How to Paint a Watercolour with a Limited Palette
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- Following on from the last video of our trip arriving on Skye, here I paint from the sketch I made showing you how to do a watercolour painting with a limited palette of only 3 colours.
The paper is Fabriano Artistico size 18" x 12"
Here is the video of me finding the spot and doing a sketch
• Getting the Most Out o...
Here is the video of my usual watercolour plein air equipment
• My Watercolour Brushes...
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I use Winsor and Newton artists quality watercolour paints.The colours are (L-R)
Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Ultra Marine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, Veridian, Hooker's Green, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Cobalt Violet, White, Ivory Black
Winsor and Newton Artists Quality Paints 14ml Tubes
Raw Umber amzn.to/3RbTsOp
Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber amzn.to/4a80GeP
Ultra Marine Blue
Cobalt Blue amzn.to/47IwSEh
Cerulean Blue amzn.to/3RuYS8A
Cadmium Yellow Pale amzn.to/41d0IxW
Yellow Ochre amzn.to/4a22mqx
Raw Sienna amzn.to/47Z5Bh3
Cadmium Red amzn.to/4a5Gn1P
Viridean
Hooker's Green
Alizarin Crimson amzn.to/46Ny2x1
Cobalt Violet amzn.to/3Tkbfp8
Chinese White amzn.to/485cBZi
Mars Black amzn.to/4a81mAT
Prints of all my paintings done on my channel are available from my website
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Brilliant, thank you James. I love how it all comes together at the end with the darks and the white 😁
The last bits are my favourite part of painting. It’s suddenly emerges from the chaos.
That's so lovely, James. Amazing what you can achieve with such limited colours. Going to give this a go.
Glad you enjoyed that and that you’re going to give it a go. It’s a really good experiment and it does make you realise that colour isn’t everything.
Have fun.
Best wishes, James
My pleasure 😊
Glad you enjoyed it!
This video comes at the right time as I’m now learning about limited palette. This video really pushes on the basic of landscape painting; using value to represent distance, especially with just limited colors! It’s a beautiful painting, James. I really enjoy it, again.
Hi Anermila ,
I’m happy that I timed the video well for you. Trying to get the most out of the minimum is one of my favourite goals.
I hope your painting is going well.
Best wishes, James
Love this!! Cant’s wait to try one of my own. Taking your advice, I will simplify mine to my level. 😊
Hi Lori,
I’m so pleased you’re going to have a go at this. It’s such a good exercise. Learning to get rid of the clutter and simplify Will pay dividends in the end.
Let me know how it went.
Best wishes, James
You have an amazing control of this limited palette, it’s not always easy. And the result is so beautiful 😊
Hi Emilie,
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed the painting. It’s a good way of simplifying things so that you can concentrate on the painting rather than the mixing.
Best wishes, James
I really appreciate your commentary as you place every brush stroke, every mark is something that you’re seeing. This will be helpful when I go out and paint! I also liked seeing how you’re using the different brushes. Great video, thank you!
Hi Jenny,
Glad that you enjoyed the video and got something from it.
I’m so pleased that you’re going to go out to paint. It’s an amazing thing to do, and the more you do it the more natural it becomes.
Let me know how it goes,
Best wishes, James
Raphael 8404 are really nice but I like way more the 8408 series, especialy the No2 and No6 8408!! My next favorites are Da Vinci Maestro 35 No6 and Rembrandt Series 100 Pure Kolinsky No8. BEST brushes I've ever used! I also LOVE the Raphael 803 No4 and N 2/0 Squirell!!!!
Raphael brushes are really good. Mine have lasted me many years, which is a good sign of their quality.
If only they were not so expensive !
Thanks for watching,
Best wishes, James
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Hi Toni
Many thanks for your hearts
A brilliant video and a wonderful end result to the painting. Such a wide range of shades created from just three colours. Your videos are so inspiring and I love your impressionistic style. The added bonus is the scintillating scenery we see on your travels.
Hi William,
Glad you enjoyed the painting. It’s great to change things up a bit, it makes you think in a different way.
Glad you’re enjoying my video so much and also seeing the beautiful Scottish scenery.
Best wishes, James
Fascinating.Challenging.another wonderful tour of Scotland painting. You sure know your colours and how to “work” them. Thank you James.
Hi, Noel,
Glad you enjoyed the limited Palette.
I have seen some amazing paintings with almost no colour, so as well worth giving it a go.
Best wishes, James
Thanks for taking time to make and share your latest video. Again learnt so much, in fact as a result I am taking my sketch pad on holiday to Mallorca tomorrow.
Trust you are both well.
Cheers
Steve
Hi Steve,
I wish I was going to Mallorca at the moment. We had a few nice days and now back to normal cloud.
Enjoy your holiday and I look forward to hearing how your sketches went.
Best wishes, James.
As always, so enjoyable to watch as the painting progresses. I love the way this one came out.
Hi Mary,
Glad you enjoyed it. Weather is getting better now, so hopefully lots more paintings to come in the summer.
Best wishes, James
All the final touches made it come alive. Got to remember that when I'm next painting which will be plein air, as the weather is finally warming up. Still messing about with digital painting at the moment.
Hi Gary,
As you noticed the last touches is what I think makes a painting, working everywhere to try and unify and enhance the scene.
Let me know how your outdoor painting goes.
Best wishes, James
What a gorgeous colour palette, especially for painting Scottish landscape! Love everything about it! I once painted a painting of lake Chiemsee in Bavaria by only using two colours, burnt Siena and cobalt blue deep and it worked so well. Burnt Siena and cobalt blue deep together make the most beautiful shades of brown. I will certainly give these three colours you used a try for more paintings.💕💕💕
Hi Pippi
Glad you enjoyed the limited Palette. Scotland is amazing.
I’ll give the burnt sienna and cobalt blue ago. It’s always interesting trying new things.
Best wishes, James
Really like it!!
Hi Darcy,
Glad you enjoyed the painting. Hopefully you can give a Limited Palette a try.
Best wishes, James
That's a great painting the limited pallet really suits it
I like the warmth in the sky on the left hand side. The marks all came together. It has real depth too
Thank you
Hi Alison,
Glad you like the painting, painting with a limited Palette does make you think differently, and I enjoy the simplicity of it.
Thanks for watching,
Best wishes, James
Love this painting! A real masterpiece! Beautiful perspective. Scotland has a wonderfully interesting landscape. Thank you.
Hi Kathy,
Glad you like the painting so much, it’s always fun painting with only a few colours.
Scotland is an amazing place to paint all weathers.
Best wishes, James
You have made a beautiful painting with your limited palette! Inspiring as always. Thank You!
Hi Carol,
Glad you like the painting and enjoy the limited Palette.
I hope you can manage to have a go with it. I enjoyed the simplified approach.
Best wishes, James.
Interesting pallet, the scenery certainly lends itself to limited colours. The combination works very well to give an attractive impressionistic painting. I like the way you’ve retained the light on a dull day, something I’m trying to achieve - thank you.
Hi Robert,
Glad you enjoyed the painting. You have picked what I was trying to do mostly which is too give the painting a bit of light. It would’ve been very easy for the painting to become very dull.
Best wishes, James.
My all time favorite limited palette. Well done!
Hi Theresa,
Glad you enjoyed the painting and thank you for the compliment.
I hope your painting is going well.
Best wishes, James
Wonderful and atmospheric painting; limited palette is the best. You have used it in a very astute manner. Thank you!
Hi Jane,
Glad you enjoyed the painting. It was a wonderful spot.
It’s always interesting painting with only a few colours. It’s simplifies the process and makes you think in a different way.
Hope your painting is going well.
Best wishes, James
Thanks James. Beautiful painting and a great lesson! I think learning how to paint with a limited pallet is so important. Thanks for sharing this with us!
Hi Joanne,
Glad you enjoyed the painting. It’s great to simplify the painting process with a limited pallet.
Hope your painting is going well. Best wishes, James.
Love this painting James. My favourite part is the distant area in the centre.
Hi Stella,
Glad you like the painting. I agree with you the area has a feeling of light coming from it, which I thought was important to keep the painting alive.
Thanks for watching,
Best wishes, James
Thank you very much James. An informative video and a good reminder that using a limited range of colours makes the final image more natural; it hangs together better than using too many colours. All the best to you, Dudley 😊
Hi Dudley,
Glad you enjoyed the video.
I have seen some amazing paintings with the limited Palette. I find it so interesting to see how good a painting can be with it.
Hope you can give us a go.
Best wishes, James
Brilliant touches with only 3 colours 👍 very nice
Glad you enjoyed it. I hope you can give it a go.
Thanks for watching,
Best wishes, James
Outstanding impressionistic take on the scene. I struggle with interpretation of a subject, and try to observe very closely and get too consumed with detail. Art is generally a series of decision making. As the late watercolorist (with whom I took a few workshops) Diane Maxey stated, "You paint with your brain". Also, Hazel Soan's book "The Art of the Limited Palette" discusses the limited palette in detail. I was fortunate enough purchase one last year, as it is now OOP. There is a full length interview with demos on YT about this principle with her. Lastly, do you use your photo as a value sketch? One hears so often to do a value sketch, but I must admit I abhor doing them and get too tied up in minutiae attempting to do so.
Hi Joy,
Glad you enjoyed the painting.
I’m very fond of the idea of simplifying things, I try to get the maximum out of the minimum.
Detail is a real problem as Watercolour does not like to be pushed around that much and painting with detail stops a clean wash.
The beauty of a clean wash to me is satisfaction enough.
I don’t do any value studies. When I’m in the studio, I just try and interpret the photograph, which is not an easy thing. It’s much easier painting outdoors.
Hope this helps, and I’ll have a look at your UA-cam suggestions.
Best wishes, James
@@JamesPotterAboutArt Thanks ever so much for the speedy, gracious reply.
After seeing the poor weather you filmed the sketch in I think you really captured the mood of the day in your painting, the limited pallet definately worked to your advantage on this one. Also what I think is really difficult is controlling the wet in wet passages so they do not merge with adjacent washes to much, eg where you suggested the distant mountains in the clouds on the horizon. Yep I really liked this one.
Hi Martyn,
It really was poor weather, we were a bit unlucky on our trip but you have to make the most of things. The limited Palette really worked with this painting. I was having a bit of drying time problems sometimes applying the paint a little bit too soon. I did enjoy the mountains I felt it did create that softness of the clouds covering them.
Hope your painting is going well,
Best wishes, James
Rather successful! Love the limited tonal range.
Hi Shaun,
Glad you enjoyed it. there’s
Something very relaxing about only having a few colours to paint with.
Best wishes, James.
A great topic for teaching and you certainly got the most out of those few colors.
Hi Linda,
Painting with a limited Palette is a really interesting challenge. Taking away choice, does simplify the painting process which does change how youview the painting.
Hope you can give it a go.
Best wishes, James
Brilliant! I like the limited palette. I also like how you mix colours. Do you have a video specifically about colour mixing and changing colour every time you go back to the palette? I would love to learn this style. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
James made a video on it, he showed, that he doesn’t mix two colours completely on the palette, but rather mixes both paints separately with water and then grabs some of both colours with the brush, so that the colours more or less mix on the paper. I think it’s called "most important lesson for learning watercolour mixing and painting".
@@pippikrumeluss5167 found it. Thank you🙏🏽🙂
Hi Sue,
Glad you liked the limited Palette and the colour mixing.
Hopefully you enjoyed my previous mixing video.
I look forward to hearing how your experiments go.
Best wishes, James
@@pippikrumeluss5167
Thanks for that, Pippi 😊
Beautiful painting, please tell us what paper you are using, rough surface or smooth and the colours,it will be helpful to follow your advice, thanks a lot for demonstration 👌🙏
Hi Debjani,
Glad you enjoyed the painting.
I use a NOT paper, so in between rough and smooth.
I have a video on my set up and paper which I did about seven months ago. Also, one of my Palette and colours.
Have a look for that I hope you enjoy it.
Best wishes, James
Excellent job, I really like it. Nice dog portrait as well I like the sky in that one.
Glad you like the painting. The dog Portrait is something I did a couple of years ago as an experiment.
I enjoyed trying to set it in a big landscape.
Best wishes, James
You created an incredible range of tones with only 3 colours! As always, I really enjoyed this video. Am I right in thinking that you do not ever wet your paper while painting, instead, relying on the fluidity of your palette mixes?
Hi, glad you enjoyed the painting, it’s fun simplifying the whole process with only a few colours.
I don’t wet the paper apart from just my washes. My main focus is getting the right value.
Hope this helps,
Best wishes, James
Is the resistance when you were laying down the water caused by the unique roughness in your paper or the lightness of your stroke or both?
Hi Cat,
The resistance is mainly caused by the paper.
I mainly use Fabriano paper which is quite a soft paper really, however I’ve just bought some Winsor and Newton paper which is much harder so less good for the washes but it will be an interesting experiment.
Hope that helps,
Best wishes, James