Limited palette

By Adriana Guidi in Art Tutorials > Painting Tutorials When you’re first taught to paint with a limited palette, you’re usually given three primary colors—red, yellow and blue. Limiting yourself to just a few colors teaches you how to mix colors correctly, see value and temperature, and encourages thought and planning in your color choices. Today we’ll discuss a different limited palette, one that was made famous by Swedish painter Anders Leonard Zorn, which is often known as the Zorn…

Every Sunday I’ve been sharing some thoughts about color, and today I want to touch on limited palettes. When we were in grade school we all...

Guest writer and artist, Julie Petro, shares with us her tips to mastering a limited palette using color scales. Limited palettes are a great way to learn and practice many fundamental aspects of painting. Yellow ochre, cadmium red, ivory black and white are known as the Zorn Palette and were used by the Swedish artist Anders Zorn when he first began to paint in oils. I painted this portrait called Maria’s Heart using only these four colors. It shows the rich flesh tones possible with this…

Maria's Heart was painted using the Zorn Palette and shows the rich flesh tones possible with this limited palette. Available from RS H...

Last week I showed you how effective it can be to limit the colors on your palette for a sketch. I find it can be a good method to get better at mixing, and to really get to know your paints (or some…

Master artist Michael Lynn Adams steps you through a simple exercise where you'll learn the amazing versatility of the Zorn limited palette.

The Zorn palette refers to a palette of colors attributed to the great Swedish artist Anders Zorn (18 February 1860 - 22 August 1920). It consists of just 4 colors yellow ochre, ivory black, vermilion, and titanium white. Cadmium red light is commonly used in place of vermilion by modern-day artists. Whilst this may seem like

Learn all about the Zorn palette: It's history, applications and the famous artworks of Anders Zorn that showcase its use.

The Power of Limited Color Groups in Landscape Painting

By Adriana Guidi in Art Tutorials > Painting Tutorials When you’re first taught to paint with a limited palette, you’re usually given three primary colors—red, yellow and blue. Limiting yourself to just a few colors teaches you how to mix colors correctly, see value and temperature, and encourages thought and planning in your color choices. Today we’ll discuss a different limited palette, one that was made famous by Swedish painter Anders Leonard Zorn, which is often known as the Zorn…