A limited palette

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

■ Work with just three primaries and white

■ How to make your own darks

■ Learn from the masters

Someone once said that ‘value does all the work and colour takes all the credit’ so become familiar with value first, or the light and dark relationship in paintings, without the added complication of colour.

You could begin with black and white or make your own dark. Making your own darks helps you to explore colour temperature as well as value. Using ultramarine and burnt umber gives a good dark and leaning the mix one way or the other affects the temperature; the blue being cool and the brown, warm.

These two colours can form the