As you can see, this palette consists of four strings of color with 9 values plus black and white. The rows of paint daubs consist of:
1. Neutral greys, made with Raw Umber and black with white.
2. Yellows, made with Yellow Ochre and Raw Umber plus black and white.
3. Oranges, made with Terra Rosa, white and black;
4. Pinks, made with Indian Red, white and black.
Make sure when you mix any of these colors together you stay within the same value.
Mixing the palette is rather time consuming and tedious, but it allows for efficient painting and is good practice for anyone struggling with values, the foundation of all realist art.
These colors allow for natural and realistic skin tones. The grey is used to lower the chroma.
10 comments:
Hi Laurel, I just found your blog. Thanks for posting the Reilly palette. I have seen it (or rather, read about it) using burnt umber instead of raw umber, so it was a treat to see your version. Thanks for your informative posts. Karen
Hi Karen,
Marvin Mattelson, an instructor at The School of Visual Arts in New York City is the person who first introduced me to this method - he uses Winsor & Newton raw umber. He was taught the method by John Murray, who had studied with Reilly at The Art Students League. Marvin does not like Cadmiums as he feels the chroma is too hard to control, especially for students without a lot of experience, so he uses the earth pigments instead.
Thanks very much for commenting!
Hey Laurel,
I sometimes mix my palette with cadmiums, and at other times I go for earth colors. The most important thing,for me, is the gray string, as it serves as my main "control". I lay them out the same way you do, light to dark, from left to right.
Hi Laurel. I just came upon this post. The palette you are showing is the "Mattelson Palette" which was created by me. In short it combines the way Reilly arranged his colors (in value steps) with the specific colors used by William McGregor Paxton. The Reilly Palette uses Cadmiums for the flesh mixtures. I feel that earth colors are more appropriate for creating subtle effects in the coloration of the skin tones.
Hi Marvin,
I hope you are well.
Please read the comments on this post. You will see that I did credit you, mention your instructor, where your palette differs (no cadmiums) and why. You are also mentioned in both of the two previous posts.
How is your book coming along? I am looking forward to reading it!
All the best,
Laurel
Hi Laurel,
I wasn't too worried about credit; I just wanted to make sure that anyone interested in using the authentic Reilly Palette wasn't misdirected. I like your blog.
The book is where it was when we last spoke. I have been extremely busy between my teaching and commissions. I'm actually taking a one year sabbatical from teaching in order get my portraits completed starting this May.
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
Love this blog! Glad to see Marvin lifted up here. I appreciate his work more than Graydon Parrish or Richard Murdock. He makes it so achievable, without having to invest in Munsell chips and syringes. To each our own, I know, but he is awesome and such a sense of humor, I have been told. I hope to attend a seminar of his at some point. Thanks for posting this. I put a link to it up on Wetcanvas to explain a pre-mixed pallette!
Hi Annette,
Thanks for visiting and for the link to WetCanvas!
You have really great taste on catch article titles, even when you are not interested in this topic you push to read it
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