Color Survey

[jolieo]

Like alot of people who are new to a medium < I am obsessed with which is the right paint. I know on a rational basis this is obsurd- but I can't seem to help it . I have alot of watercolors, and certain watercolors made a painting for me. What I would like to know is what your favorite colors are and who makes them and why they are your favorite color. When I was very new to watercolor I took a trip and visited an artist co-op. The lady manning the store was a veteran artist who not only had work up all aver the place, but also sold her work regularly> I was quite intimidated! we talked for awhile and I mentioned that I loved Holbein's Opera. So did she.That trully broke the ice for me, but it connected me in a deeper way,a validation of sort, because I have never found that pink in any other manufacturer's palette(probably because it is a pretty fugitive pigment) and that pink made the most delightful oranges. That she liked it too made it about creating rather than marketing .Moonglow from Daniel Smith, as well as all the quincinadones, did very similar things for me . I don't know oil that well, although I have quite a few , and I keep reading everyone's pros and cons on all the brands- I just get confused, I don't want a brand I want colors - So why do you like the colors you like ?

Jolie

[Tammyr67]

Hi Jolie. My favorite colors are ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson. These colors have always been my favorites!

[jolieo]

Are all brands the same for you or do some brands have an allure and if so why? Thanks Jolie

[Tammyr67]

I'm not picky about brands. I know there are some "better" manufacturers. However, most of us paint for a hobby. It just can't cost a fortune. When I was young and my mom was buying my paint, she bought the expensive stuff. We didn't know any better.

I have purchased all kinds of paint over the years. I seem to be going for the Winsor & Newton Winton colors lately. They are affordable for me. Maybe (one day) when I make money from my art, I will upgrade to professional paints. For now, even though I have been painting for years, I am still learning and experimenting. There's no need to go broke buying expensive paints while you are painting for a hobby or learning.

Brushes are another story! I'd rather spend my money on quality brushes than paints. Just my opinion! :wave:

[Miketav]

Hi jolieo,

As for colors, it all depends on what you want to paint.

I like landscapes. My favorite colors are pthalo blue, because it makes beautiful skies and water,

I also like cad yellow light becuase when you mix it you can get a zillion variations of green, which works wit trees and grasses.

I also like alizarin crimson, yellow ochre,and sap green. If you mix equal parts of alizarin crimson and sap green you get a beautiful warm brown.

I hope this helps.

Mike :)

[Dublinah]

brands...hmmm...not as picky as some, I like Windsor & Newton, Van Gogh.
As for colors, all time favorite is sap green, something about it, the consistancy, texture, it's the most oily right out of the tube as compared to every other tube of paint...yep, I'm weird:thumbsup:
I also like naples yellow, paynes grey & titanium white... =)

[turlogh]

Robert Doak's blues: Alger blue, Fra Angelico blue.

Lately I've been obsessing on earth colors. I love the Williamsburg's earths: red ochre, terre verte, Italian raw sienna, Italian burnt sienna, German Earth, burnt umber.

And I love Renaissance colors: ultramarine, lead tin yellow, genuine vermillion, lead white, malachite, and so on.

[donn_granros]

My favorite colors are Davie's Gray(sort of warm) and warm gray -especially Old Holland's version plus Sap Green and Sennelier Chinese orange. Brilliant yellow light and Naples yellow light also rank high. WN is a staple but Old Holland and Holbein, Gamblin and DaVinci also work quite well for me.

[CareyG]

I used to hate yellow. Hate, hate, hate it. Now I'm finding that I'm turning to it more and more. So I like a lot of Naples and Cadmium yellow.

Brand, eh, doesn't matter much to me. It's like the debates about white--some people can see massive differences--for me, it just plain doesn't matter.

As an aside, I don't think I *need* particular colors, just used to them, I guess.

~!Carey

[dorith]

Hi Jolie,

opera? my favorite watercolor - along with gamboge yellow or bismuth yello and manganese blue. to me, those are all "happy colors".

since i've switched to oils, these are my favorites at the moment:
- helio genuine green olive from Lukas (which just went out of production, but will be reproduced as some other name i think). it's a very dark, almost black, but transparent green - like sap green, but cooler and way darker.
- old holland red gold lake and yellow-brown lake. expensive, but worth the money and very transparent (kind of like the gamboge yellow from W&N in watercolors, but more "depth"). mixes great with pink for skintones or whatever.
- indian yellow from schmincke - also transparent and warm.
- schmincke Norma azure blue. what i would call "neon blue" - great for skies etc., very opaque, so not good for everything.
- gamblin dioxazine purple. rich, dark purple - mix with any of the old holland yellows or sap green for beautiful browns and neutrals that are transparent. this is probably my most used color, along with the helio green olive.

beyond that, i use a rainbow setup of cad yellows (lemon, light, medium, dark, orange), naphtol red, ultram. blue, diox. purple, ivory black, titanium white.
kind of depends on what i'm painting, i guess.
Alizarin crimson i hardly ever use - unless i want to mix a dark black with the helio green. to me it always seems kind of "murky" in a way, not pink as opera would be, but more "brownish". instead, i prefer using gamblin quinacridone magenta - somehow that makes more of a "pink" with white along the lines of opera, instead of a "dirty" pink.
keep in mind though, that my paintings are usually not exactly quiet colorwise...your style might be different.

[MoJoe]

As an landscape oil painter, I prefer to use a limited pallete of Ultramarine Blue, Alizeran Crimson, Cad yellow Medium & Titanium White. I will throw in yellow ochre or Burnt Umber or A Purple.

[perryjohnson]

I've been lurking WetCanvas for a very long time.
I appreciate paint makers that resist the pressure to make every color feel the same. Williamsburg's Nickel Yellow for example has a wonderful long, somewhat self-leveling quality. An old standby for me is any good stiff Cerulean Blue. I like to lay in a glaze with transparent colors and a Stand Oil and Galkyd Lite mix. Then I scumble opaque colors like Cerulean Blue into the glaze as it is setting up.

I'm becoming a big fan of Winsor and Newton's new Naples Yellow Deep (PBr24). It's more subtle and opaque then let's say Indian Yellow. I had to get over my expectations of a genuine Naples Yellow, but PBr24 is nice in its own right.

Oh, and the only Grumbacher color I always have on hand is Cobalt Titanate Blue (PB36). I like to play warms against cools and mineral blues and greens work well with earth colors.

Those are a few of my favorites.

[jolieo]

Thanks you guys- Now this I can relate to - When the color and consistancy do something together- I can sink my teeth into that. I recently went to the National Gallery Towing my Five year (no other choice ) behind me. I saw some Art that I had seen in books before and I saw some art I had never seen before. Two things struck me breathless- All the impasto they used seemed much more deliberate than just a raised blob. It had form and purpose-Also the colors were like nothing I've ever seen. Gauguin's paintings absolutely floored me. I had never been a fan of his at all - but in real time he has such a subtle touch , no impasto just wonderful color. I realised that these artists took both color and form extremely seriously. It raised the bar ofcourse but also it allowed my preoccupation with color to be validated. So thank you for indulging me a bit with your feelings- I might not be able to afford it ll, but I can live vicariously and have goals.
Jolie

[aszurblue]

I am highly allergic to linseed oil. Makes me very very sick. So I don't have too many choices when it comes to oil paint. I just got some Maimeri Puro's oils. I use and love the MaimeriBlu watercolors because of the yummy colors, so hopeing the oil's will be the same. I agree, color and how you use it, is serious business, but oh what fun!! Azure

[Leschi Painter]

I love Daniel Smith's oil Hooker Green, lately.

I paint a lot of urban landscapes, and so Paynes Gray does yeolman's service for me. I also seem to do a lot with Naples Yellow. So I like them for all the work they do for me. Likewise Gamblin has a series of "Portland grays" that come in handy, painting here in Seattle!

My favorite color, however, is Winsor & Newton's Emerald green. It's a tough color to love, but I do. Go figure.

[romans611]

When I look at my palette, I like all my colors … so it is hard to pick one out from the rest. However, I think a good gauge is to see which one is used the most. So, I guess my favorite is ultramarine blue and yellow ochre – those tubes are nearly gone.

I have been using WN. It seems to be of consistent viscosity, texture, and color (but I have not searched that much) – It is more of a balance between quality and affordability. Also, I do like their web site. It has lots of information about their paints.

Bob

[charles51]

There's lots of exotic-named colors out there, but the simple truth is that most of the top professional artists stick to a pretty basic palette. A warm and cool of each of the primaries will give you the ability to create just about every kind of color there is. And you can limit it even more and get just about the same variety. My color choices are permanent rose, cad. red light, cad. yellow light (or medium in some brands). Ultramarine blue, and phthalo green or phthalo blue. I usually skip a cool yellow altogether. As for my favorite, it really depends on how it's placed on the canvas. A cool light ultramarine blue (which doesn't do much for me by itself) can sometimes create the most wonderful passage when placed next to warmer colors. But the same could probably be said for all other colors. I've lately subsituted permanent rose for alizarin crimson, and found the purples it creates when mixed with ultramarine blue to be absolutely delicious. Yet I hate purple sweaters and purple easter eggs! So I guess it's all relative.