LIMITED PALETTE - Quinacridone Magenta, Cadmium Yellow Light & Phthalo Turquoise PART 2

1/20/2023

Complimentary Colour Chart, Colour Study of Rainbow Lorikeet & 4 Colour Studies compared.

This video has three parts:
Part 1 - creating a Complimentary Colour Chart
Part 2 - doing a colour study using all the colour mixing information that we have done
Part 3 - Comparing 4 different colour studies of the Rainbow Lorikeet with different Red/Blue/Yellows.

Below is the Complimentary Colour Chart that I created. This time around I did 3 steps between the Orange and Blue, Purple to Yellow and Green to Red. Only as I was completing it did I realize that I should have done 4 steps between. Oh dear. The measurements for the chart are below.

Let's start off with mixing an orange from Cadmium Yellow Light and Quinacridone Magenta to a Value 6, then add white to create a six step value string.

Here we have moved from mixture of Purple to the Cadmium Yellow Light.

When I look to the right, I see so many options to use in the colour study of the Rainbow Lorikeet.

Notice how the colours shift as more and more Phthalo Turquoise is added to the orange mixture. The one that surprised me was the third mixture which looks like a low chroma green. Very interesting.

Do you find it as interesting as I do that very few of the mixtures have repeated exact colours in the same way, even though there are only 3 paint tubes (plus white).

Here we have the whole range of colours we have mixed mainly from 3 tubes of paint. The Colour Value Scale always requires a range of other pigments to ensure the value changes that are made are in the same hue family.

Now we are on to our colour study of the Rainbow Lorikeet!

When I paint, I tend towards being a pre-mixer. This simply means that I mix a range of colours in different values that I think I might use. For this colour study I mixed a range of Yellows, higher and lower chroma oranges (lower chroma orange we tend to call brown), Greens and Blues. These colours can easily be modified as I am painting.

Over time I have learned that what looks perfect when being mixed down on the palette can turn out not to be so great once it is on the surface that I am working on. I do find that Pre-mixing does save me a lot of time in the long run.

This is the second of four colour studies of the same rainbow lorikeet that I have painted.   Check down at the bottom of this post where I will share the tessellations and all 4 colour studies. Seeing the colour studies next to each other will help us to discern the Red/blue/yellow combinations that work the best.

Here is the board right next to the reference image all ready to get working on.

I work sight sized, which means that the image I am painting is the same size as the reference image.

Remember that we are working with Phthalo Turquoise and so the blue is going to be a different kind of blue than when we worked with the ultramarine blue. Ultramarine Blue is a purple blue (as it has more of a red bias in the pigment) and this one we are painting with is more of a green blue (as it has more of a yellow bias).

Each step of the way I am trying to keep the values similar enough. But notice that in the leaves that I chose to add more darks which I feel gives the leaves more dimension.

2. Cadmium Yellow Light
Quinacridone Magenta
Phthalo Turquoise

4. Cadmium Yellow Light
Quinacridone Magenta
Cobalt Teal

1. Cadmium Yellow Light
Alizarin Crimson Hue Permanent
Ultramarine Blue

3. Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Red Light
Cerulean Blue

Here are all 4 together on the screen. Seeing them all side-by-side, you really get a sense of what works and what doesn't work.

Personally, I really like the beak colours in #3 which is Cadmium Yellow Medium and Cadmium Red Light. But I would still need to use some Cadmium yellow light on the bird’s body.

I like the Blues on the bird in the first colour study. I think that Ultramarine Blue is more representative of the blue on the bird.

Looking at the greens now. I would say that I am not a fan of either version 3 or 4. In the first two colour studies I prefer these greens. I think I would use both blues with Cadmium Yellow Light to create a variety greens

When looking at the branches I prefer colour study 3.

Doing these colour charts and studies took some time but the helpful information that they provide is invaluable. Each of the colour studies took about 1 ½ to 2 hours when I include the pre-mixing of paint.

These kinds of challenges it helps to get a sense of the potential of the various pigments that we work with.

Below are photos of birds around Melbourne. I toured with the late Paul Hackett in 2018. Look at the very last photo...these are Orange Bellied Parrots. When I was there Paul said that there were only 18 left in the wild. These were two of the 18. They were trying to breed them and release the young but I don't know what kind of success they have had with that program.

The second day I spent on a bird tour was up in north Queensland with Doug Harrington of Birdwatching Tropical Australia. The very first bird we saw was only 200 metres from where Doug picked me up...just hanging around on a post... a Kookaburra! I bet you know what song popped into my head when I saw it! Are you singing it?