Imagine trying to play a piano with the notes tuned randomly rather than arranged sequentially. I'm not sure even Horowitz could have dealt
with that. For more than 600 years, painters have known the benefits of a sequentially arranged palette. Admittedly, when you Google "artists' palettes", all sorts of stuff comes up--everything from well organized pristine palettes to pure chaos. But I keep thinking about Horowitz and his piano.
When our palette is ordered the same way each time we paint, our unconscious mind creates a memory of that arrangement, enabling us to
automatically reach for a color's location without having to hunt for it. It's the same principle of a mechanic knowing where his/her tools are and not having to spend precious time hunting for a needed wrench.
THREE EXAMPLES OUT OF HUNDREDS
Richard Schmid's palette is (to my sensibility) one of the most beautifully organized of any palette I have seen. Unlike many painters, Schmid's
oil palette stays permanently set up. Of course the paint dries, but he adds fresh paint for each painting session.
As you can see, from right to left, his colors begin with white then follow the warm colors of the spectrum of the most saturated hues. Then
we see a rough repeat of the spectrum in earth colors and other neutrals (beginning with Venetian Red), and finally his greens and blues.
The beloved Helen Van Wyk's palette is similar. Even in this low rez photo, we see she has white at the extreme left, then yellows, oranges, reds, neutral warms,
blues, greens and black. Like Schmid, her colors are sequenced according the the spectrum.
19th century American (Hudson River) landscape painter, Asher Durand's palette shows a sequential arrangement similar to both Schmid's and
Van Wyk's. Notice that all three of these artists arranged their colors around the edge of the palette, making it easier and more logical to reach for a color and pull it down into the mixing area.
Here's a diagram of my palette. You can see the full scoop on You Tube Quick Tip 115 - https://youtu.be/RORenwUXMDI . My arrangement initially was influenced by Helen Van Wyk back in the early days of public TV, then a bit later by Schmid (as you can see) except I've purged colors I found I can mix.
Whether you prefer painting with oils, acrylics, watercolor or gouache, if you organized around the edges according to a logical sequence that becomes your
standard for your palette setup, you will be surprised at the clarity you will gain in the color mixing process.
I prefer not to use my Saturday posts for pushing offers, but knowing your inbox is cluttered with "special offer" ads during the holiday season, our team is pulling
back on contributing to that.
However, since I have your attention, I just want to remind you of the special we're running on my newest color course, Cracking the Color Code. We're giving $30 off until December 24.
BE SAFE, BE WELL, BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER, AND HAVE A
JOYOUS WEEKEND!
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