• PAINTS: The type and brands of paints Jim uses
• PAINTING: The question of which colors to use
JIM'S STUDIO - Main features (L to R): a comfortable chair, a
kitchen cabinet "taboret", a Richeson Best Santa Fe III easel,
and an artist-designed wet canvas rack.
PAINTS - Going Green - While early work was in several different mediums, Jim is currently concentrating on oil painting, but using the more environmentally friendly water miscible (mixable or soluble) oils. These clean up with soap and water and avoid the use of solvents with their attendant environmental problems. Water miscible oils use the same kinds of pigments as regular oils. They employ modified linseed/safflower oils (which allows the paint to mix with water as well as turpinoid, etc.). Once the initial water content has evaporated, which occurs relatively quickly, they act as traditional oils. They can be mixed with traditional oils, but if the latter are used in other than small portions, the mix must be thinned/cleaned with traditional mediums/solvents. Five companies now produce water mixable oils. For more information about these oils and the range of colors available, click on any of the manufacturer's names below to jump to the appropriate points in their web sites.
Grumbacher MAX Oils
Holbein Duo Aqua Oils
Royal Talens Van Gogh H2Oils
Winsor & Newton Artisan Oils
Lukas Berlin Water Mixable Oils (auf Deutch) PAINTING - What colors should I use? This is a question that most beginning painters have asked and that some are still wrestling with. Many artists have developed strong feelings about what is an appropriate choice of colors to use for their paintings. Some change their palettes to match what they feel is necessary for the different places in the world where they paint. Here are four different sets of colors used by well established teaching artists. To Jim, the interesting thing about this is that the artists have all used their palettes to make paintings in the same area of Wyoming and these successfully reflect their surroundings. So it would seem that there is more than one "right" answer to the question.
Palette One: Palette Two:
Titanium White Titanium White
Alizarin Crimson Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Red Light Cadmium Red Light
Cadmium Orange Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Yellow Light Cadmium Yellow
Permanent Green Light Thalo Green
Chrome Oxide Green Ultramarine Blue
Viridian Yellow Ochre
Ultramarine Blue Burnt Sienna
Cobalt Blue
Yellow Ochre
Transparent Red Oxide
Burnt Sienna
Ivory Black
Palette Three: Palette Four:
White Titanium White
Cadmium Red Medium Alizarin crimson
Cadmium Red Light Cadmium Red Medium
Cadmium Yellow Medium Transparent Orange
Sap Green Cadmium Yellow
Viridian Ultramarine Blue
Ultramarine Blue Cobalt Blue
Cobalt Blue Cerulean Blue
Cerulean Blue Thalo Blue
Yellow Ochre Indigo
Raw Umber Yellow Ochre
Jim's color choices are still evolving, but here is what he uses as of mid-2008. Unless otherwise specified, colors are W&N Artisan brand:
Standard Colors: Limited Use:
Titanium white Vermillion (Duo Aqua)
Alizarin Crimson Raw Umber
Cadmium Red Medium Phthalo Green (YS) *
Cadmium Yellow Medium Phthalo Blue (RS) *
Lemon Yellow Burnt Sienna
Dioxazine Purple Ivory Black
French Ultramarine Blue Indigo (Duo Aqua)
Cobalt Blue
Cerulean Blue
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Umber
Paynes Gray
There are no tube greens in his standard palette; greens are mixed from the other colors.
* One can use phthalo blue, phthalo green and alizarin crimson to make interesting, very deep blacks. Where an especially vibrant black is needed over a large area, mix three batches of the three colors, with a different color slightly predominating in each batch. Randomly apply the batches to the area to be covered. Note: phthalo green and phthalo blue are extreme stainers (especially the latter).