This post is a follow up from a post a couple of weeks ago where I attempted to paint an orange realistically using a very limited palette – on often referred to as the primary palette:
- Ultramarine blue
- Cadmium yellow
- Quinacridone rose (basically a slightly purple red, any will do)
- White (because it’s impossible to paint realistically without white)
Why this palette?
I’m testing the assertion that you can mix every colour you need from the primaries plus white.
If that’s true, then you should be able to paint realistically with this palette. A little while ago, I tested the range of colours you can mix with this palette and found it very lacking in some areas.
But I really wanted to try to make a painting or two with it to see how it really felt to work with.
A big surprise
I thought the biggest problem would be that I would not be able to reach high enough chroma in some areas of the colour space.
But in fact, the biggest eye opener for me was how difficult it was to mix low chroma colours (colours close to neutral grey) with these tube paints. Because they are all high chroma (quite intense) you have to reduce chroma by quite a lot to bring colours down to the range of most of what we see in the world.
And without black, you can only do that by mixing in the complement of a colour.
That process is fraught and difficult, because as well as bringing down the chroma, it swings the hue all over the place.
And whilst in theory it ought to be possible to mix a neutral grey from these colours, In practice it’s very time consuming and difficult. Without a true neutral, or even better, a lower chroma variant of a given colour, bringing down chroma is a really complicated, frustrating and time consuming task.
So what are you painting today, Paul?
You know, I’m glad you asked. I’m painting an apple.
Why an apple though?
I’m glad you asked that too. Because its local colour is:
- green
- light in value
- high in chroma
That means it’s going to be a pretty effective test of what’s available in the green area of the colour space with this palette.
I’ve also put it in a dark shadow box, giving me a black background, which will test the palette even further.
I’ll explain a little later why.
First, the full palette version
Let me make one thing clear before we start: Painting a green apple in a black shadow box is not terribly easy, even with a full range of tube paints.
It’s all because of the chroma.
More than that, actually, it’s about the way chroma and value interact. When colours get close to the high end of the value scale, close to white, they lose chroma.
Yellow hits its highest chroma at about value 8, here:
Yellow is the highest chroma colour at a light value.
Yellow green, the local hue of the apple I’m painting, hits its highest chroma at about value 7, here:
Now that presents a problem. Because when I look at my apple sitting in my shadow box, and I compare it with the value scale I can reach on my painting surface, the light side of the apple is generally around a value 9.
Value 9 in paint is really close to white, and that means next to no colour information. Here’s the grey scale again with values 7, 8 and 9 from the Green-yellow page of the Munsell book. Each of these is at the highest chroma possible at that value:
I have almost no chroma at value 9. If I paint the light side of the apple at the right value, it will look colourless and washed out. I can’t get close to what I’m seeing with paint.
To compound matters, I can’t reach the deepest black of the shadows either, because my value range is much more limited than the value range of what I see in nature.
I have to compromise.
My lights will be darker, and my darks will be lighter than what I see. Already I’m struggling to match what I see, even with a full palette.
JUST SHOW US THE PAINTINGS!
OK, OK, no need to shout!
Here’s the first one, done with the full palette:
To paint this, I had to drop the value of the light side of the apple at least a step, so that I could reach the chroma. My background, too, isn’t as dark as it was in the subject. So the whole value range has been compressed.
I’ve painted the shadow side of the apple pretty close to what I saw, in order to give me a good separation between the lights and the darks, but that means that the dark end of the scale is compressed more.
Now, before I show you the second apple, let me show you how the palette looked before I started:
On the left are the tube colours I started with: Titanium white, cad yellow, quinacridone rose and ultramarine blue.
Across the top are a few near-neutrals I mixed from those colours, to help me reduce the chroma (a problem with a high chroma palette like this).
In the middle are the highest chroma greens I can get at the values I need, and some browns for the wooden board the apple is sitting on.
And here’s the painting:
A few things are worth noting about this version I think.
Firstly, it does have some feeling of light and form. It’s not impossible to paint with such a limited palette.
The apple has next to no chroma, it looks very washed out. That’s the area of the colour space I was testing here, and plainly, this palette can’t come close – especially at the higher values.
The value of the background is noticeable higher. The value range of this palette is very limited at the bottom end. It’s also blue. Kind of magenta, brown-ish blue. I got the value as low as I could without compromising too much on the colour. The very darkest value I can get with these tube colours is ultramarine on its own, but the background would have looked too blue and completely wrong. Just silly, in fact.
Lastly, I haven’t spent near as long on this second one as I did on the full palette version.
You could accuse me of not giving this second version a fair crack of the whip, and to an extent that’d be true.
I spent so long trying (unsuccessfully) to mix the colours I wanted, so long attempting (almost successfully) to mix a range of neutrals, that I had less time and energy to actually paint. But you see, I think that’s another, less obvious shortcoming of this palette:
Because it’s more difficult to mix with, you have less time on the painting itself.
Also, if I’m completely honest, I got involved in the first painting and enjoyed the process of making it. The second one was more frustrating so I didn’t spend as long. So the criticism is fair. This isn’t a scientific test, after all.
But no matter which way you cut it, this palette is not capable of doing a good job of painting a high chroma, light value object in a dark shadow box.
Last word
This was an interesting exercise for me, all the same, and I certainly learned something from it.
I learned that although it’s hard, it is technically possible to mix neutrals with this palette. I say technically because once you get down to very low chroma, it’s next to impossible to judge the hue.
So mixing the complement in order to reduce the chroma further becomes a shot in the dark. Usually, I got it wrong and ended up raising the chroma by mistake. But complement mixing does work to reduce chroma – it’s just very time consuming and inefficient.
Painting something twice is a really good idea. Seriously, I’m not being facetious. I did a lot of adjusting and messing about on the first one, so by the time I came to the second one, I was in no doubt about the value and chroma range I was seeing. I knew already what I would be able to reach and what I wouldn’t.
That actually made the process of painting simpler and in some ways produced a better painting, surprisingly. I like the brush handling more on the second one because I’ve fussed over it less. It gives it a kind of freshness and brevity the first doesn’t have.
But I do think the first one has something else, something more important, and something beyond just matching colours. I talk about it a little in this Facebook live session from when I was nearing the end of the painting.
It was just and exercise, but it became something a little more to me as I worked on it. I really didn’t mean to spend two days painting an apple, but I did!
Also in this video is a description of the value/chroma trade off I explained earlier. Perhaps explaining it twice might help it stick 🙂
Thoughts?
I’d be really interested to hear what you think of this test.
Obviously, a different painter doing the same thing would get different results. And I know that some people choose to work with limited palettes for reasons other than technical ones.
None of those reasons convince me, personally, but I have no argument with artists that do that.
What do you think of my conclusions? Have you ever tried to work with a limited palette? And have you ever tested it like this to see what range you can really reach with it?
In the interests of fairness…
One last thing. You could argue that I’m not being very fair to this palette with the two tests I’ve done. I’ve deliberately picked areas of the colour space that I know it can’t reach.
But that’s the point. I want people to know what is and isn’t achievable with it, so they are under no illusions and won’t struggle unnecessarily. Remember that I was testing the assumption that you can mix any colour you need with the primaries plus white. You plainly can’t, at least if you’re attempting to paint realistically.
All that said, I do plan one final test with this palette, before I move on to the next one: Paint a low chroma subject, one that can be reached with the colours possible from this small selection of tube paints.
I’ll update you with what happens then.
Best wishes and thanks for reading,
Paul
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Hi
You might find it interesting to try the palette of quinacridone magenta, phthalo blue and Hansa yellow. Modern pigments achieve a much higher chroma. Since ultra blue and cad yellow are both ‘warm’ you will always get a lower chroma green.
Thanks Judith, I’ll try them. I’ve had quite a few recommendations for changes that can be made to the primary palette in order to increase its range. Inevitably, though, what you gain in one area you’ll lose in another. No ultramarine will make decent purples hard and likely affect the ability to make browns – but I’ll try it and see. Hansa yellow I haven’t got so it’ll be another trip tot he art shop for me 🙂
And I was just there today!
Hi Paul!
You should try PY 74 of the Hansa Yellow family.
This Yellow is very powerful, high chroma, semi transparent and non toxic ( you can grind your own paint without risk ).
Mixes high chroma and “natural” greens with UM.
It will probably supersede Cadmium yellows as a primary.
Thank you fort this post!
Marc
Thanks Marc! I’ll check that at the art shop 🙂
Hi Paul, I just had to try what Judith (thank you Judith) suggested and I used Winsor Blue(W&N) green shade, Holbein Quinacridone Magenta and Hansa Yellow light by Gamblin I just recently purchased and yes you can achieve a higher chroma. However, the trick is to do the right bracketing. These are very high pigmented colors and very little goes a long way. Mixing the Magenta and Winsor blue so it look black then just take a tiny bit of it to the very high chroma green mix (Hansa Yellow and very little Winsor blue) will lower the chroma for the shadow. Of course I did not paint an apple, so forgive me if I am jumping the gun. Curiosity gets you every time.
Helga
Of course yes, if you change the paints then you can get something near (or even lower, sometimes) the value of black. If you change others you can get a higher chroma green. But as I keep saying, this isn’t a test of all limited palettes. That would be impossible. It’s a test of THIS limited palette.
If you start changing tube paints in order to make up for its inadequacies, then you’re no longer testing this palette.
Paul it can be done easily with a limited palette. Try a different one. I get a neutral chromatic black easily. My students find it easy to work with.
Thanks Mary, I will be trying other palettes and running similar test. You can certainly get lower value with other limited palettes. Phthalo green and alizarin, for example. Graydon Parrish recently found a phthalo blue that is below the value of ivory black.
But I’m testing a specific palette here, one that I’ve often seen given as the “primary” palette. Limited palettes that let you reach a wider value range would not, I think, be considered “primary” palettes by anyone.
Oh and by the way, if it’s chromatic it is, by definition, not neutral. Neutral means no chroma or hue.
when I think of primaries I think of cerulean blue, not ultramarine.
Indeed. This is exactly part of the problem, everyone has their own definition of what the primaries are. In fact, there are no primaries in paint – at least in the sense that you can mix a full gamut with only three colours. It’s a myth.
I think you could start by looking at any non-fugitive green color on the market, match green closest to apple. I am thinking offhand of cadmium green which is about the fifth value. Then raise it with yellow plus white. White would be the very last color used and would use Juane Brilliant Yellow extra which is almost white with a very slight yellow tinge. If painting in north lite, light is cooler. I think there is a Cadmium yellow green or cadmium green light which might work even better. It’s been a while. Not sure if the juane brilliant yellow extra is still on the market.
Thanks Jan. Trust me on this though, this is a very high chroma green I used. You can’t get the chroma at value 9, it simply can’t be done with paint.
Hi, Paul, thank you for sharing your discoveries. There is a detail that strikes me: as far as I know, the limited palettes includes, apart from the primary and white, Ivory Black, as the Zorn Palette, which also uses Yellow Ocher. Other painters use Burnt Umber to combine it with Ultramarine Blue and obtain a “black” that, depending on the amounts of blue and shade, can tend to warm (orange) or cold (blue).
My question is, why did you dispense with the black in your two attempts to paint with limited palette?
Anyway, I admire your work; you are a master and I am a humble and apprehensive apprentice. Thanks again.
Because I was testing the assertion that you can mix all the colours you need with the primaries plus white.
My intention is to help people, particularly people who are inexperienced with colour and struggling, avoid unhelpful colour myths. This is one.
If I were to add anything to this palette, the first would be black, the second would be burnt umber. Before long though, you’re not really dealing with a limited palette any more 🙂
Yes, you are right!!
Absolutely! If you are at all fussy about creating a realist painting that comes close to Natures hues, values and chromas, you need more than a limited palette. You also need some skills in glazing over titanium white in colours like red, blue and yellow. You need to glaze in order to get the light.
Ah, a whole other kettle of fish! Thanks for bringing it up, though, it’s something I intend to test too, at some point.
Brother,
Art it is a personal journeys of your soul experience ,it is not a repeated standard of other doing.
Do what you feel, see ,experience in this marvelous universe of color of the great unknown .
That is the true art not what other think that will be art.
The true art is dead and we can not repeat to the infinities end the past. We must grow and develop new way of manifestation of the divine, that lead us in our creativity.
I do admire you courage for what you do .
Be yourself and teach what you know and feel.
Anne
Hi Paul
Can you tell me , is the thickly applied highlight actually an unadulterated white ,as it looks to be ? Or have you mixed it ever so subtly toward green to deal with what I would call “ lustre “ that is the misty blue optical effect achieved when a thin semi transparent layer of white is layer over an underlying colour , I’m sure you know exactly what I mean . Or have you avoided this through handling , by not smearing the white thinly near its border ?
Thanks Paul
It’s not completely unadulterated, no. I think I did add some small touches of pure titanium at the end, but in the knowledge that there was already a high value green on the panel, so it will have mixed slightly with what was already there.
I think I do know what you mean – the effect would be a lightening of value and a loss of chroma, which would pretty much mirror what happens in the real world, in lighting conditions like this. On this painting though, I wasn’t scumbling so I think the highlight area will be opaque.
does that answer the question?
I’ve returned to college after more than 30 years being wife and mother. I’m pursuing a BFA in 2D studio, painting. In my first painting class, our 1st project was a monochrome still life. Our 2nd was a limited palette. My teacher is a professional and experienced artist, and he said that it’s possible to make any color you need with only the 3 primaries, and the class proceeded to do that. I think that the red you chose complicated your color mixing. If you used cadmium red, which is much warmer than the red you used, I suspect you’d have had more luck.
Thanks Cindy. Yes, certainly I could change the red – but then I’d be testing a different palette.
The areas that this palette struggled with most in the colour space were higher chroma greens and the low value range – neither of which would be helped by changing the red. I was specifically testing the green area of the colour space here, and low values. In my previous test of the orange area of colour space, this palette did quite well, even trying to mix high chroma oranges. I think cadmium red would enable slightly more chroma in the oranges, but the purple – red with cad yellow already did surprisingly well!
What do you think I could change to enable higher chroma greens and lower values?
Oh, yes…let’s do some glazing, Paul!!
If you start with the wrong tool of course the results will be disappointing. Try manganese blue. Ultramarine blue is not a primary blue and putting it in a limited palette and then criticizing the result is unfair.
Thanks Amy. I may try that. But manganese, a more green – blue, is no more a primary than ultramarine. There are no primaries in paint, because the pigments they are made from are not pure, in the same way as light wavelengths are. This is perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about paint that I hear, and I was taught it too – but ultimately, it makes painting harder.
In paint we have three dimensions to colour – hue, vale and chroma. There is no avoiding them. If you add a green blue to this palette, you will gain more in the green area of the colour space, but you will lose somewhere else – here, you will lose the purples and possibly the browns, and certainly you will lose the lower values that ultramarine allows – and this palette already suffers from a restricted value range when compared to a fuller palette.
Interesting! Thanks Paul.
What is the green colour you held up in the latter part of the video? Pthalo green (pg36)?