You've probably noticed when you went shopping for watercolor pigments that there are a LOT of available colors. If you've taken a workshop or a class, you've found that most teachers have their "favorite" palette of colors as well. How do you choose? My advice is to begin with a small number of colors, experiment with those until you are thoroughly familiar with what each pigment can do by itself and in mixtures with the other hues. Then, add a few more colors to your palette, and continue your experiments. Eventually, you'll find a group of colors that will give you the results you want for the type of painting you do.
The little painting below was done entirely with just three pigments.All three of these pigments are "cool" leaning–that is, the red has a purple bias or color cast rather than a orange cast; the yellow, although a clean clear hue, still leans slightly toward green rather than orange; the blue is a violet blue rather than a greenish blue.
|
UPDATE: Traditional
Alizarin Crimson is not lightfast. Today, I would find an Alizarin
Crimson substitute that is permanent. Look for a color that contains
Pigment Red 122 (PR122) or a combination of PR N/A+PR206, or even
PV15 or PV19. Some possible choices are: Also, permanent blue is no longer made by Winsor & Newton. Use Graumbacher Finest ultramarine blue (permanent blue) instead, or Daniel Smith ultramarine or french ultramarine blue. Finally, you could substitute Winsor & Newton lemon yellow or Daniel Smith hansa yellow light instead of the Winsor lemon I originally used.
|
|
