I prefer a classical palette composed of earth colors. David Rourke in his weblog All The Strange Hours wrote an informative post on the classical palette, if you’re a little more curious. My wood palette itself is one designed by artist William Whitaker and manufactured by Real Gesso (who also make great traditional gesso panels).
In the color listing below, I don’t use all of the following colors at the same time. Those with an asterisk (*) are my mainstay colors. Yes, there are some “duplicates” but I get different results from using Williamsburg’s Italian Raw Sienna (grainier and shimmery) versus Michael Harding’s Raw Sienna (smoother consistency); and between Williamsburg’s Italian Raw Umber (greener) and Michael Harding’s Raw Umber (browner). These are subtle differences indeed but important enough to use both versions of these colors.
As evident in the photo above, I don’t premix any colors but mix directly on the canvas/panel. I also don’t use solvent but use M. Graham Walnut Alkyd – not to thin paints (which I never do) but to serve as a “couch” and “drier” or to seal the very absorbent traditional gesso ground or Ampersand Claybord. I like solvent free putty mediums. My painting method is fairly intuitive and changes daily it seems like. It’s an ongoing learning process, so I’ve stopped posting demos as what I write on any given day can change the next. So in general, here’s my palette:
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