Try a new palette

LIZET DINGEMANS SUGGESTS NEW COLOUR COMBINATIONS TO HELP YOU DEVELOP YOUR PRACTICE

- LIZET DINGEMANS

THE BENEFIT

When constructing your palette, the possibilities are endless. Knowing this, it should be evident there is no unique, correct solution to finding the best palette for every occasion. This challenge is therefore not meant to define a single answer to the best landscape or still life palette, but to suggest some places to start which can help you find your own solutions.

THE PROCESS

Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Chrome Yellow, Indian Yellow… When setting up your palette, there are more pigments to choose from than ever before. But how do you know which one to use for your particular painting? Which are the best and most versatile colours for landscape, portrait or still life? In this challenge, I will detail what to look out for and suggest pigments to use when setting up your palette, be it for a still life, landscape or portrait painting.

First a bit about how to set up your palette. The classical way of arranging the colours on your palette is from light to dark, adding the white and black (if used) at the outer edges of the palette, and then adding the colours in between, usually in the following order: white, yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, black, green. Many great artists of the past have set up their palettes this way, including Anders Zorn and John Singer Sargent.

This structural method of setting up is popular because it allows you to reach for your colours instinctively, given that the yellows are near the lighter end of the palette, whereas the blues are near the darker end.