The basics
Will Kemp is an award-winning professional artist
and teacher. He studied in Italy, ran his own art
gallery, taught in museums and schools, and now
runs his own online art school, where he shares his
professional secrets with aspiring artists.
Learn more at http://www.willkempartschool.com.W
ith so many paint
colours available
and new ranges
being
released every week,
which colours should
you buy when you first
start painting?
Boxed starter sets
are designed to give
you a varied approach;
a range of colours that can
give you the widest colour
gambit with the minimum
amount of outlay.
But it depends what you’re
aiming for. If you think about
the paintings that you want to
achieve and the subject matter
you are most drawn to before
you actually buy your paints,
then you can make an educated
guess which colour palette is
going to be right for you.
The Old Masters
If you want a muted classic
feel to your paintings,
choose this colour palette.
When the Old Masters were
mixing colours, the pigments
came from the earth, literally
ground up rocks and minerals –
hence the muted palette being
called the earth colours. When
painting portraits, they couldn’t
just go out to buy a ‘flesh tint’
they looked, observed and
mixed it:
OTitanium White
(a safer alternative
to Lead White)
ONaples Yellow
OYellow Ochre
OBurnt Sienna
OBurnt Umber
ORaw Umber
OGreen umber (for landscapes)
OVenetian Red/Vermillion
OIvory BlackMonet and
The Impressionists
If your painting style is
more Monet style, choose
this colour palette. Artists
during this period had more
freedom and often didn’t have
as intense ‘hands-on’ training
in colour mixing. There was also
a huge increase in paint colours
that were readily available to
artists:OLead White (modern equivalent
= Titanium White)
OChrome Yellow (modern
equivalent = Cadmium
Yellow Light)
OCadmium Yellow
OViridian Green
OEmerald Green
OFrench Ultramarine
OCobalt Blue
OMadder Red (modern
equivalent = Alizarin Crimson)
OVermilionModern
For a modern-style colour
palette, use this selection. In the
20th century, with new methods
of production, the invention of
acrylics and modern chemistry,
cleaner more transparent
colours could be produced
in a wide colour range. It was
during this period that the art
scene exploded with pop art
and American Expressionism
that utilised bright, clean solid
blocks of colour. Artists could
express their reaction to the risein mass consumerist culture and
echo the colours being used in
advertising and in mass media:OHansa Yellow Light
OHansa Yellow Medium
ONaphthol Red Light
OQuinacridone
Magenta
OAnthraquinone Blue
OPhthalo Blue
(Green Shade)
OPhthalo Green
(Blue Shade)
OTitanium White
(watch out for spray
from the brush).Choosing a beginner’s paint set
...without making an expensive mistake! By Will Kemp.
ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
Use just five colours to start
with. A limited palette is best
and these are mostly from the
Masters palette:OTitanium White
OCadmium Yellow Light
OPermanent Alizarin Crimson
OUltramarine Blue
OBurnt Umber New, modern pigments
provide intense colour
blends that retain their
brilliance even in thin
washes or glazes.“I use Flake White,
Cadmium Yellow,
Vermilion, Deep Madder,
Cobalt Blue, Emerald
Green, and that‘s all.”
Mo n e t, 1905