Color Studies

I mentioned last week that I should do some color studies of my extended palette. These are color studies that I've done in the past using my typical palette plus white. In the above study I started with cad red then mixed it 50/50% with each of the colors going across: cad yellow pale, cad yellow deep, yellow ochre, terra rosa, aliz. crimson, burnt sienna, veridean, cerulean, cobalt, ultramarine blue. Then, I mixed each of those paint piles with white and created tints going down. I probably could have mixed a little more white each time. That would have gotten me all the way to white at the bottom. But, I almost get there.

This chart shows Terra Rosa mixed 50/50 with each color going across then tinted with white going down. Terra Rosa is a wonderful color for landscape paintings. Again, had I mixed a little more white each time, I would have gotten all the way to white at the bottom.

This chart shows the same colors mixed with Cad Yellow Pale.

I don't look at these charts all the time. But, sometimes I'm standing at the easel, looking at the set-up, or a shadow, and I just don't know what colors to mix. These really help. I've also done many of these color value scales just mixing colors, not adding white.