l s

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Request for paint names on the color wheel

A blog reader asked me to post a larger version of the pigment color wheel so she could read the labels on the colors. Believe it or not, it's better if you don't know the names. The value of the exercise is in using your own paints and testing them to see where they fit on your color wheel. When you buy new colors, before adding them to your palette, add them to your pigment wheel so you can see their relationship to your other colors. Paints with the same names may be very different in various brands. Not only that, what you see on the monitor or in a printout is not a true match for the actual paint color.

I've blogged before about split-primary color-mixing, which may help you if you're struggling with mixing. You'll find just about everything else you need to know about color mixing in Exploring Color. There's even a pigment wheel with color labels on it. Just remember, the printed colors aren't matches for the pigments.

Labels: , , , , ,

2 Comments:

Blogger CMC said...

The split color wheel is the best way I know to learn how to mix color for painting. A long time ago I took an oil painting class from a woman who used what she called "the Bob Tommye palette". Using that palette of three colors and white did more more me to help me learn to mix color than anything else I'd ever done previously. I still use those main colors plus white on my palette today. (Although I now add others in between the main three of cad. yellow light, alizarin crimson, and ultramarine blue....I lay them out as a color wheel arrangement and add other colors between if needed. This palette really adds unity for landscape painting although other pigments might be more useful for other kinds/styles of painting.

3:21 PM  
Blogger Nita said...

You got started about like I did, with the three primaries no white for watercolor, though). It took me awhile to figure out what would extend the range and that's where the split-primaries came in. It's a great basic palette and will work with just about anything else you want to use for your own subject matter and expression.

8:11 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home