Color Charts- Suggested Materials and How to Get Started

If you'd like the do the color charts along with me, here are supplies that might be helpful.

First the paints- You can use your favorites- just pick a good range from around the color wheel so you'll get a broad variety. The ones I'm using are :

White

Cadmium Lemon

Cadmium Yellow Pale

Indian Yellow

Yellow Ochre Pale

Cadmium Orange

Cadmium Red Medium

Permanent Rose

Magenta

Transparent Red Oxide

Cobalt Blue

Ultramarine Blue

Viridian

You'll also note a palette knife. It is recommended to do the charts with a knife rather than a brush. Some of the benefits- build your knife skills, cleaner color and easier to clean up.

Then you need something to paint on. I thought ahead to how I wanted to use these as a reference in my studio and for future classes, so I wanted some type of book to store the finished charts in once dry.  I  figured out the size I wanted ( bigger than 8 x 12 to allow for more colors- you need at a one inch square for each color) and found a really nice portfolio type binder that was 11 x17 at my favorite local art store, Binders in Atlanta ( and they were on sale 60% off-my lucky day!).  Staples also has basic looseleaf type binders that size but you need to order on line since it's not a very popular size. The closest size Canvas Pads are 12 x 16 so I'm cutting an inch off. I plan to put them in the binder when fully dry in  ITOYA polyglass sleeves just to keep them clean and easy to use- but you could probably just 3 hole punch the canvas pads if you wanted to cut costs.

I also got 1/4 inch artists tape for the lines between columns and rows of colors. I was surprised how well the tape prevented colors from going where they weren't supposed to. For the occasional bleed, I used a Qtip in mineral spirits to "erase" any stray marks before they dried. It is recommended to take the tape off while the paint is wet.

This not that easy to see since the canvas and tape are both white, but if you look closely you'll see a sample of the chart taped off- 12 columns and 5 rows all separated by 1/4 inch tape. I left 1 inch on the top so I could write in which colors I used for future reference.

It takes a bit to get set up, but I am hopeful that the learning and the benefit to my paintings will be more than worth it. Will share what I'm learning along the way, so check back in.

( You can sign up for automatic email for new posts in the column on the right hand side of this blog or just below the comment box)