defining my new palette...

if there is one thing i know for sure, it's that when i have time to spend drawing or painting, there is no time for dawdling and contemplation. i need to get to work. my time will be limited and is usually based on the length of my daughter's nap or how late i think i can stay up and not suffer for it the next day.


with that in mind i've spent weeks now, streamlining my processes and setting my studio up to be as efficient as possible. i created multiple workstations so there is no cleaning up to work on something else and i can move from one to the next as needed.


one thing that has been looming over my head is my palette of oil colors. my previous style used many many glazed layers of translucent color. therefore my palette was made up of semi-transparent and translucent paints.


moving forward those paints just aren't going to work. and since i am not a wing it on the go type of artist. i like to know what i am doing, what i am using, and exactly how and what to do to get what i need out of my paints.

so i've spent the past two weeks mixing and testing everything from whites to color and narrowing down to a palette that i feel i can start with.

when deciding on colors my main priorities were selecting primaries i liked, and additional colors that would speed up my mixing process. i also took into consideration what my subject matter was going to be. in addition, alizarin crimson is a color i had in several brands so i tested them as well. i've used Schminke Mussini Alizarin Madder Lake for several years and wanted to see if for any reason i might prefer another brand. but nope, stuck with it. just love it. W&N was more pinkish to me and Grumbacher too, i liked the slightly toned down mixes i get with Mussini's AML.

here is my test swatches for whites. previously i used zinc white because i enjoyed it's crisp cool whiteness and translucent qualities. i was introduced to flake white in a workshop, which is similar but more semi-transparent, and titanium white, which is nice and opaque, although with a slight warmness to it.

i selected three primaries: cad yellow light, ultramarine blue and azilarin, plus mineral brown to see any differences when mixed with each of the three whites. i felt the colors did not vary much from each white, but the transparency was the key difference.

while i still prefer the coolness of zinc white, i had to go with titanium for the opacity and feel the warmness will complement the skulls and bones i will be painting. but... i think i will keep flake white on the side, for those moments when i want a little more transparency.

now that i have initial selections, i am making color charts for each color i have selected plus a few more just for color theory purposes.

cadmium yellow light color chart

i could go into the benefits of color charts with you but you can read that on tons of other blogs. my goal is to not only have the understanding of how this new palette of colors interacts but a fast reference to use until i am familiar with them to cut down on mixing time...which is huge when your painting time is limited.

i'm sure all stay at home mom artists can understand that. :)