Color swatches

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

These are two color combinations I have adopted this past month. I have a very small notebook which I jot down color combinations when I read or hear about what other artists are using. However, I am not sure where I came upon these, but they certainly are useful to draw upon in your palette.

The top one consists of cadmium red and permanent sap green. As you can see from the photograph it provides the artist with a warm yellow. It is well-known that some colors right out of the tube can be rather flat and unexciting. When this particular combination is mixed on my palette it appears so rich and full of life. This pigment combination is so new to me that I am still trying to figure how to best utilize it's qualities. Certainly, it can be useful in painting landscapes such as for fields or in the details of grass. Next to a dark blue such as a surface of a lake it may be stunning.

The lower swatch consists of cadmium red and veridian. It provides the watercolor artist with a warm gray. There are such a range of grays that can be made but this one seems to be a gem. A gray like this can make other more outgoing colors sparkle. Next to a red or dark green this gray is quite pleasing. When used in the foreground, for some reason, I like this gray best.