinions all over the internet about each of these topics. The opinion I am putting forth is my own, but only after extensive research. I normally only decide what to write on a topic after I have found two or three agreeing opinions that stand out from all of the differing ones and I will be citing them when possible.