I ran out of paint...
I recently attended an art retreat by Tom Sheperd (it was incredible) and then went on a self guided art adventure - as a result I’ve been painting a LOT. So much so that I ran out of paint!!
I finished:
Ultramarine Blue - 2+ pans
Quin Magenta - 1 full pan
Nickel Azo Yellow - 1.5 pans
I was both proud and shocked lol that my 4 ridiculous overpacking of watercolour palettes actually came in handy. :P
During the art retreat I ended up using a limited palette of the above trio. It wasn’t suggested or initially intentional but I thought it would be helpful to use colours I know & gravitate to so that I could focus on learning without the extra complexity of lots of colours. It still amazes me how many colours we can make with a limited palette.
Have you finished a colour of watercolour? What was it? If not, what are your most used colours?
Cleaning out 2 plus palettes of the colours above really highlighted my go to colours.
Above are some of my paintings from the art retreat.
Some pieces used just those three colours, in other paintings I added a few extra:
Benzimidazole Brown or Piemontite (mixed with ultramarine to make pretty greys or muted blues +/- hints of magenta to make it lean purple). I dodn’t add Burnt Umber to palette but instead opted for similar but warmer & more “interesting” browns that I anticipated would yield similar results.
Cobalt Teal Blue or Cobalt Sea Blue - for skies & the sea
RS November 2024 - I just liked the colour lol and towards the end of my trip, started adding it to my paintings for extra interest in my shadows.
I also noted the differences between Nickel Azo Yellow - with the DS version being warmer than my other ones meaning that my greens were earthier. The whole experience just made me reflect a lot on what I like & don’t like as well as what I can and can’t do with my colour choices.
Using a limited palette of 3 - 5 colours was really enjoyable & something I want to do more regularly.
Lots of Love,
Sketches.n.Scrubs