{"id":76,"date":"2020-07-01T14:58:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T13:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/?p=76"},"modified":"2022-01-28T14:59:28","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T14:59:28","slug":"own-your-palette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/2020\/07\/01\/own-your-palette\/","title":{"rendered":"Own Your Palette!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
I find the combination of Prussian Blue and French Ultramarine works extremely well for skies, yet both colours have their aggressive dissenters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An artist’s palette is a very personal thing; a colour loved by one artist may be dismissed, or downright avoided by another – neither is right nor wrong, each have simply related to that colour in a different way, albeit one positively, and the other negatively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a wider issue, however, I realise that this can cause much confusion amongst those who are just starting to learn to paint in watercolour. How confusing it must be to be inspired by reading a book or watching a video from one tutor, only to be subjected to contradictory advice from another tutor. Just when you thought you’d discovered a colour that you liked, endorsed by a favourite artist, your other favourite artist comes along and tells you you’re making a grave mistake… you should be using this colour instead…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, of course, it is hoped that all students of the medium may reach a point where they are confident enough to stick with a colour no matter what anyone else says, despite contrary peer pressure, on the simple, straightforward grounds that they like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginners need some degree of guidance, for sure. To enable them to make the right choices (for themselves), I think it is important to know as many of the facts as possible, so that they are able to make up their own mind. I try not to be in any way rigid about what colours my own students choose to use – while there are a few colours that aren’t exactly favourites of mine, nothing is outright banned – I just don’t see that as healthy. Far from it; I’m generally pleased for them if they’ve already developed their own personal favourites. It worries me more when someone will not veer from the path and try something new, but instead, absolutely insists on using precisely the same colours and combinations of colours as they’ve seen me use in a demonstration. It’s flattering that they may feel my combination of colours is part of the path to success, but I feel it is equally important for all students to experiment, and not reject anything – particularly if they find they are drawn to a colour that they like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not talking about any specific colours or instances here. My own colour palette has served me well for many years, but it is by no means definitive, and to some is a little controversial. Prussian Blue is not a widely loved colour, and I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve been criticised for using Cadmium Red and Cadmium Yellow – either on the grounds that they are both opaque colours, or simpy because they contain cadmium, and are bad for one’s health and the environment. Despite the love many seem to feel for Yellow Ochre, it’s a colour that’s never quite done it for me – I much prefer Raw Sienna, which is a very similar colour (but it’s transparent, not opaque… as if I care…). I’ve always loved French Ultramarine, but always remember someone telling me that I shouldn’t use it on account of it being a fugitive colour (apparently, it’s on the run, and has never been caught). I must confess I had to google what ‘fugitive colour’ meant… and I’m still not entirely sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bottom line is; there are millions of colours out there to choose from, and whether or not one is better than another might be down to many different reasons. If you are new to watercolour, and are bemused by all the contradictory advice you seem to be getting, then my advice would be to absorb it all, but be influenced by none of it. Endeavour to experiment with every colour in your box, so that you get to know them from personal experience and not just heresay, and feel free to use whatever colours you feel give you the most satisfactory results. As you develop your own set of colours, stand by them and don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise… they are your colours… own them!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An artist’s palette is a very personal thing; a colour loved by one artist may be dismissed, or downright avoided by another – neither is right nor wrong, each have simply related to that colour in a different way, albeit one positively, and the other negatively. On a wider issue, however, I realise that this can cause much confusion amongst...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colours","category-watercolour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions\/78"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/artstuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}