How many colours do you have on your Palette?

[ianuk]

I didn't state the colours but from left to right on the palette, never changing.

Cad Yellow light
Cad Yellow
Yellow Ochre
Allazarin Crimson
Cad Red Light
Raw Umber
Raw Siena
Terra Rosa
Transparant Brown Oxide
UM Blue
Cobalt Blue
Cerulean Blue
Permanent Mauve
Veridian Green
Titanium White

Ocassionally I'll add a colour but I can get every colour I need for whatever subject from the above palette. Saves knowing what I need to buy as one runs out too.

[Eclecticart]

When I use watercolor I have them all available because even when they dry I can re-wet them, as for acrylic I only squeeze the color I need or the three I need to mix to work one section of the painting. Dries to fast. So frustrating. I like having for example Brown, Burnt Sienna, and almost always white and black, for my skin tones. Red for good measure.

[Keith Russell]

Originally Posted by ianuk

I didn't state the colours but from left to right on the palette, never changing.

Cad Yellow light
Cad Yellow
Yellow Ochre
Allazarin Crimson
Cad Red Light
Raw Umber
Raw Siena
Terra Rosa
Transparant Brown Oxide
UM Blue
Cobalt Blue
Cerulean Blue
Permanent Mauve
Veridian Green
Titanium White

Ocassionally I'll add a colour but I can get every colour I need for whatever subject from the above palette. Saves knowing what I need to buy as one runs out too.

I don't know how you can manage without Chrome Oxide Green, Burnt Umber, and Burnt Sienna...And, if you're painting in oils, Naples Yellow.

[Kory]

I just randomly grab colors and mix them as I go, but I'd like to figure out a way to eventually be more organized.

I use a lot of sap green, cad yellow, raw umber, dark sienna, titanium white, and ivory black.

[ianuk]

Originally Posted by Keith Russell

I don't know how you can manage without Chrome Oxide Green, Burnt Umber, and Burnt Sienna...And, if you're painting in oils, Naples Yellow.

I paint in oils. I've never seen a colour unless it's man made that is a pure colour and I can mix any colour I need from the palette I use.

I know people rave about burnt umber and burnt sienna but I just don't see them as being realistic colours for me. I might mix four or five of the colours on my palette to hit one colour and I don't paint mud. Naples yellow doesn't exist when I look around at life except for some highlight here and there and I prefer the yellow cads and ochres with a little white. Or, I can even change the colour of the highlight.

I've read about using burnt sienna for portraits and yet I wouldn't paint a portrait using either burnt umber or burnt sienna. Unless a person has a celebrity type tan. I just don't see those colours in flesh. For me flesh is made up of blues, greys and reds with a smidgin of yellow somewhere plus of course white mix, red for the blood flowing beneath the surface, greys and blues for shadows and a yellow tinge usually light reflection.

I like chrome oxide green and I have a tube. I rarely use it, as that too I rarely see as being valid for what I want.

I guess it's just how we individually each see colour and what colours we find best suit the painting and the end result that we desire.

Colour for me, has one purpose, to express what I want to express. No more and no less than that. I don't have this awe that I read here at WC about brands or like, wow!! what an amazing colour. I look at it more like, that's the colour I need, that'll do it!

[Keith Russell]

Originally Posted by ianuk

I paint in oils. I've never seen a colour unless it's man made that is a pure colour and I can mix any colour I need from the palette I use.

I know people rave about burnt umber and burnt sienna but I just don't see them as being realistic colours for me. I might mix four or five of the colours on my palette to hit one colour and I don't paint mud. Naples yellow doesn't exist when I look around at life except for some highlight here and there and I prefer the yellow cads and ochres with a little white. Or, I can even change the colour of the highlight.

I've read about using burnt sienna for portraits and yet I wouldn't paint a portrait using either burnt umber or burnt sienna. Unless a person has a celebrity type tan. I just don't see those colours in flesh. For me flesh is made up of blues, greys and reds with a smidgin of yellow somewhere plus of course white mix, red for the blood flowing beneath the surface, greys and blues for shadows and a yellow tinge usually light reflection.

I like chrome oxide green and I have a tube. I rarely use it, as that too I rarely see as being valid for what I want.

I guess it's just how we individually each see colour and what colours we find best suit the painting and the end result that we desire.

Colour for me, has one purpose, to express what I want to express. No more and no less than that. I don't have this awe that I read here at WC about brands or like, wow!! what an amazing colour. I look at it more like, that's the colour I need, that'll do it!

Thanks. That makes quite a bit of sense.

[ianuk]

Originally Posted by Keith Russell

Thanks. That makes quite a bit of sense.

I guess I must have had an off day! You're most welcome

[musket]

It's possible, quite easy actually, to mix complements to emulate earth colors. That being said, there is no such thing as a definitive ochre, sienna, umber, red earth or terre verte. In dry pigment form, there many of each, all of which differ from the others, sometimes not much, sometimes very much.

[Paulafv]

I have a gazillion colors in watercolors and pastels, but I agree with musket. It seems every company has a different ochre, sienna, umber, etc. Useful once in a while for woodsy scenes or mixing with blue for other colors. I prefer to make up my greens as I go, but I still have a large selection, which I also alter. That's half the fun for painting - to see what happens when...

[ARCross]

I usually paint with the same 5, plus white. Cerulean blue, burnt umber, raw sienna, hookers green and paynes gray.

I have about 15 colors in total at home, and use them when needed.

[oldradagast]

Acrylic landscape painter here:

Titanium White = great color, nice coverage.
Mars Black = solid, dark black with great opacity.
Raw Umber = good for muddy colors and tree trunks.
Cerulean Blue = excellent sky blue when mixed with some white. Also good in its pure form for reflected sky blue into water.
Ultramarine Blue = solid blue color with a hint of red to it.
Sap Green = great basis for many greens.
Phthalo Green, blue = used for pine trees and distant trees and hills.
Red Iron Oxide = strong red with a hint of yellow. Great coverage, useful for autumn leaves and even mixed in with other colors for sunset clouds.
Yellow Iron Oxide = excellent color! Useful for sunlit clouds, autumn leaves, sunlit normal leaves, and so on.

Optional Colors:
Napthol Crimson = Nice red with a hint of blue to it. Mostly used for pink flowers and some autumn leaves.
Azo Yellow = Yellow with a hint of blue to it... Honestly, I haven't found a good use for this color since I started using Yellow Iron Oxide since that color seems to work so much better for landscapes.

[La_]

most times it's just grab and squeeze what i need ... usually it's a yellow ochre underpainting that gets it all started and grows from there.

in a colorful, productive for the day mood i'll have a warm and cool (opaque and transparent) of each: red, yellow, blue (plus white).

la

[Rob't Emmet]

Four - Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red Medium, Pthalo Blue (Green Shade).

[Rob't Emmet]

Oops, got those two reversed...Cadmium Yellow Medium and Cadmium Red Light, plus the Pthalo Blue and Ti White.