Palettes

Limited Palette Study: Indanthrone Blue, Rich Green Gold, Transparent Red Oxide

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Welcome to a new series where I take a look at a specific limited palette, usually consisting of 3 colors. This is inspired by my newfound interest in limited palettes (after reading Hazel Soan’s book), and also by my need to find a new post series now that I’m no longer doing Color Spotlights because I have tried (almost) every color available to me.

We’re starting with kind of a weird one! Instead of a traditional blue, yellow, and red, this is a blue, green-yellow, and earth orange. I used 3 Daniel Smith colors: Indanthrone Blue (PB60), Rich Green Gold (PY129), and Transparent Red Oxide (PR101).

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Artist Palette Profiles: Hazel Soan

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As a big-palette enthusiast, I really need practice with limited palettes, which is where Hazel Soan’s 2022 book Art of the Limited Palette comes in. In the book, Soan extols the joys of using a limited palette – how it can make your paintings look more color-rich, less muddy, and more harmonious, while also making your life easier as a painter.

What makes this book convincing is how much I love use of color in Soan’s paintings in the book. Is this because she uses limited palettes, or because she’s generally good at painting? Hard to say, but her limited-palette paintings certainly don’t appear to be limited in hue or value. On the contrary, they seem to glow and vibrate with color!

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Vancouver Colors Revisted + palette update

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The big question in my last palette review was: will I use the “Vancouver colors” Perylene Green, Carbazole Violet, and Quin Burnt Orange? Answer: yes! I found even more uses for them than before, including making a lovely kind of dull violet gray with the violet + green. This is a good color base for … Read more

What’s in my palette? (May 2024)

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You might be unsurprised to note that I have had some last-minute changes of heart about my palette since last time. Partially this is general regrets after overzealously cutting good colors last time, and partially it’s a result of philosophical thoughts after taking a color class with Katie Woodward! Since I’ve run out of time to dither before my move, and have actually given away the colors from the cut pile now, this is going to have to be the “final final final” version… at least I scope out my next art store situation.

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What’s in my palette? (April 2024)

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I’ve already shared different palettes in January and February of this year, but this time I’m serious! (I think.) I’m reducing my tube collection, not just what’s dry on my palette, because I am moving cross-continent next month and trying to get down to a “suitcases” level of stuff! That’s right, you heard it here first folks: after spending the last year touring various Canadian cities to find my favourite, I am officially moving to Vancouver.

So which paints are making the cut to come with me?

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What’s in my palette? (February 2024)

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Although I shared my palette as recently as last month (January 2024), I made a bunch of changes during my month’s “puttering time.” I swapped around some A and B team paints based on usage, and also removed some altogether (cleaning the pan and putting the tube in my “maybe giveaway” box). When I last … Read more