LIMITING OUR PALETTES WITH TRIADS
We’re going to play with color! We’ll have fun trying out various triads, then we will choose one triad for our final painting. There are seemingly endless combinations of triads, and these are just a few. I chose them mostly because they are the colors I already had. You can choose from any of the others below OR feel free to experiment and find your own triads. I can’t wait to
see the variety!
Do not buy all the colors listed below. If you want to paint along with the exact colors I will be using, they are listed in
BOLD and underlined below. I will use Azo Yellow, Deep Scarlet, and Phthalo Blue (red shade) for the final painting.
PRIMARY TRIADS: (Yellow, Red, Blue)
BRIGHT:
New Gamboge
Azo Yellow
Quinacridone Rose
Deep Scarlet (or red of your
Prussian Blue
choosing)
Phthalo Blue (red or green
shade)
Quinacridone Gold
Quinacridone Magenta
Turquoise Blue
MEDIUM:
Hansa Yellow (med) New Gamboge
Quinacridone Rose Permanent Alizarin Crimson
Cobalt Blue Prussian Blue
EARTHY:
Quinacridone Gold
Quinacridone Gold
Cadmium Red
Quinacridone Burnt Orange
Ultramarine Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Aureolin Yellow Quinacridone Gold
Deep Scarlet Burnt Sienna
Prussian Blue Prussian Blue
SECONDARY TRIADS: (Orange, Green, Violet)
Green Gold
Quinacridone Burnt orange
Quinacridone Burnt Orange
Undersea Green
French Ultramarine
Carbazole Violet
OPTIONAL CHEATS: (these hues or anything similar) to brighten or darken our color mixtures: Ultramarine Blue, Green Gold, Quinacridone Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Perylene Green.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS: A pencil, 2 water containers, paper towels, a palette for color mixing, (small and large amounts of paint). A hard surface to tape your paper to – and tape. Bring something to scrape branches and fence posts with – a palette knife, an old credit card, or anything else you prefer.
PAPER:
4 to 5 sheets of 5x7 paper for our triad experiments. These will not be finished paintings, just color trials. Paper quality is your choice.
1 x 9"x12" 140lb Arches cold press paper with the attached outline loosely sketched on it.
Do not get bogged down in the tree details, we will define the edges with negative painting.
Extra scrap paper is always handy for testing color and viscosity.
BRUSHES: Paint with the brushes you are comfortable using. If you need examples of specific sizes, see the list below.
An assortment of rounds, for example, I mostly used an 8 round with a point for the trials.
A few flats - I have a 1/4" and 1/2" and a larger flat.
A large, soft brush for the large dark background and the grasses. I have a size 6 quill, a size 24 round, and a 1" flat.
MATERIALS: Click below for printable outline and photo
Materials Folder