MY VIEW OF COLOUR

INSTINCT: I love colour. I always have and always will. Most of the time, choosing colours that work well together in a painting is something that comes naturally to me, it’s instinctive. To me, colours either “look right” together or they don’t. If the colours don’t “look right” I have to identify which colours are wrong, why they’re wrong (if possible) and then remove them from my selection for that particular painting.

CHOOSING COLOUR: For me having a wide range of beautiful colours to choose from is essential. I need lots of choice – I don’t like to limit my options! And I love to experiment with colour. The number of colours I use in a painting varies enormously, sometimes just two or three, sometimes it might be five, six or more! The actual colours I use may vary enormously too, depending on what I’m painting. I will always test out colours on a separate sheet of paper first before deciding which colours to use for painting.

Just as a little experiment, I laid out all my tubes (and pans) of watercolour paint, arranged them into their respective colour groups and counted them. The results are very revealing…

From the figures above it’s overwhelmingly clear which colours I love best. Out of 115 colours, 77 of them are blues, greens and earth colours! That’s 67%. Why do they dominate? I can only assume that it reflects my love of the ocean, the coast, the beach and the sea shore.

The only ready made black I use is the very lovely Lunar Black by Daniel Smith. It’s transparent and it has the most beautiful granulation. These properties make it a lovely colour to mix with as it will create beautiful new granulating colours. Any other black I will mix as needed.

Of the five ready made grey colours I have, I mostly only use two of them at the moment. They are Jane’s Grey, created by Jane Blundell and Flint Grey, which is my own grey mix.

Jane’s Grey is created from Daniel Smith’s Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna; it’s a blue grey but does have a hint of warmth from the Burnt Sienna. My own Flint Grey is created from Daniel Smith’s Ultramarine Blue and Yellow Ochre; Flint Grey is what I call a neutral grey, meaning that it doesn’t lean towards blue or yellow/red, so it’s neither cool or warm. They are both convenience mixes and useful to me because I don’t keep Daniel Smith’s Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre in my studio palette or my secondary palette (explained later in this page).

A COLOUR CHALLENGE: Of the three primary colours used in painting – red, yellow and blue – red is my least used colour. I have 8 shades of red but really only use three of them.

I have a problem with red. I don’t understand why, I just do. I do like red. BUT, I am very picky about what reds I like and will use in my art. 

However, I do appreciate that red is an indispensable, essential part of an artists palette. Through trial and error, I have managed to find three reds that I love to use. They are Pyrrol Scarlet, Quinacridone Coral and Quinacridone Rose by Daniel Smith. I pretty much just stick to these three for my primary red.

Pyrrol Scarlet is a warm red, Quinacridone Rose is a cool red and Quinacridone Coral sits somewhere in between. These are beautiful reds that I love to use. I am happy to swap the Quinacridone Rose for Daniel Smith’s Quinacridone Pink or Winsor & Newton’s Permanent Rose. I do like Perylene Red. I do also like the traditional Alizarin Crimson, PR83, but tend to avoid it because of  it’s lightfastness issues. I have recently discovered that I do like Winsor & Newton’s Permanent Alizarin Crimson (PR206 and it’s replacement PR179) and it has made it into my studio palette. But there are a large number of reds I don’t like and wont use in my watercolour painting.

My “problem” with red has a knock on effect with some other colours. For example, Daniel Smith’s Permanent Alizarin Crimson and Moonglow. I don’t like them. It took me a while to work out why but it turns out that they both contain Anthraquinoid Red (PR177), which is one of those reds I have a problem with. I’ve tried really hard to like Daniel Smith’s Permanent Alizarin Crimson and make it work for me but I’ve failed! Moonglow is one of those colours I’ve heard lots of people rave about how “beautiful it is”. I don’t like it! It has two “problems” for me – Anthraquinoid Red (PR177) and also Viridian (PG18) – two of the three colours in it’s composition. I’ve already established that I don’t like Anthraquinoid Red. I do, however, like Viridian – it’s a a beautiful cool green. BUT, I don’t like the Viridian with the Anthraquinoid Red. They clash horribly! At least, they do to me. As Moonglow dries the red and green separate out, I can see them and they are totally wrong together… !

I know red and green are opposite each other on the colour wheel and are therefore “complementary” colours, but for me, they have to be exactly the right shades of red with the right shades of green. I can’t give you a precise formula, I just instantly know when I see them whether they’re right together or not. 

In the small painting above of some cherry tomatoes, the red and green pigments dance beautifully together. They are absolutely “right”. The colours I used were Aussie Red Gold, Perylene Red, Green Gold and Undersea Green all by Daniel Smith.

Another example is Neutral Tint. I don’t like it and never use it. It tends to be a warm grey that leans towards red… ! Enough said. Jane’s Grey is what I now use as a neutral tint if ever I need one – it’s a perfect neutral tint. There are other examples, but you get the general idea now. Red is a challenge for me.

Fortunately for me, I do like quite a few earth reds like Burnt Sienna (W/N), Transparent Red Oxide, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Transparent Sienna (Schmincke), Permanent Brown and Burnt Umber, to name just a few.

I realise that my issue with red might seem really strange to many people. I know it’s not logical. But it’s part of my artistic personality. I can’t change it or ignore it. So I accept it and work with it.

COLOUR THEORY: When it comes to colour, I will trust my own judgement first and foremost. Always! But I do firmly believe that it’s important to have a good basic understanding of colour theory. For me, my natural instinct for colour and my basic understanding of colour theory work really well together.

I have gained my basic understanding of colour theory from Hazel Soan. Her book, Hazel Soan’s Watercolour Rainbow, and accompanying DVD were a real eyeopener for me!

Only after reading this book and watching the DVD (many times!) did I truly start to understand the nature of the colours in my palette for the very first time. Learning that the three primary colours (red, yellow & blue) mix together to create browns, greys and black was a revelation to me! And therefore colours opposite each other on the colour wheel (complementary colours) will also mix together to make browns, greys and black. When I learnt this, I got my reds, yellows and blues out and started mixing them – the results were amazing; this was a game-changer for me.

Above is just one example showing some of the colours you can create (including black!) by mixing a red, yellow and blue. The different combinations of red, yellow and blue you can use for a chart like this are almost infinite, due to the enormous choice of watercolours available today.

Learning that opaque, semi opaque and some of the more heavily granulating colours are made of  heavier particles that move more slowly across the paper and that transparent colours are made from much finer, lighter particles that will move more quickly across the paper is invaluable. I’ve made a point of learning the properties of ALL my colours. 

Truly understanding about warm and cool colours was so useful. I’ve learnt so much more – too much to relate here. 

The bottom line is this: for me, learning about basic colour theory makes choosing the right colours for a painting so much easier; it decreases the chance of unpleasant colour “surprises” and increases my chances of creating radiant, vibrant watercolour paintings.

MY PALETTE:

This is my studio palette which contains the colours I use most on a regular basis.There are 31 colours in total. I can paint pretty much anything I want to with these colours. But I also have my secondary palette…

My secondary palette is within easy reach of my desk at all times and I dip into it regularly. Notice the predominance of blues, greens and earth colours. These pans are all filled with tube paints and they re-wet very easily. I can name all of them and I know the properties of all of them too! (I know some of the pigment numbers but not all of them, I’m not that good!). All these colours supplement my studio palette very nicely and give me that wide range of colours and choice I need. 

I don’t recommend any one brand of watercolours over another. For me, each colour in my studio palette or secondary palette has to stand on it’s own individual merits as a watercolour, irrespective of what brand it might be. Every single colour, in both my palettes, has to work for me as a stand alone colour first and foremost; and then they also ideally have to be colours I am happy to mix with too. Any colours I am not completely happy with, for any reason at all, will be evicted from my palettes, or wont even make it into my palettes in the first place! When I try new colours I tend to find a space for them in my secondary palette so I can try them out over a period of time – they are “on probation”. If they work for me, they stay and if they don’t, they go!

MOVING FORWARD: What advice would I give to anyone who struggles with colour, colour mixing or choosing the “right” colour combinations for painting? Here are a few suggestions that may help:

Above and below are examples of two books that may help you learn about colour…

I’ve enjoyed sharing my unique view of colour and providing a little insight into my colour process. I hope it’s given you something to think about. I hope I may have inspired you to sort through all your colours, looking at them all with fresh eyes and renewed enthusiasm. Everyone can learn to be bold, brave and confident in their personal colour choices.

You can view the full range of watercolour materials I use here: 

Happy painting!

Evelyn