The colors I choose to paint with are my palette. Many artists have a standard palette of colors they learned to use in painting classes in high school and college. An instructor gives a list of supplies at the beginning of class and this becomes a palette. My basic colors are based on art classes. The titanium white, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, alizarin crimson, and pthalo blues and greens are fairly standard. I originally started with ultramarine blue, but moved to pthalo as I just liked it better. It seemed more complex. I added the dianathus pink and celadon green when a friend mentioned a project he was doing that included using colors he had never used before. I have been using them ever since. I use acrylic paint and pigment sticks.
At the tail end of 2012, I did a commission piece for a dentist where I based my palette on the colors of his logo and his décor in the office. It was challenging and fun.
The bright colors I have been using work really well on a brick wall. But in 2013, I have decided to make another change to my palette. I am planning to use the more muted ochres and reds that I see in art in the stores to appeal to a wider audience. It is a challenge for me and I have no problem adjusting my palette. It is always fun to experiment.
I use acrylic paint and oil paint in stick form, R&F pigment sticks. I love the oil sticks. I am so thrilled someone introduced them to me in the early 90s. And R&F sticks are like butter, smooth and bright.
http://www.rfpaints.com/
My palette changes depending on what I am working on and what season it is. I also often think of a project a friend of mine did for an art class in grad school that was to use completely new colors and materials from what he was used to. That experiment led me to the new pinks and light greens that I was working with in 2012. In early 2013, I wanted to change my palette to warm beiges and reds and natural greens and blues to focus on the colors so popular in interior decorating.
The colors of mesh available also affects the overall look of the piece. I did a small 12×12 in 2011 that was all greens and golds and whites, but worked marvelously with the copper mesh I had. I have recently started using the mesh as a texture and painting right on top of it. I like how it looks, but it is very time consuming to make sure all the spaces are filled with color.
Color palettes change. I would not choose to continue with a palette if I got bored. I love my brighter large red and blue paintings from late 2012. I also find something intriguing about the metallic paintings I did in Summer 2012 named after rappers. But I have not figured out where to go with that. I continue to paint better when I am focused on the process. I saw the results of that in 2012 and I used my new knowledge in 2013. I especially loved doing a commission for my dentist. That was a whole new palette that really helped challenge me color wise. Every new painting is a chance to create something new in terms od composition and color and in the beginning, I never know where it will end. I love it.
