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Basic Colors for Acrylic and Oil Painting

by Ryan Lewis

Creating a palette of color is an exciting exercise for both the new and experienced artist. While we could create almost any color from the primary Red, Blue and Yellow, I’ve never heard of an artist who hasn’t at least tried some of the hundreds of pre-made colors available. If for no other reason, you can use a lot less paint if you just need to squeeze the color directly from the tube.

Choosing the colors is a totally different matter. This starter color set is designed for the everyday, landscape, seascape, portrait or still life type of painter. Abstract artists may want an entire canvas of bright or darker colors. The best way is to experiment and see what colors fit your personal artistic style.

Primary Colors:

Red: Alizarin is a cool red with a bluish tint. It can be used to glaze or mixed with more opaque mediums to bring out details in your artwork. Cadmium Medium is best used to really show off your reds. It can be mixed with Titanium white or darkened with a bit of Mars Black to change the shade. One last great red is Red Oxide. If you haven’t used it before, buy a small tube and let loose. This will really add to your palette.

Blue: Both Phthalo (Thalo) and Prussian blue are great mixing colors. Adding a little Burnt Sienna or Titanium white can draw out and excellent range of light and dark shades. If you want a softer tone, try adding blue to a small amount of pale violet.

Yellow: Cadmium Yellow Medium is a very versatile color that can brighten almost any picture. This one is best mixed with purple (see below) rather than straight Mars or Ivory black for a darker yellow, not olive, appearance. Lightening this color is as easy as adding a little Titanium white to the mixture.

Secondary Colors:

Purple: Dioxazine Purple is useful for both mixing with other colors such as Cadmium Yellow and to create a soft violet color. This is a very dark purple so make sure to have a lot of white on hand to get the right shade.

Orange: Cadmium Orange is simply a mixture of Cadmium Yellow and Red, but it is a useful color to have if you are constantly trying to mix it yourself.

Brown: Burnt Sienna can be used to bring out many other colors such as Phthalo Blue but can also be lightened and used on its own. Burnt Sienna is a great color for creating a nice earthy feel in your paintings.

Green: The three greens I suggest are Phthalo Green, Hooker’s Green and Viridian. These colors can be used to create as wide a range of greens as you can imagine. Hooker’s Green is a very cool, opaque color that can really be brightened with a touch of either Titanium white or Cadmium Yellow. Both Phthalo and Viridian green, when mixed with white have an almost glowing light to them.

Must haves:

Black: Mars Black is the tough color on the block. Use this in very small quantities unless you’ve worked with it before. It doesn’t take a lot of this color to darken your reds, blues and greens.

White: Titanium white is the ultimate mixing and brightening paint. It is an opaque paint that mixes very well with almost any color available. Use it as a base then mix your darker colors to the desired hue. Suggestion: buy the large tubes to cut down on costs.

There are a lot of additional colors that can really add to your colour palette. It really comes down to personal choice and subject. If you’re well known for your paintings of a blue man standing next to a blue wall on a blue day, you may not have a lot of use for orange or red. If you can afford to experiment, try buying a new colour each month and try it out. Make notes about the ones you love (and hate) and over time you will have created a professional palette of great colors.

About The Author: Ryan Lewis, Artist and BComm graduate, is a member of ArtistLane and currently shows his artwork at the Gust Gallery in Waterton Lakes National Park. Ryan Lewis writes articles for ArtistLane pertaining to the business aspect of being an artist. You can view his work on this site or at his personal website RyanLewis.ca.
To contact Ryan Lewis, send a message via e-mail to Lewis@ArtistLane.com.