The best blues for Winters are exactly as you would think for this season that contains dark, saturated colors that are bright and luminous. How is it that a color can be both dark and bright, you might wonder. Well, just take a look at sapphire and royal blue. Both of these colors have an inexplicable depth to them, as if you could just fall right in. At the same time, they have a bright quality that excites the eye! Another way to describe these colors is intense. But on a Winter, they won’t look intense at all – they will instead bring clarity and harmony to her overall appearance. The darker shades like dark navy and sultry navy will really resonate with a Deep Winter, while the brighter shades of chlorine blue and electric blue are stunning on a Cool or True Winter.
Warm palette blues vs cool palette blues
I’d want to ask some questions. Do you like the transparent colors you have? Or do you like the granulating colors? You have enough so you can just do some test swatches and see how they react. For example Azo Yellow Light PY154 and Pthalo Blue PB15 are transparent and staining, really good for glazes and giving you flat color. You can put down many layers and since they stain, the previous color doesn’t come up into your current layer. But if you have a mistake, the paper is stained so even if you scrub it, it’s hard to get it to white again. These tend to also be stronger colors so they are harder to control your mixes. Ultramarine Blue PB29 and Viridian PG7 are colors you can scrub up, tend to create texture ( Granulating ). These are actually easier in that you can lift them when you want to. Burnt Sienna for example usually neutralizes with your Ultramarine to a nice gray ( you will have to test it as your burnt sienna is a mixture of more than one pigment ). Try these out, try to see what is different between these colors. I use both pairs, the blues are very similar in how they work to achieve color. I use viridian for granulating, but use pthalo green for staining, again so they match. I also use gold ochre ( PY42 ) for my granulating yellow, and Azo Yellow PY154 for my staining. But I keep them in separate circles since they have different properties, one I use as a set of staining colors, the other as a set of granulating colors. All of them I listed are colors I just love. I sometimes use them both together in the same picture, but always put the staining colors underneath as the granulating colors tend to lift up making subsequent colors muddy. You’ll find that it’s much harder to get a full range of color if you mix a strong staining color with a weak granulating color. Which properties do you think you like? As for which colors, there are some common approaches…
Two Yellows, Two Reds and Two Blues ( each warm or cool )
One Red, One Orange, One Yellow, One Green, One Blue, One Purple
Or Green, Yellow, Red and Blue All of these are in effect a color wheel. You just need something related to the primary colors and you are good. ——————————————————————– If you just want some basic colors to start out with, the basic palette suggested by Bruce MacEvoy is a good starting point. Based on his list, limiting it to van gogh ( and skipping most of those using multiple pigments except for your darkening neutrals ) I would actually combine this brand with cotman ( assuming you want student grade ) and use that to fill in the colors you need. PY154 Azo Yellow Light
PY184 Permanent Lemon Yellow ( instead of PY153 )
PV19 Quinacridone Rose (instead of PR122)
PB29 Ultramarine Deep
PB15 Phthalo Blue
PG7 Phthalo Green
PY42 Yellow Ochre or PY42 Raw Sienna
PR101 Light Oxide Red
PB15+PBk6 Indigo or PBk7+PR101 Sepia or PBk6+PV19 Paynes Gray (mixed pigments, usually including PBk6 for darkening neutrals ) The following he recommends don’t correlate very well, you already have 2 blues above so that leaves reds… Or just use the Cerulean Blue you already got, just remember it’s actually pthalo blue mixed with white instead of being pure cerulean blue, and it’s liable to fade in sunlight. cerulean blue (PB35)
cadmium scarlet (or cadmium red light) (PR108)
perylene maroon (PR179) ( which is an alizarin replacement ) These give you some reds out of Van Gogh, both of these pigments I like.
PR254 Permanent Red Light
PV19 Permanent Red Violet
October 31, 2014 at 10:06 pm #1213488
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I’d want to ask some questions. Do you like the transparent colors you have? Or do you like the granulating colors? You have enough so you can just do some test swatches and see how they react. For example Azo Yellow Light PY154 and Pthalo Blue PB15 are [B]transparent[/B] and staining, really good for glazes and giving you flat color. You can put down many layers and since they stain, the previous color doesn’t come up into your current layer. But if you have a mistake, the paper is stained so even if you scrub it, it’s hard to get it to white again. These tend to also be stronger colors so they are harder to control your mixes. Ultramarine Blue PB29 and Viridian PG7 are colors you can scrub up, tend to create texture ( [B]Granulating[/B] ). These are actually easier in that you can lift them when you want to. Burnt Sienna for example usually neutralizes with your Ultramarine to a nice gray ( you will have to test it as your burnt sienna is a mixture of more than one pigment ). Try these out, try to see what is different between these colors. I use both pairs, the blues are very similar in how they work to achieve color. I use viridian for granulating, but use pthalo green for staining, again so they match. I also use gold ochre ( PY42 ) for my granulating yellow, and Azo Yellow PY154 for my staining. But I keep them in separate circles since they have different properties, one I use as a set of staining colors, the other as a set of granulating colors. All of them I listed are colors I just love. I sometimes use them both together in the same picture, but always put the staining colors underneath as the granulating colors tend to lift up making subsequent colors muddy. You’ll find that it’s much harder to get a full range of color if you mix a strong staining color with a weak granulating color. Which properties do you think you like? As for which colors, there are some common approaches…
Two Yellows, Two Reds and Two Blues ( each warm or cool )
One Red, One Orange, One Yellow, One Green, One Blue, One Purple
Or Green, Yellow, Red and Blue All of these are in effect a color wheel. You just need something related to the primary colors and you are good.
I don’t really have the tubes yet, I’m just about to buy and before that I would just want your opinions so as to have the most or the least number rather of colors possible that I can experiment with. To be honest, I haven’t any idea yet how everything is in watercolor and I find it really different with acrylic :confused: I’m really inspired by Zbukvic and Castagnet’s works Would you think that Prussian blue would be good alternative for Ultramarine? Thanks very much
“Live for the Moment”
Carpe Diem
October 31, 2014 at 10:16 pm #1213474
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I’d go with ultramarine deep. Ultramarine is a key color which just about everyone tends to use. Prussian is a nice color, but it’s more specialized in how it’s used, and might not as good in a student grade paint brand compared to artist grade. Ultramarine is a cheap pigment which works good even in most kiddy paints. I’d also follow the “Basic Palette” I listed, it’s actually a mixture of various properties, has the various colors you need. Refer to the reference describing it which will tell you more than you need to know, but as you learn the medium it’s invaluable. I tried to pick out the van gogh colors that correlate. Nothing listed is a wrong choice in the basic palette, all of it you will use. I completely went another direction myself away from it, yet constantly rely upon it for one thing or another. I’d get cotman brand permament alizarin ( it’s student grade but a different brand, assuming you want to keep the cost down, and you can use it to mix your own “darkening neutral” ) You really want to use different brands instead of just sticking to one brand, perhaps getting one or two with the more expensive artist grade paints where there isn’t a good student grade option.
November 1, 2014 at 12:13 am #1213489
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I’d go with ultramarine deep. Ultramarine is a key color which just about everyone tends to use. Prussian is a nice color, but it’s more specialized in how it’s used, and might not as good in a student grade paint brand compared to artist grade. Ultramarine is a cheap pigment which works good even in most kiddy paints. I’d also follow the “Basic Palette” I listed, it’s actually a mixture of various properties, has the various colors you need. Refer to the [URL=http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/palette5.html]reference[/URL] describing it which will tell you more than you need to know, but as you learn the medium it’s invaluable. I tried to pick out the van gogh colors that correlate. Nothing listed is a wrong choice in the basic palette, all of it you will use. I completely went another direction myself away from it, yet constantly rely upon it for one thing or another. I’d get cotman brand permament alizarin ( it’s student grade but a different brand, assuming you want to keep the cost down, and you can use it to mix your own “darkening neutral” ) You really want to use different brands instead of just sticking to one brand, perhaps getting one or two with the more expensive artist grade paints where there isn’t a good student grade option.
thanks so much for everything, I think I’d be able to get my hands on cotman watercolors. Maybe I’d get my Ultramarine there and look for other color options as well
“Live for the Moment”
Carpe Diem
November 1, 2014 at 3:09 am #1213475
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[*]Van Gogh PY154 Azo Yellow Light ( this one if its like winsor yellow mixes both with reds and greens very well so you only need one )
[*] Artist grade Holbein PY110 Isodoline Yellow ( instead of PY153, this is a yellow that is almost orange, get the small 5ml tube and it lasts forever )
[*] Cotman PV23 Dioxazine Violet ( tone with the PY154 )
[*]Van Gogh PG7 Phthalo Green
[*]Cotman PR206 Alizarin Crimson Hue ( tone with PG7 above, it’s a deep red, use instead of PR179 Perelene Maroon )
[*] Van Gogh PV19 Quinacridone Rose (instead of PR122 or just wait to get that color in artist grade)
[*] Van Gogh PR254 Permanent Red Light( A bright red instead of cadmium red )
[*] Artist grade Winsor Orange ( pyrole orange )
[*]Van Gogh PB15 Phthalo Blue ( tone with orange above if you get it, or burnt sienna, or the pthalo black mix below. If you can get artist grade, get the “green shade” PB15:3 as you want it to be more of cyan blue than a navy blue )
[*]Make your own Mix of the above PG7+PR206+PB15 to reach gray ( I call this Pthalo Black, make a pan of it so you have it and use it wherever you hear black or neutral tint being used )
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[*]Van Gogh PB29 Ultramarine Deep
[*]Van Gogh or Cotman PY42 Yellow Ochre or Van Gogh PY42 Raw Sienna ( for yellow )
[*]Cotman PR101 Burnt Sienna ( for orange, this is specific to winsor newton brand )
[*] Van Gogh PG7 Viridian ( for green )
[*]Mix of the above PR101+PB29 to reach gray ( Janes Gray or I call it Ultramarine Black ) ( for toning and black, this is a key mix for most artists and many do entire paintings using nothing but ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and this gray )
Blue in color psychology
In color psychology, the color blue is mostly connected to positive emotions, like relaxation and happiness. It can also denote sadness or melancholy. But on the whole, it connects us to meditative and healing states, even if sadness is part of that journey. We connect to the wide open blue skies and the vast depth of the dark blue seas. But what does this all mean in terms of color analysis?
Can you see the difference between all of these shades of blue? See if you can figure out which ones are cool or warm, clear or muted!
Blue is super cool
I have great news for you Summer and Winters out there – it is your time to shine! We know you were neglected in our discussion of orange and yellow, and we apologize. But blue is one of the more naturally occurring cool-toned colors we get to discuss within Color Analysis. Those who fall into one of these two seasons tend to have blue to neutral undertones. There are certainly warmer blues that we will see in the Spring and Autumn palettes, but these have varying amounts of yellow and green tones mixed in to warm them up.
Let’s break down the qualities we see in blues that are included in the Spring and Autumn palettes. We know that they will all have a warmer hue, with varying values and chroma. The blues in the Autumn palette all have a much more distinct warmth to them, as you can see in marine navy, sea blue, and viking blue. Quite telling that all of these blues have names that connect them to the depths of the ocean! In our experience, we find that the darker half of the palette is supremely best for a Deep Autumn, as opposed to the other sub-seasonal palettes. Soft Autumn shines in lighter shades like sea blue, which is shared with Summer.
Light and tropical blues in Spring
Spring blues are all going to be light and bright, in alignment with the qualities of this season’s palette. Similarly to the Autumn blues, these do have hints of ocean tropical vibes, but instead of reflecting the depths of the sea, these will conjure images of being poolside, with colorful frozen cocktails and umbrellas for two. Looking specifically at each row of colors in the palette, you can see how they range from deep and saturated to light and bright. Bright navy to bright blue are simply perfect for a Bright Spring, while the medium to light shades really resonate with True and Light Springs.
