What Water Soluble Oils colors are on you palette?

I was just wondering which colors you normally have on you palette for painting in WSOs. I'll be back later to enter mine. I use to know them off hand but I've just recently revamped my whole palette and some of the names are not familiar.

Here's what I usually have on hand (mainly Artisan oils); I don't use all of these for every painting:

Must Have:
Brnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Naples Yellow, Payne's Grey, Olive Green, Sap Green,
Cad. Yellow (and Cad. Yel. med.), Cad. Red med., Aliz. Cr. (permanent), Ultra. Blue, Cobalt Blue and Titanium white

Nice to have:
Brnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Lemon Yellow, Viridien Green, Chromium Oxide Green, Perm. Rose, Diox. Violet, Cad. Red dark, Cerulean Blue, Zinc White

Callie Thank you for sharing your palette!

I primarily choose my colors based on the split primary palette. I do add secondary colors for convenience and a few of the earch tones.

My palette is as follows:

Split Primary Palette
Imidazolone Yellow (Yellow that leans toward Orange)
Lemon Yellow (Yellow that leans toward Green)
Phthalo Blue (Blue that leans toward Green)
Ultramarine Blue (Blue that leans toward Violet)
Anthraquninone Red (Red that leans toward Violet)
Quinacridone Scarlet (Red that leans toward Orange)

Secondary Colors
Phthalo Green
Dioxazine Violet
Orange

Earth tones
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna

Some of those new color names that I've added to my palette are a mouthful.

I'm not a methodical painter with a correctly laid out palette: I just put out what I'll be using for a particular painting, and add something if I find I need it. Right now I've got:
phthalo green (blue shade).
dioxazine purple,
prussian blue,
yellow ochre,
naples yellow,
cadmium yellow light (hue),
cadmium red deep hue,
and titanium white.
I might add a bit of lemon yellow as well if I keep working on the golden rain tree.

Sofie, I tend to do the same thing; just put out what I need for what I'm working on, then add more colors as needed. I don't lay out the colors in the same order every time either.
Janet - are those Duo Aqua colors?

Sofie thank you for sharing your palette.

Callie, oops I forgot to state the brand. Sorry about that. Yes they're all Holbein Duo Aqua.

Sofie, which brand/s are you using?

Out of the other (non-Artisans) brands I've tried, I like the Lukas Berlin Titanium White and their Warm Grey.

I'm using the Artisan, Callie. The only one that is not Artisan is the cadmium yellow light (hue) which is Lukas Berlin.

Thanks, Sofie

Janet, good idea to "Sticky" those color charts! Nice to see what colors everyone is talking about.

Callie, I'm glad you like the charts. I don't like going to look for them when I need them so I figured I can't be the only one that feels this way. I'm going to be putting together some tests on glazing eventually but I needed to know which colors were transparent so I have a good starting point. The charts help a lot for finding out at a glance which colors will work.

I pretty much have all the colors that Callie mentioned from WN. I do only lay out the colors I use, but only as I need them. I usually only use 3 or 4 colors plus white in most of my paintings. Occasionally a 5th color comes in minimally when I can't get the color I want by mixing what I have.
judy

I don't lay out my colors on my palette either. If I did I know I'd be tempted to use them all. I just choose 2 colors to start and only add colors as needed trying as much as possible to mix my colors with what is already on my palette. I find it a good way to get color harmony.

Hi Janet;

On my web website at http://www.jmossmanart.com/ (under the Creating A Painting page) are listed the palettes of four teaching artists. These are traditional oils, not WSO. However, there are fairly close WSO matches to almost all of them. Their palettes are all very different and the interesting thing is that all four have painted in the same area under similar conditions and all produced works that are very representative of this area of Wyoming. So there is more than one way to get good results. There are far more differences between these traditional oil palettes than you would experience by choosing the closest matching WSO colors to any one of them.

Regards,
Jim

Thank you Jim for the link! You're rite the colors in each of the palettes are standard colors and easily transferrable to Water Soluble Oils. I agree completely it's not necessarily the colors you use but how you use them that is more important. I browsed through your site you have fantastic information. Your paintings are beautiful!

Jim - you have a very nice site, and lots of good info! Thanks for sharing the palettes with us, it's always interesting to see what colors other artists are using.

Hi Janet

so that palette of yours looks non-toxic all the way around. how do the yellows work for you, are they opaque enough, or it that not a requirement for you?

I've been experimenting, and as mentioned in another post, the Grumbacher RED (napthol) is doing the trick nicely for replacing my Cad Red.

But the yellows.....well the jury is out. Tried Cobra Primary Yellow Lite and it's semi transparent and the pigment load is nothing compared to cad yellow. So for now I'm reverting back to the cad yellow when i need that intense opaque yellow. Like the geek I am i've studied every ws line to see if there ia a nontoxic opaque yellow and have come up with nothing.

Anyone out there have any ideas??

Love this forum!

Janet wrote:

Callie Thank you for sharing your palette!

I primarily choose my colors based on the split primary palette. I do add secondary colors for convenience and a few of the earch tones.

My palette is as follows:

Split Primary Palette
Imidazolone Yellow (Yellow that leans toward Orange)
Lemon Yellow (Yellow that leans toward Green)
Phthalo Blue (Blue that leans toward Green)
Ultramarine Blue (Blue that leans toward Violet)
Anthraquninone Red (Red that leans toward Violet)
Quinacridone Scarlet (Red that leans toward Orange)

Secondary Colors
Phthalo Green
Dioxazine Violet
Orange

Earth tones
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna

Some of those new color names that I've added to my palette are a mouthful.

I've used Cobra and Lukas Berlin yellows, and now I buy the darker yellows and add Titanium White, which makes the yellows lighter and more opaque.

Crystal1 wrote:

I've used Cobra and Lukas Berlin yellows, and now I buy the darker yellows and add Titanium White, which makes the yellows lighter and more opaque.

OOoh, could you tell me the names of the yellows you use and like.....and since you use Tit white, i'm guessing the yellows aren't opaque....

Thanks for responding, Crystal. : )

I have Cobra permanent lemon yellow and I agree with you, the pigment load is too low and it is very transparent, but then again I prefer to have 1 transparent yellow anyway. I also have Lukas Berlin Cadmium Yellow Light (hue). The LB Cad Yellow Light is closer to a Cad Yellow Medium, so I usually just add the Titanium White to it and it seems to cover very well compared to the Cobra Permanent Lemon Yellow. I also bought Lukas Berlin Naples Yellow, in case the Cad Yellow Light was not opaque enough, but so far I haven't needed to use it. Unfortunately I have only been working on two paintings since I got them, since I have a broken hip, but I have been surprised at how well I'm starting to like the Lukas Berlin brand. I have a friend that has been painting with me, using my oils...We both don't like the Winsor Newton's and I'll probably sell them. The Cobras and Lukas Berlins are both nice, but like she said "Why do we have to spend all this time adding medium?". The Lukas Berlins, especially, are very fluid out of the tube and no need to add medium.

Joanie at the time that I posted my palette that was the one I was using. I'm still working on it and haven't found the yellow that leans toward green that I like. I find lemon yellow a very weak color and will probably end up going with the Cadmium Yellow Light. Toxic yes but I'm finding trying to go with a completely non-toxic palette difficult. I miss some of the colors that I find work so well. Alizarin Crimson is not toxic but its permanence is not great but I miss that color and might go back to it for my red that leans toward violet. I did add several of the Cobalt colors on my last shopping spree for Holbein paints. I'll also be trying out the cobras and if I like them I might need to reassess everything.

Hi Ladies, Thanks so much for sharing your palette information with me.

I'm with you, Janet, for the time being I can't live without a Cad Yellow.....there's just nothing that compares.

Thanks for your info Chrystal...I've never seen the Lukas in any art store locally, but have seen them online. The idea of buying a darker yellow and lightening up with Titanium is a great idea. Hope your hip is healing quickly!

The reds are good, Grumb Red is a fine alternative to the Cad reds. There are permanent alizarins, and actually i really like Thalo Red Rose (Grum) and even Perm Rose (Artisan).

As for mediums, well, I never used traditional oils which i hear are creamier and can easily be painted sans mediums, but i do find that almost all my ws oils require mediums. I cannot stand the drag I often experience....that said, the walnut alkyd medium (m graham) and/or the dorland's wax are fantastic, and when i double up on them, the buttercream consistency is amazing, AND extra bonus, the paint is dry the following day. Now if only I could figure out a way to put those two together.....i've never experimented with mixing mediums. This oil painting is still so new to me.

Also, a bit off topic perhaps, but i see that the Cadmiums used by Maimeri Classico (trad oils) are NONtoxic. A rep from DickBlick wrote me and said yes, it's true. So now I'm wondering if maybe i get a tube of their Cad Yellow Lite, that could keep me with ws oils (95%) and 100% toxic free pigments.

Blessings,
Joanie

joanieART wrote:

...Also, a bit off topic perhaps, but i see that the Cadmiums used by Maimeri Classico (trad oils) are NONtoxic. A rep from DickBlick wrote me and said yes, it's true. So now I'm wondering if maybe i get a tube of their Cad Yellow Lite, that could keep me with ws oils (95%) and 100% toxic free pigments...

Cadmium is cadmium. There's no way to make it less hazardous. If you look at Blick's "pigment info" tab for Classico Cadmium Red:
"Toxicity
Cadmium Red is a known human carcinogen. It is extremely toxic if inhaled and slightly toxic if ingested."

http://www.dickblick.com/items/01558-3203/#colorpigments

Hi David, et. al, I'm no scientist, so i wouldn't know....but here is the response from DickBlick.com regarding cadmium....
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Joanie.

The issue of toxicity in oil paints has evolved over time. Contemporary methods of manufacturing paints have enabled the production of cadmium pigments that cannot be absorbed into the human body. As long as, when tested, the amount of "bio-available" cadmium falls below a certain threshold, the CL label is not required. Some manufacturers get their pigments from sources that don't use these updated production methods, which results in the cadmium being absorbable into the body, thus requiring the CL label.

So basically, it is easily possible for Maimeri Classico Oils, or other brands, to produce cadmiums and cobalt (generally with the exception of cobalt violet) that require no warning labels and would be considered harmless if you ingest them. The warning labels on the Grumbacher Max reflect a different toxicity regulation known as Proposition 65. According to this regulation, and paints sold in the state of California must bear a warning labels if they contain any amount of a hazardous component, regardless of whether it cannot be absorbed into the body as described above. In order to prevent potential lawsuits under Proposition 65, Grumbacher has gone overboard in their labeling, primarily due to the fact that zinc and titanium, while harmless in themselves, frequently contains traces of lead as impurities. As recently as a year ago, these paints did not have hazardous notations, and their formulas have not changed.

Please include this email with any response.

Sincerely,
Andrea Hicks
Product Information Specialist
Blick Art Materials

another thing i noticed on the dickblick.com site is the pigment information looks very generic to me across brands. Thus a cadmium yellow would have the same "cadmium" pigment info, regardless of whether the CL or 65 warning were applied.

so my sense is that the pigment info is NOT from the actual manufacturer.

just a guess.

Thank you for sharing this site...
Its very good to share these informative stuff with all of us..