Hey there! I hope you're having a lovely weekend wherever you are!

I just wanted to let you know that I published a new Oil Painting for Beginners course. We are now delving into the world of color!

New Course: Master Color with a Limited Palette

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For most painters - no matter their medium - color is why we do what we do. Color is what compels us to move beyond graphite, charcoal, black ink, and other monochromatic artistic mediums. And while color is what attracts us to painting, it's also the thing we struggle with most.

In this course, we'll explore the properties of color through the use of a very limited palette - meaning one red, one yellow, one blue, white, and (sometimes) an earth tone. I encourage you to use any "red," "yellow," (and so on) that you want. There is no need to use the specific colors I do my demonstrations with. The goal of this course is to help you unlock the potential of YOUR limited palette of choice. I'll be using the set of M.Graham paints I featured in the Materials course (minus the green and plus a raw umber). I'll also demonstrate a couple of other limited palettes for comparison.

The topics we'll cover include:

Basic Color Theory
The Munsell Color System
Properties of Color demonstrated with a color wheel I designed in accordance with the Munsell Color System
Exploring different ways to adjust value and chroma
"Greys" and "Browns"
Neutralizing (reducing chroma) while creating color harmony and avoiding "mud"
Mixing skin tones
Color Psychology
How to design and mix a color scheme
Various techniques for mixing color
Direct mixing vs Optical mixing
How to take "Color Notes" from nature quickly
How to begin understanding the intriguing color relationships created by the Masters

Below are a few project samples and also a little more about how and why I created this course!

There are quite a few projects in this course. I encourage you to take your time! I designed some projects to be more laid-back and others to be a bit of a challenge. I really hope to see your projects!

Munsell System Color Wheel

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Exploring "Greys" and "Browns"

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Using vibrant colors to create earth tones

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How to mix all skin tones

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Mixing Color Directly vs. Optically

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Mixing with "Color Strings"

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A Simplified Method for Understanding Masterful Color Relationships (Master Color Study)

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Is this a color theory class?

I wanted to explore the basic concepts of color theory through the use of actual paint. There are lots of great color theory courses out there, but many of them rely heavily on graphics that depict color in an RGB format. Using digital graphics is great for efficiency, but I think there is something that gets lost in translation between digital graphics and actual pigment. So I opted to focus more on the exploration of a limited palette and mixing than on getting deep into color theory. I do go into explaining why many painters choose to refer to the Munsell Color System rather than the typical color systems we are often taught in school.

There are lots of great color theory courses here on Skillshare that I encourage you to explore! My course is more practical than theoretical, and you don't need a deep understanding of color theory to take this course.

Why I encourage a very limited palette:

When I started teaching painting classes locally, my students wanted me to give them a list of colors they would need to bring. So I did the thing you do - I provided a list of a "warm" and "cool" version of each primary color plus an umber and a titanium white. I felt like this was pretty restrained, especially in comparison to the list of colors I was told to buy for the Intro to Painting class I had in college. But when my students showed up for the first day, they had all the colors from my list AND storage tubs full of paint tubes. I learned that many students had taken other classes and workshops in which they were given lists of colors to buy. Each list a little different from the others. The result was that each student had amassed enough paint to hold them over for years of diligent daily painting. And with so many options - even the somewhat limited array of colors I had recommended - I noticed that students were experiencing decision paralysis. Which yellow should I mix with which blue to get the precise green I see in this photo? In addition to decision paralysis, this is unnecessarily expensive and doesn't help the student to understand color.

And so I encourage students to use a limited palette containing just one red, one yellow, one blue, white, and (sometimes) an earth tone so that you can gain a deep understanding of the properties of your chosen palette. You may find that you have a very powerful red and a comparatively weaker blue. You may find that your palette creates very vibrant greens but not a very vibrant violet. And while these might seem like undesirable features of a limited palette -- you will also learn that you can create a color composition that makes your muted violet *feel* vibrant. Getting to know a few colors intimately will take you much further than struggling through haphazard combinations of several colors you don't fully understand. And believe me, you will achieve an immense range of color with a limited palette.

Rachael Broadwell

Fine Arts Teacher

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