Education and Inspiration

It’s easy to look at all the colors in the landscape and feel compelled to have a tube of paint for each (and there are nearly enough pigment colors available to do that!) However, an overdose of pigments actually denies you control over your color mixing. Fewer colors force you to mix more and begin to see the inter-relatedness of color. A limited palette has few enough pigments to be practical, but versatile enough to allow the artist to mix any color they want. Some painters use severely “limited” palettes with only the three primaries—red, yellow, blue—and white. The palette I recommend is also based on the three primaries, but includes a cool and warm variety of each, plus a few other colors. I suggest starting with this palette, which helps reinforce temperature relationships. Then, over time, begin to introduce new colors to see what effect they have on your color mixes.

There is no such thing as an ideal landscape palette. While there are many common colors used amongst landscape painters, every artist’s palette varies according to their tastes and color intentions. For example, every palette will contain the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue), but which variety of those colors each artist uses may be different. In addition, every artist has certain pigments they enjoy working with.

Be organized and consistent. Your palette is more than just place to squeeze out your colors, but a unique roadmap for thinking about color and color mixing. Always place your pigments in a consistent and logical order. This will help you work faster and smarter. I arrange my colors according to the color wheel since I tend to evaluate colors chromatically. Then I place neutrals or earth colors off to the side. Avoid the spotty-palette syndrome, wherein colors are randomly placed in different spots each time you paint. Arrange the colors along the sides and top of the palette, not along the bottom. You swipe paint in a downward motion; if your paint is on the bottom, you’ll swipe it right off the palette. Develop a strategy that makes sense to you and use it consistently.

Cool and warm varieties of each primary. This limited palette uses the three primaries — red, yellow, and blue — but gives you a cool and warm variety of each. This helps you see the relative temperature of colors and how they relate on the color wheel.

It's helpful to evaluate the above pigments in relation to a color wheel. Note: only the colors of the limited palette are shown here.

Titanium White. A strong white with good covering power. Adding white to darker pigments like alizarin, ultramarine, or phthalo reveals more of those color’s natural intensity. But white also has a tendency to pale out some mixtures. You must use white to lighten certain colors, but using it as a universal lightener inhibits the colorist from seeing an important truth: as a color lightens it often changes hue. It doesn’t simply get whiter.

Ultramarine Blue. [Cool Blue] Among the landscapist’s most essential colors. A strong, cool blue. Very strong in mixture, it also has an ever-so-subtle shift toward violet. Straight from the tube, ultramarine is very deep. It is one of the colors in which the addition of white heightens its brilliance.

Phthalo Blue [Warm Blue] A relatively warm blue (as compared to ultramarine) with a shift toward the green. Straight from the tube, phthalo is fairly dark. It is one of the colors whose brilliance is heightened by the addition of white. Caution: Phthalo is so intense and strong that it easily overpowers any mixture unless used very sparingly. TIP: As a safer alternative, pre-mix phthalo with a little white. This reveals its intrinsic hue (a classic sky blue) and helps distinguish it from ultramarine blue on the palette.

Alizarin Crimson Permanaent [Cool Red] A magenta-like color, leaning closer to the violet side of the spectrum, and further away from the reds and oranges. As a transparent color, it needs to be mixed with other colors in order to achieve adequate covering power. There are concerns about alizarin crimson’s permanence and tendency to fade. Use Gamblin Colors’ lightfast alternative Alizarin Permanent.

Cadmium Red Light. [Warm Red] Compared to alizarin crimson permanent, cadmium red light leans toward the yellow and orange side of the spectrum. (Cadmium red medium is also warm, but is darker than cadmium red light.) There are modern counterparts to cadmium red (napthol red) that serve nicely should you wish to avoid cadmium. It has strong covering power and holds up well in mixture.

Yellow Medium [Warm Yellow] Hansa yellow or cadmium yellow medium are warm yellows. They lean toward the red side of the spectrum a little more than the “cool” lemon or nickel-titanite yellow. Hansa yellow is a good alternative to cadmium if you want to save money or wish to avoid cadmium. It has good tinting power and holds up well in mixture.

Cool yellow - Lemon Yellow or Nickel Titanite Yellow. Compared to a cadmium or hansa yellow, cool yellows have less of a red component, with an ever-so-subtle shift toward the green end of the spectrum. Lemon yellow is the traditional cool yellow; however, nickel titanite, a pigment many artists are unfamiliar with, has “cool” attributes that are more apparent than those of lemon yellow. It also has strong tinting power and holds up very well in mixture.

Burnt Umber. A versatile earth color, used not so much as a generic “brown,” but as a neutralizing color to be mixed with other colors. It has a subtle reddish tint, which is revealed when lightened with white. When added in relatively equal parts with ultramarine blue, it makes a rich, neutral dark.

Greens. Green in an essential color, but not an essential pigment. Green is secondary color made from mixing primaries of yellow and blue. Much can be learned by mixing your own greens, which yield a richer variety of greens. However, if you do want versatile greens with which to start your mixtures, I recommend (naturally) a cool green (viridian) and a warm green (sap). If you wanted only one green, I would suggest viridian, as it can easily be warmed with yellows.

Sap Green [Warm green] A warm green, with a shift toward the yellow end of the spectrum. As a transparent pigment, it may need to be mixed with other, more opaque pigments in order to achieve covering power. When lightened with white, it reveals a yellowy-olive hue.

Viridian [Cool green] A relatively cool green, with less of a yellow component. It’s particularly good for starting mixtures for the cool, dark green shadows sometimes seen in nature, yet it can also be warmed with the addition of yellow. When lightened with white, it reveals a mint-like hue.

Additional colors. There are a number of other colors that landscape artists enjoy using. Although it’s not absolutely necessary to purchase them separately (they can all be mixed from red, yellow and blue pigments in the limited palette), they can be quite handy when working outside when there is not as much time to premix colors. Many of these colors are also richer in intensity than their mixed equivalents. When any two primary colors are mixed, there is some reduction of intensity. For instance, hansa yellow mixed with cadmium red light does not produce an orange as vivid as cadmium orange.

Dioxazine Purple
Violets can be easily produced by mixing ultramarine or phthalo blue and either of the two reds; however, dioxazine purple is such a strong and “perfect” violet, that it is a handy way to quickly access violet, especially when working outside.

Naples Yellow
When mixing greens, it’s good to have a few extra yellows on hand. Naples yellow is less intense than the hansa, cadmium, or the cool yellows, but it has a lovely warm golden hue that seems akin to the quality of warm sunlight often found in nature. It might be considered an “earth” yellow. Naples yellow pigment traditionally contained lead; however, most brands now produce lead-free formulas.

Cadmium Orange/Mono Orange
Oranges can readily be mixed from yellows and reds; however, they don’t have the same richness or purity as cadmium or mono orange. Gamblin’s mono orange is an excellent substitute for cadmium orange if you want to save money of avoid cadmium.

Yellow Ochre/Raw Sienna [Neutral yellow]
Although these pigments are earth colors, they may be considered as part of the yellow family. If you add violet to its complement, yellow, you will get a color very similar to the yellow ochre and raw sienna; thus, they can be considered neutral yellows. Yellow ochre is a bit lighter than raw sienna.

BLACK NOT!
Why use black when you can mix so many near-black colors that are made from color? Burnt umber + ultramarine blue or phthalo blue + alizarin crimson yield rich deep “blacks.” They have color within their darkness and distinct cool or warm casts, which make for inherently richer, varied mixtures. The problem with black is that it is too often used as a universal darkening agent, which inhibits the colorist from seeing an important truth: as a color darkens it often changes hue. It doesn’t simply get darker.