What could I be talking about? Lessons from the palette??
I was setting up my palette the other day and was thinking about how important it is to get it right. Your palette is a vital element in preparing to paint. I like to get my palette set up and ready to go before I begin a painting. I look at it as somewhat of a regimen or ritual of sorts. It slows me down and prepares me to be creative. I begin to get involved in the process kind of like a dancer might warm up before the dance.
I want fresh paint and plenty of it. I want mixed grays ready to go. I usually have at least three mixed grays on my palette at any given time. Below I will explain how to mix your grays if you don't have leftover paint to use. If you do have leftover paint, scrape your palette into piles of warms and cools. Automatically you have a warm gray and a cool gray.
There are several ideas that I want to share with you, but today I'll start with the importance of mixing "grays".
You'll learn that having these mixes on your palette make your life easier and getting to the color and value you want more convenient.
What is gray? To my mind it is a few colors mixed together. Sometimes they are dull and sometimes not. The ones I use the most are what I call a "cool violet gray", a "medium neutral gray", "medium warm gray" and "medium cool gray".
You can go on to have green grays, red violet grays, etc... ( I also like to mix white and ochre together to make a "yellow gray".)
So, I start with my
basic palette. Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin Crimson, Violet, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Pthalo Blue, Pthalo Green, Payne's Gray and Transparent Oxide Red.
I lay out my paints first, and begin to mix my grays. I start with white. Yes, white. Put plenty out and divide it up into piles, however many grays you will be mixing.
In this instance I am making my "Cool Violet Gray". Starting with white, I add Ultramarine Blue.
Start small and control the value from the beginning.
It is much easier to add more blue and darken the value than to add to much blue and have to add white.
Clean your palette knife with a paper towel and now add a lesser amount of Paynes Gray.
The Ultramarine Blue and Paynes Gray are equal in value, but use a little more blue than gray. Here you can see how much you have added and compare.
Now, you will use a tiny amount of Alizarin Crimson. It is very strong and will make your blue gray more violet.
Mix by "kneading" your paint with your palette knife. Scoop it up all together and turn it over while mixing, just like kneading bread. This is why you need a 3 inch flexible palette knife.
After mixing I adjust. This is a little light, so I will add more Ultramarine Blue until I get the value I want.
If it's too blue, add more gray, if it's too gray add more blue. You see how this goes.....
Now I scoop it up and take it to it's location on my palette. I like to keep it up near the blue family.
When I scoop up the pile, I dump it by turning the knife over, press down and then pull it away.
Now go back and scrape up the rest and dump it the same way.
My Cool Violet Gray is ready to go. Go ahead and mix a neutral gray or a cool and a warm gray and put those on the palette between the Paynes Gray and Transparent Oxide Red.
To make Neutral Gray:
Start again with white, add Paynes Gray until you get the value you want, usually a "medium" on the value scale. Now add just a touch of Transparent Oxide Red to the mix and you are done.
To make Cool Gray
Just use Paynes Gray and White.
To make Warm Gray
I use both methods of using White and Burnt Umber or White with Paynes Gray and anything warm such as Transparent Oxide Red and Yellow Ochre, or the like.
Remember you can always adjust the value. Use a value scale and find "medium" which is right in the middle. I like to use a 9 value scale as it gives me a "middle value". Once you do this a few times it will get easier to see the value. Some people use a medium gray paper under their palette to help them see the middle grays. Others put the value scale under the glass on their palette to see values. I like to use a white palette but be careful because everything looks darker on a white palette.
I use these grays a lot! I will adjust them to darker, lighter, cooler or warmer. Sometimes I add many other colors to get where I'm going. It is a journey...... I look for the color and value that I'm after, but I don't rush. I enjoy the process. There are no shortcuts.
Get used to mixing paint and you will have an easier time finding your color and value. Do it a lot until it feels comfortable. Be neat about it. A messy palette is distracting and will throw you off while painting. While in the creative mode, you want to stay there and not have to repeatedly start over. The fun goes out the window. This is really worth the effort my friends....
Write me a note and let me know what you think about this post. I'd love to help out if I can so send me your questions.. If you have ideas that you'd like to share please do. We all learn from each other. That is the blessing........
