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Over the years I have had a basic palette of colors and supplies that are staples in my studio. Other colors and supplies have come

and some have gone to suit the time and new discoveries. But overall, shopping for art supplies is one of my favorite activities as

I feel like a kid in a candy store! For paint, I like to use a split primary palette which includes a warm and cool version of yellow, red,

and blue as well as some colors that I think are brighter than what you can mix. The following is my current palette of colors.

 

Cadmium Yellow Light 

Cadmium Yellow Lemon

Ultramarine Blue

Pthalo Blue (At times I will use Cerulean or Manganese as my warm blue)

Cadmium Red Light

Alizarin Crimson

 

Titanium or mixing white

Burnt Sienna or Burnt Umber

 

Some of the additional colors are Dioxizine Purple, Magenta, Permanent Rose, Charvin St. Remy Blue, Naples Reddish Yellow

I also have some convenience colors such as titanium buff, warm white, Naples yellow, Naples orange, and more. I began my painting

journey as a pastel artist with LOTS of pastels at my fingertips but you can mix zillions of colors using the limited palette as well as white and I use those colors to make rich dark. Some people like to have ivory black on their palette. 

Palette Knife for mixing or occasionally adding a line where needed.

 

Brushes: A mix of flats size 2 to 12 

I like Silver Bristleton and Rosemary Brushes.

 

Palette paper or glass palette  I use tear off disposable paper in gray but white works as well. I cover my palette with Press and Seal paper

helps the paint to last longer. Sometimes for transporting I will it all in a Masterson plastic box that has a lid. Some of my students have used a flat Tupperware which serves the same purpose.

 

Gambol or other odorless turpenoid.

 

Liquin for helping the paint to glide on and it also speeds drying time. Some artist use linseed oil mixed with turps but this slows the drying time and I prefer the ease of liquin. 

 

Glass jar or brush with a lid for your turpenoid.

 

Paper towels. I like select-a-size for break them up and then I cut them in half. Some people like to use rags which I did for awhile but paper towels seemed cleaner and just work best for me. It is best to dispose of them often and safely as they do have turpentine on them.

 

I paint quite a bit for demonstrations or classes on 8" by 10" but I also like larger sizes.  I have used stretched canvas, primed masonite board, and oil paper and like all of them for their unique properties and the variety it adds to the painting experience.

 

Table easel and standing easel. (My standing easel has been a workhorse. It is not a fancy one but it is covered in paint and well loved.

 

Hope this is helpful. If you are just starting, I would go with the initial suggestions of colors and as you practice mixing colors and find what you like, you can be a kid in the candy store and find your palette! Happy Painting. 😍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOT CIDER DAYS!

 

The time seems to be right and I am really excited to be taking the leap and adding a new offering of online teaching!

My journey of teaching in person classes has been so enriching and a joy to share doing what I love with fellow creatives

Adding this option seemed like the next right step. This new class will be a six week series called "Hot Cider

Days" and will be Thursday evenings from 6:30 until 9:00 beginning October 12th and running until November 16th.

We will paint a new painting each week together and the last thirty minutes will be open for questions and feedback.

I will be sharing tips and tricks and we will also discuss the elements of paintings  as we go. To read more about it,

check out the section under classes here on my web site and you can also sign up for it as well. Let's get painting!

 

Next post will be my favorite art supplies and palette!

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

Demonstration from Instagram Live.

 

Pink Tulips Instagram demo. Thank you for watching!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was so much fun demonstrating this painting using transparent oils for the first layer, oil sticks and opague colors to develop the color. I worked on it some more after the live video ended on Instagram and that is shown in the still photo. It is 8” by 10” oil on canvas with sides painted. I am very pleased how it turned out. Hope you enjoy the video!

Such fun painting this colorful character yesterday on Instagram. I paint live most Wednesday mornings at 9 a.m.

Thoughts On Using A Limited Palette

Former Palette Colors

Cad Yellow Light

Cad Yellow Medium
Ultramarine Blue
Alizarin Crimson
Cad Red Light
Cadmium orange
Viridian Green
Yellow Ochre

Ice Blue (Richeson)
Burnt Sienna
Naples Yellow
Naples Reddish Yellow (Lukas)
St. Remy Blue (Charvin)
Flesh Color (Lucas)
Beige (Lucas)
Titanium Buff on occasion

Soft Mixing White (Winston)

 

 

Limited Palette Colors

 

Cadmium Yellow Lemon (Gamblin)

Permanent Red Medium (Rembrandt)

Ultramarine Blue Deep (Rembrandt)

Naples Yellow Deep (Rembrandt)

Cold Mixing Gray (Rembrandt)

Titanium White  (Any brand)

 

Well, it has been a month of the limited palette and I haven’t given up on it yet I do have a few thoughts to share. Surprisingly, I only missed a few specific colors. While I could make a warm brown using the three primaries in my limited palette, it didn’t seem to have the vibrancy of burnt sienna that I really enjoy using in some of the shadowed areas of the animals I paint. It seems to be perfect as it is dark enough and also suggests the warmth of a living being. I lasted about a week using the titanium white and returned to Winston’s soft mixing white. I paint many animals with white fur and it is the perfect consistency for this artist. I was shocked that I could last without alizarin crimson as it has been a staple on my palette for over twenty years! I found that I was able to mix something similar using the Rembrandt red medium and ultramarine blue deep. All greens were made using the primaries and at times white and Naples yellow deep. Warmer reds can be made using the red and yellow or red and Naples yellow. They are less intense than cadmium orange but I liked them and in relation to all the other colors were lovely. Flesh, titanium buff, and beige can all be mixed. Yellow ochre is pretty easy to make using the yellow with a little blue too. For skies and water, I would use a little viridian and ultramarine blue with white in my old palette but found that ultramarine deep with white worked for skies and a little lemon yellow added to ultramarine sufficed for the water and a little white in places. The ice blue on my former palette was a light gray but I just mixed gray using ultramarine blue, orange that I had mixed and white. Much more on the blue and white to create gray. So, will I stick with it? The jury is still out and I will continue working with this palette until at least all the tubes are gone because it is challenging and I believe it is a great learning experience and teaching tool. One of the reasons, I chose to do this was to explore mixing grays and I have only scratched the surface on this. I highly recommend trying this especially if you are new to color and mixing paint. Getting your values correct is so important and limiting your palette really does simplify the process and allows you to focus your energies there. In another month or so, I will let you know if I have added any colors back on my palette. If you have tried the limed palette, I’l love to hear from you in the comments!

Here is one of my favorite pieces that has sold and was painted using the limited palette. As I said in the last post, I prime my canvas with cadmium red light acrylic so that does show in many of my paintings. I experimented with using cadmium yellow medium acrylic as Kathleen Dunphy uses but am still partial to the red. :-)