2020-08-01 Artists & Illustrators

THE ZORN PALETTE

hispalette,andasa consequence

thepaintingprocessis morefluid

andthereforeeasier.ThoughI find

it reallyhard,I pushmyselftobe

generouswiththepaintandsqueeze

cleancolours.

I lovethequotefromRichard

Schmid’sAllaPrimabookwherehe

says:“Thepurposeofoilpaintingis

notthesalvationofpaint”.It is such

anobviousstatementandyetI am

sucha culprit– afteralltheseyears

I stillfindit sohardtothrowawayold

paintandI lovetodigunderthepaint.

Youcanseethatinmyfigurepainting

[seeopposite]whereI haveusedjust

theZornpalette.Thecolourswere

bothmixedtogetherandaddedas

littleindependentaccents.Thisis an

exampleofmedigging.Thepaint

surfaceis mostlya mixtureoffresh

paintandolddriedbits.

THESET-UP

Thebestwaytosetouta colourchart

is witha simplefive-orsix-stepvalue

scalegoingdownthepageandthen

thepurecoloursandtheir

combinationsgoingacrossthepage.

Asdiscussedinthefirstarticle,

someartistsliketothinkofblack

andwhiteasdevoidofcolourand

considerthemmerelyasvalues,

whereasI prefertothinkoftheZorn

paletteaswhiteplusthethree

primarycolours(whereIvoryBlackis

the“blue”).Asyou’llseeinthecolour

chart,thewhitealonecanthenbe

usedtocreatethevaluescale.

Youcouldpainteachcolouron

a separatecanvas,witha dominant

ofeachprimary.I liketohavethe

coloursallononecolourcharton

a singlecanvas,sothatthevalue

relationshipcanbecomparedacross

thechart.I findit easiertorelate

themthisway.

THEPROCESS

Createa gridwithsixorsevenboxes

goingdownand 12 boxesacross.

Marktheboxeswithyourdominant

colourfirst.Whenmixingpaints,it

isn’taboutmixinganexactamountof

colourforeachone,assomecolours,

likemostreds,havea hightinting

strengthyetnota hugeamountof

body,whereastheoppositeis truefor

YellowOchre.Keepa differentbrush

foreachcolourandaddwhiteasyou

proceedthroughthevalues.

Creatinga colourchartseemsasif

it shouldbesosimpleandyetallthe

usualcomplicationsarise:howto

keepone’sbrushesclean,howtoget

theratiosofpigmentcorrect,howto

balancethepaintbeingtoooilyordry.

Unlessyouareusinga top-quality

paintbrandandyoufindthepigment

toostiff,I wouldavoidusing

turpentineorlinseedoilandinstead

applythepigmentsneat.

WhatI findfascinatingandoneof

thehardestthingsaboutcolourand

colourmixingis thattheadditionof

whitedoesnotsimplylightenthe

pigment.Whiteasa pigmentalsohas

itsqualitiesandthereforeit goes

withoutsayingthatasweaddwhiteit

is notjustthevaluethatchangesbut

alsothetemperatureandthechroma.

Whenwearepaintinga portraitand

wethinkthevalueis toodark,it is

neversosimpleasjustaddingwhite,

asthetemperature,thechroma,the

opacitywillalsochange.Thisis the

same,aswhenourvalueappears

Black Red

Black

+

Red

Dark

Lighter

dark

Mid-tone

Darker

light

Light

Red

+

Black

Black

+

Yellow

Red

+

Yellow

Yellow

+

Black

Yellow

+

Red

Red

+

Yellow

+

Black

Yellow

+

Red

+

Yellow Black

O O R HART MIXING THREE COLOURS WITH WHITE

Near

white

Artists & Illustrators 77