Color Mixing my Water Soluble Oil Palette

Posted on Feb 5, 2011

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I apologize that the pictures are a bit grainy, but i’ve sized them large enough so you can hopefully see the color changes.  I also defaulted to a palette knife this time, just easier!

See my previous posts under ART TIPS for previous information.

The colors I used are

RO – Grumbacher Red (napthol)

RV – Thalo Red Rose (Max)

Y – Primary Yellow Light (Cobra)

BV – Ultramarine Deep (Holbein)

BG – Phthalo Green (Cobra)

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O – Cadmium Orange Hue (Artisan)

G – Sap Green (Artisan)

P – none at moment

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Earth – I don’t use all of these, but they are on the accompanying opacity image.

Naples Yellow Hue – Artisan

Raw Sienna – Cobra

Yellow Ochre

Burnt Sienna (Holbein)

Raw Umber

Burnt Umber

 

Ok here are the pics!

Click on each image for enlarged view.

Some nice fresh oranges are made with Grumb Red and Prim Yellow lite.

 

Deep glorious purples…the thalo red rose/ultramarine brighter.
Both of these are great combos for rich darks.

 

Another of my favorite darks, red/green.
Notice the burnt sienna and umbers mixed here too.

 

Fabulous darks, i LOVE blue greens.

 

More rich darks from orange/blue. See those earth tones again?

 

The phthalo blue/yellow make the brightest mixes.
Ultramarine, being a BV, makes a more muted green, still lovely.
Sap green and yellow – ok, nice.

 

OPACITY of my Split Complementary (almost) palette and my Earth colors

The Yellow I am using at moment to replace the cadmiums, is Primary Yellow Light and only semi-opaque, or semi-transparent.  But it is lovely and a keeper.  Notice I put a dab of each of my Cadmium Yellow Lemon and Cadmium Yellow Medium on there to compare.

The Grumbacher Red is a fantastic alternative to Cad Red…and pretty doggone opaque too.

Thalo Red Rose – transparent

Cadmium Orange Hue – perinone orange really, is clearly transparent.

Sap Green – semi trans

Ph Blue – heavy stainer, but trans

Ultra deep is traditionally trans, but I find each brand is diff.  Mine is semi.

EARTH

naples yellow – very opaque

yellow ocher – opaque

the burnt umber and raw umber are so dark it’s a bit diff to tell, but I’d say they were mostly opaque, or semi.

burnt sienna – semi

and raw sienna – clearly transparent.

There you have it!  Don’t forget these two wonderful links all about pigments, codes, etc…Fascinating stuff.

If you are interested in pursuing non-toxic oil paints, watch for these warning labels, and try to avoid them.

 

My All Time Favorite Art Store

 

TWO SITES ABOUT PIGMENTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT:

The Color of Art, Pigment Database – everything you could want to know about pigments, and more.

Handprint – Bruce McEvoy has some fascinating information here, especially if you are a geek like me!  Mostly watercolor, but the pigment codes are the same whatever medium it is mixed in.

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