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This i such a helpful tip! I always struggle outside for many reasons, but one is certainly getting frustrated while trying to quickly mix colors as I am painting. Thank you

Yes, I agree. Since your workshop that I took a couple of years ago I have used your pallette minus the dark grey and naples yellow and pre mix, it makes it easier for me.

Hi Kathleen,

As promised I used your limited palette the last time I went out, which was Saturday. (I didn't take Riley, but I did take my husband). I'm in love with it! Everything was easier from values to cool and warms colors next to each other . . . great in every way. Thank you for sharing this.

Kathleen: There may be somewhere in your Blog where you say what color you use when at the initial stage of laying down your composition-presumably with a brush(?). I have traditionally used alizarin crimson (from former class teachers preference). Right now, I am trying to adhere to your six color palette.

I guess I should go the extra mile and add some of your art books to my swollen shelves.

Wish Indiana was not so far away-would love to take one of your workshops. I was most impressed with your recent radio talk. You speak with such modesty and truthfulness. It is refreshing. Your work is a feast for all eyes.

Myles Murphy

Thanks for your comments! Myles- I do my drawing with Permanent Red medium, but it really doesn't matter what color you use as long as you keep the paint thin enough that it won't mix in with your subsequent layers of paint.
Rubs- I'm working on a DVD to be released (hopefully!!) early in 2014. I'll announce the release in a newsletter. My books offered on my website are show catalogs, no demos or painting info included in them. The best how-to book for the beginner plein air artist is Kevin MacPherson's "Fill Your Paintings with Light and Color." Everyone should own a copy of that one!

Hi kathleen. I am reza from iran. Your paintings are very beautifull.very nice colors

Erica-
That's still Naples Yellow Deep.

HI Kevin-
Good question! Colors vary a lot between brands of paint, so it's important to get an Ultramarine Blue Deep that is transparent and dark enough. I use Rembrandt for that pigment. Ultramarine mixed with permanent Red Deep (also Rembrandt) will give you a very dark color. Keep your brushes clean to make sure you don't contaminate the mixture: even a tiny bit of stray color in that mix will lighten its value. Remember that there is no pure black in nature, so use your darkest dark sparingly.

Hi Kathleen,

Greetings from Malta! Having just read your article and seeing the brand names that you have mentioned, what brand of Cad Yellow Light other than Utrecht would you use?

We cannot get Utrecht here in Malta, and seeing that the pigment used by Utrecht is PY37, would any other Cad Yellow Light using PY37 be OK?

Regards

Anthony Vella

Hello Kathleen, I very much enjoy your work! After reading this particular subject in your blog, I sorted through my many tubes of liquetex acrylics to find 5 that closely matched the colors you say you've used for some time. I then proceeded to attempt mixing to match a potted houseplant I recently used in a still life. The colors and values I was able to achieve by mixing were entirely different that what I had used in my painting! I did not believe I could mix such a natural looking green! I am fairly new at Plein air, so I cannot wait to take these 5 tubes outdoors!!

Hi Kathleen

I've tried using Ultramarine Blue in limited palettes, but find I can't get the right blue for the sky and ocean. I've found Cobalt Blue works better. I'm in Australia. Not sure if we have a different sky and ocean on the underside of the Earth?

Mark

hi kathleen I'm very eager to try your limited palette based on the beauty of your paintings!! my question on part 2...on your palette showing your mixes....is the 'orange' a product of mixing the red and lemon? It's so bright and so nice. Thank you Frances in NM

Also - it is quite impossible to make the color of a Colorado sky with that palette. That might be something I would not be willing to give up.

Good day Kathleen. You said you mix secondary colors irespective of what you are going to paint. Then I wonder why not buy the seconary colors in tube as well ?
Reza

Hi Reza-
You could, of course, buy tubes of secondary colors, but I don't for two reasons: I don't want to carry around extra weight when I'm painting outside, and most importantly, when you mix secondaries from the primary colors that are on your palette, you get a color harmony that might not happen if you buy tube paints. To me, it just makes things easier to have fewer tube paints to fool with, but there's no right or wrong answer for which paints to have on your palette: whatever makes a good painting for you is the right choice!

Hi Sharon-
Thanks for your question--I don't use mediums, just paint thinned with a little Gamsol (which is my favorite solvent). I buy my canvases pre-primed, so I don't have a whole lot of experience with different Gessos. Hope that helps!

Hello, I paint in acrylics and wondered if you could provide me with a palette similar to your for acrylics. I really love your work!

Hi Cindy-
Sorry, but I've never painted in acrylic and can't help you with choosing a comparable palette in that medium. Best best would be to just play around until you find a combination that works for you.

Hi Kathleen
Have always loved your paintings and have followed you for several years now. Quick question on supports.
Do you use stretched canvas or do you prefer canvas boards? You mentioned you get your canvas's pre primed. Can you recommend or do you know of a good canvas board or stretched canvas that does not need to be gessoed but still has a smooth feel?

Thanks Kathleen, for the info. I want to make it as simple as possible not to have to do extra steps before painting. For me if I don't have to go do the extra step to gesso my canvas because they have done it properly I am a happy camper!

Hi Lucy-
Thanks for your question--the darkest dark you can get with this palette is by mixing Rembrandt Permanent Red Medium with Rembrandt Ultramarine Blue. Brands are important because many Ultramarines aren't dark enough for my use. The combination of those two pigments, when applied opaquely, will give you a very dark value. There really is no absolute black in nature, so I've found that I don't need anything darker than that. Just be sure you haven't contaminated the mix with any other colors or the value will go up and it won't be dark enough- keep your brushes clean!
Hope that helps!

Hi Kathleen, love your work. I have ordered the paint to try your method. Love at the idea of an extremely limited palette that works, thus less to carry. I would like to ask how you use the grey. what is its purpose? Also do you have a book with instruction.thank you so much for sharing!

Pigment numbers are handy, and certainly have their place. They do NOT give a true comparison of colours. For example most manufacturers use the same PY35 pigment for Cadmium Yellow Lt., Medium, and Dark. Pigment size and density can make a substantial difference in the visual appearance of the actual paint.

Regardless of which paint we use, our paintings are unlikely to look like Kathleen's work, so don't get too strung out over details. We see light differently, and we feel scenes differently. Colour is relative, not absolute. If your relative values are correct, the actual colour is much less important to the viewer.

The value of using Naples Yellow and Cold Gray is convenience. Mixing them yourself is possible, but consistency suffers. When using any colour as part of a limited palette, consistency of value and colour matter.

Over the years I have accumulated far too many acrylic colours. Convenient in the studio perhaps, but I have learned the true potential of few of these colors. My current project is to cull tubes that are seldom used, any with fugitive (less than Lightfast I) pigments, and as many mixtures as possible. Single pigment colours are best for acrylics, especially if one uses any earth colours. My plein air palette will be down to six tubes plus white and a custom chromatic black. The studio will have some optional yellows, reds, and earth colours added to that mix, a far cry from the assortment filling my storage unit.

The final cut will contain colours that will provide me the range of colour that I want to work with and let me get the maximum from every tube I buy. The actual pigments available for paint manufacturers is not evenly distributed around the spectrum; we have to compromise. If you want exact, actual colours, take a photograph instead. The colours will still be inaccurate, but people accept them as correct. I have seen authors suggest less than 20 percent of people see the same colour when looking at any given object. Paint what you see and stop trying to paint what you think you see. Your paintings will actually look much more believable.

Hello Kathleen, [Sorry, this is a "Google" translation] I was lucky to be able to watch your DVD "Capturing the Light". It is really sensational. Your use of the palette limited to the three basic colors + White, Naples Yellow and Cold Gray, seemed very convincing to me and your explanations very clear for the use of dark Naples yellows and cold gray. But the problem for me is the price of colors at Gamblin and Rembrandt, especially since I am going to start with this method and therefore I will have to fumble to get the desired colors. So I found on the site http://www.art-paints.com/Paints/Oil/Oil-Paint.html, for each color of different brands, the corresponding RGB and CMYK codings. The three fundamentals you have chosen, seem very pure indeed. I found in study oils, the Van Gogh brand which also has pure fundamentals (light Cadmium yellow, Madder lake light and Ultramarine blue). The Ultramarine blue is very dark, on the other hand the Madder lake light is transparent instead of being semi opaque as with Rembrandt. Isn't it better to take the deep Cadmium red which is opaque? This is the question I ask myself. If you can give me your opinion when you can, thank you. And also thank you again for your DVD. Cordially.