Eliza Anderson's Color Journal

Mixing Color Strings Color string: group of prepared blobs of a given hue mixed in a set of steps from light to dark saves time when painting observationally Free mixing where you use the brush to mix each new stroke from the tube colors Premixing batches of colors prepared in advance Colors should be carefully mixed from observation Advantages: uses less palette surface you can premix generous batches with a palette knife rather than a brush saves time The Reilly Method mix several color strings and use 10 tonal steps for each hue (10 value steps are more than you really need for most paintings) 4 or 5 is a good place to start Gamut Mapping Gamut Mapping the entire group of possible colors for a given painting shown as a polygon superimposed over the color wheel good color comes not just from what you include in a composition, but what you leave out of it Subjective primaries the cleanest mixtures between any two of the starting colors...

Warm Underpainting Instead of painting on a white canvas, pre-tone the surface before painting in opaque media initial color is called the underpainting or imprimatura Color recommendations; Venetian red/burnt sienna An insistent warm underpainting will force you to cover the background with opaques, requiring you to make mixing decisions For plein air painting, prime the canvas with oil priming paint layers tend to float on the surface rather than sink in Tips: mix up a tint using a palette knife on a scrap of palette paper Warm Underpainting Sky Panels A surface prepared with sky gradation as a base layer for future painting painters would typically paint the sky first, let it dry, then paint the other elements over dry passages Alla prima; completing the entire painting in one session good for painterly handling difficult for intricate details sky panels are useful when the main interest is in the middle ground tracery (signs, trees. clouds) Oiling...