Very limited palette

[Marvin Mattelson]

Denise, I'm so happy that the palette is giving you the control that you were seeking. I know that keeping your color in check was an issue of great concern and I'm thrilled that you have overcome this problem and are selling your work. The satisfaction I receive from hearing stories like yours always warms my heart. I understand how important getting more proficient is for my students and I take the responsibility of giving them my all quite seriously. I'll gladly accept your praise any day.

Wilma, the palette you propose is very similar to the palette I use and have shared with my students, so I applaud you on what I perceive to be your great instincts. The results, like those stated by Denise, are pretty much universally shared. If people follow my lead and give it a sincere effort they can achieve great things in a short amount of time. You can check out the works of bothTim Mensching and Joe Daily who both use my palette.

The difference between what you propose and what I use is in the reds. I eschew cadmiums in the flesh as did the vast majority of painters before the twentieth century since cadmiums weren't available. Masters such as Lawrence, Raeburn, Bouguereau and Velasquez didn't use cadmiums in their complexions. Neither did Paxton, who although he had access to cadmiums, employed earth reds instead and produced the most luminous and lifelike complexions I've ever seen.

I use two strings of reds, one mixed with Terra Rosa and the other with Indian Red. These combined with the ochers (darkened with raw umber) and neutrals can provide me with all the nuances of flesh in natural light. Other colors can sometimes be required to depict reflected lights in the shadows. As Denise said I do add other colors but I find that the addition of Ultramarine Blue, Viridian and Alizarin Crimson Permanent I can achieve a myriad of color possibilities. I am constantly amazed at how much more I am able to squeeze out of this simple arrangement with each ensuing painting.

It is my opinion, based on my experience as an artist and teacher, when it comes to color, more is indeed not better. I pursued a non cadmium palette because I found that my students struggled with trying to contain the overpowering strength of cadmiums and I looked to those painters I admired the most to see what they used. It worked for me and the rest, as they say, is history.

Good luck to you.

[Timothy C. Tyler]

What would you say was the difference between those two reds; Indian Red and Terra Rosa? Marvin

Of the "brick" reds which one do you use most? Many painters find the earth reds lead to flat , dull colors due to their opaque nature. Sargent used only one for example then sparingly. Sargent used Mars Orange and cadmium red. Earth reds also tend to cost the painter transparency in the halftones and darks. Many artists have dropped the color completely from their palettes because of these traits.

This Godward for example has little earth red color in it.

[Terri Ficenec]

Originally Posted by Timothy C. Tyler

Many painters find the earth reds lead to flat , dull colors due to their opaque nature. . . . Earth reds also tend to cost the painter transparency in the halftones and darks. Many artists have dropped the color completely from their palettes because of these traits.

Tim,
Just wanted to thank you for that comment coming at a very opportune time for me. I just finished a pair of paintings, brother and sister... and when I put them side by side, she looked 'muddy' compared to him. Read your post and realized I'd used a more opaque red in the half-tones and shadows so reworked her face with a transparent red, and she no longer looks muddy ... It's hard to see on the jpegs, but in person, there's a big difference in how the painting reads!

[Timothy C. Tyler]

Terri, you're going to be a star on our new student page on the website! I'm glad it helped-nothing like good timing huh?

If you capture it on a jpeg it would be fun to see the difference!

[Terri Ficenec]

Well, on my monitor,anyway, this is a before and after of the difference, calibrated to how it looks in person.

[Terri Ficenec]

Well... pulled up the forum over at a friends, and everything looked completely different on her (huge) old-fashioned monitor. The curved screen made things look distorted (to my eye which is used to an LCD monitor), the colors/contrast/brightness were all very different. So subtleties like the difference in reds above may be hopeless to try to convey! What an eye opener. I'm going to have to get out my old monitor and connect it once in awhile to try to optimize images for both types of display!

[Marvin Mattelson]

Wilma, The palette you are referring to was created by Frank Reilly. There are many versions but all are based on cadmiums. I studied the Reilly method with John Murray and taught it for many years as well. I changed it because of the difficulty students were having in controlling the cadmiums.

If you are learning to paint it would be a mistake, in my opinion, to use a palette that has a plethora of colors. It can be very confusing as Denise, who was using such a palette before studying with me, can attest to.

Tim, I find Godward's flesh very dense and far from the kind of luminous skin tone I'm interested in achieving. He was good at fabric but could have used my workshop to improve the waxy complexions he painted. Sargent, for all his brilliance didn't come close to achieving the kind of luminosity that Paxton or Bouguereau did. Nor was he interested in doing so, or he would have been using different colors.

Paxton said that since we come from dust and we return to dust when painting people we should use pigments made from dust.

Terra Rosa and Indian Red need to be used properly to tap into their great potential. Using them the way that one would use cadmiums would indeed produce a dull result. There is nothing lacking with the pigments themselves. Those who choose to study with me are very clear about the proper way to best utilize these pigments' potential.

The bottom line is that they work for me and the myriad of students that come to me looking to take it to the next level.

[Wilma Hill]

Marvin, I didn't mention Jack Reilly for I didn't know if it would be proper or not, new to the forum and all. I have the book authored by Jack Faragasso that is based on Mr. Reilly's teachings, "A Student's Guide to Painting" and it was from this book I gained much knowledge in values when I was doing graphite portraits which will only help in learning oils. I was especially interested in the way he lays out his palette also. Is this similar to your palette as far as a beginning student is concerned? Well maybe you don't start with a beginning student such as I am for I am a beginning beginner but if you did would you use his procedure?

Wilma

[Wilma Hill]

Timothy thank you very much for your input and encouragement.

Marvin I will certainly look into what you have suggested and it did very much encourage me that I was on the right track by some miracle.

This palette that I am refering to is called the Jack Reilly palette. Mr. Reilly was director of the Art Students League of New York for many years and this was the palette he used for his beginning students. Mr. Farraggaso, first a student of his, then a teacher in the school and after Mr. Reilly's passing became director of it for many years also, wrote a book called "The Students Guide tp Painting" of which I have a copy and it is based on Mr. Reilly's teaching. Mentioning this to let you know where I obtained the information in case you were interested. The book has been long out of print and hard to find.

I have been observing your paintings along with many others and admire them greatly. I will now go look at those you have suggested, I believe there is something here posted on your palette already, I read so much here on the site have trouble keeping up with it, but it caught my eye and will go check this out.

Again thank you very much for your generous input.

Wilma

[Timothy C. Tyler]

Wilma, the easiest way to choose a palette from which to depart (or begin) is by looking the works of painters you like and see what they did or do. You also would be wise to look at the award winning painters of today you like best and investigate their palettes. One of these I'd suggest is Nelson Shanks. His palette is listed on SOG somewhere... it is vast and variable according to his subject. The reason for looking into living painters is that colors have improved greatly over the last 30 years. Best wishes, Tim