choosing paint colors

colors in nature

I thought - what are the colors in nature? Oh the colors of the rainbow!

Well let's see, we have red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

There is also a dark blue between the blue and purple, called Indigo.

This greatly simplified my color choices.

Excluding Indigo, there are basically six colors in the rainbow.

Now, how do I use this knowledge for choosing paint colors for my palette?

Rainbow Colors

choosing paint colors

There are many wonderful brands of paint. I usually use Winsor Newton paints. They have an excellent reputation with good quality paints.

It is important to note the difference between student and professional grade paints. Student grade paints are less expensive for starting out. They contain less pigment, so they cost less to manufacture.

I recommend you use professional artist paints that contain more pigment. Consequently they cover better during painting.

transparent colors

When choosing paint colors, I purposely chose transparent colors. Transparent colors allow the white of the canvas or paper to show thru the paint. That makes the colors appear more brilliant.

single pigment colors

One of the criteria I follow when I am choosing paint colors is to find how many pigments are used to manufacture the paint.

Paints that are made with only one pigment mix well with other colors. They produce clean color mixtures.

All of the Alkyd paints I use are single pigment paints. An exception is one convenience color I use, Sap Green.

oil colors

Years ago I switched from the traditional oil paints to alkyd paints, but the colors are the same.

Here is a warm and cool version of each of the six rainbow colors.

alternate oil color choices

yellows

• Cadmium Yellow Deep is much the same color as Indian Yellow.
  
• Raw Sienna is a warm yellow I often use.

reds

• Winsor Red is much like Cadmium Red Light. All of the cadmium colors are very brilliant. However the cadmium colors are opaque and they do not mix well with other colors.
• Permanent Alizarin Crimson was on my palette for years instead of Permanent Rose. It mixes easily with Viridian to make black.

green

• Viridian Green is a good green.

blues

• Cobalt Blue is popular nice clear blue.

watercolors

I use the professional watercolor paints by Winsor Newton, with a few exceptions.

In the past, I included Indigo on my palette. It is the darker blue color in the rainbow. Now I just mix it.

The quinacridone colors are clean, brilliant colors. They make beautiful color mixtures. i purchase Quinacridone Sienna and Quinacridone Violet from Daniel Smith. 

I am particularly fond of is Peacock Blue from Holbein. My Coral Orange is a true orange from Old Holland.

The Winsor Blue and Green are actually Thalo colors Winsor puts under their brand name.

Winsor Lemon is a single pigment Hansa yellow.

alternate watercolor choices

reds

• You may want to use Cadmium Red Light for Winsor Red.
  
• Permanent Alizarin Crimson may be used instead of Permanent Rose.

blue

• Cobalt Blue is a nice clear blue.

greens

• Hookers Green or Viridian Green for Winsor Green (which is Thalo Green).

white completes your palette

After choosing paint colors for your palette, add white to your oil palette for mixing paint colors. Titanium white is the white I use.

Zinc white has more body and it is a good white for palette knife work.

With the six rainbow colors and white you have all the colors you will ever need.

These clean, clear colors will enable you to mix any of the beautiful colors you see in nature. You can also mix any color you see for sale at the paint store.

There you have it - a simple way of choosing paint colors.

Enjoy!