When you’re starting out on your painting journey, it is easy to become nervous of bright colours. Less confident artists often rely upon certain neutral colours in their palette as they easily transform stronger tube colours by desaturating, tinting or darkening them. These neutral pigments include Flesh Tint, Buff Titanium, Warm Grey, Payne’s Grey and Neutral Grey and they help to create an earthy, naturalistic look in a painting without bolder colour clashes. Burnt Umber is another popular choice for less experienced artists, who use it liberally in mixes with other colours to create darks and neutrals. These are quick fixes though. A better understanding of your options when it comes to neutral colours – and greys in particular – will improve your paintings no end.
The main issue is that these pre-mixed neutrals can generally suck the life out of colour mixes and lend a flat appearance to artworks. Most of the time this can be disguised with sharper drawing or an emphasis on tonal ranges, but I prefer to mix neutral, earthy and grey shades from pure colours. This way I have more control over the temperature by adjusting quantities of colour. That said, every so often I’ll include a new addition to my palette to freshen up my work. The latest was Neutral Grey from the Amsterdam range by Royal Talens – it’s light enough not to dominate mixes, yet potent enough to tame richer colour.
Neutral colours are necessary as they help to anchor saturated colour as well as create a calming presence, but a reliance on the pre-mixed neutrals can stifle your evolution as an artist as you’ll miss out on exploring and pushing your own boundaries of colour. Like most elements in art, it’s about having the discipline to use the component parts sparingly to create balance.
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Denne historien er fra February 2022-utgaven av Artists & Illustrators.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Still life IN 3 HOURS
Former BP Portrait Award runner-up FELICIA FORTE guides you through a simple, structured approach to painting alla prima that tackles dark, average and light colours in turn
Movement in composition
Through an analysis of three masterworks, landscape painter and noted author MITCHELL ALBALA shows how you can animate landscape composition with movement
Shane Berkery
The Irish-Japanese artist talks to REBECCA BRADBURY about the innovative concepts and original colour combinations he brings to his figurative oil paintings from his Dublin garden studio
The Working Artist
Something old, something new... Our columnist LAURA BOSWELL has expert advice for balancing fresh ideas with completing half-finished work
Washes AND GLAZES
Art Academy’s ROB PEPPER introduces an in-depth guide to incorporating various techniques into your next masterpiece. Artwork by STAN MILLER, CHRIS ROBINSON and MICHELE ILLING
Hands
LAURA SMITH continues her new four-part series, which encourages you to draw elements of old master paintings, and this month’s focus is on capturing hands
Vincent van Gogh
To celebrate The Courtauld’s forthcoming landmark display of the troubled Dutch master’s self-portraits, STEVE PILL looks at the stories behind 10 of the most dramatic works on display
BRING THE drama
Join international watercolour maestro ALVARO CASTAGNET in London’s West End to paint a dramatic street scene
Serena Rowe
The Scottish painter tells STEVE PILL why time is precious, why emotional responses to colour are useful, and how she finds focus every day with the help of her studio wall
Bill Jacklin
Chatting over Zoom as he recovers from appendicitis, the Royal Academician tells STEVE PILL about classic scrapes in New York and his recent experiments with illustration
