11 COLORS I LIKE TO USE AND WHY

by Gabor Svagrik
Over the years my palette
has changed some what.
There was a time when I
used Raw Umber. I was told
by a really good artist friend
that you can mix a much
nicer Raw Umber then
buying it from the tube. I
took his recommendation
and he was right. Ever since
then I have eliminated it
from my palette.
What works for me might
not work for you. I am not
here to tell you what colors
to use, but explain why I use
these certain colors on my
palette.
I believe this list will help you to
explore different color combinations:
Titanium White
Ultramarine Blue
Cerulean Blue HUE
Ivory Black
Raw Sienna
Yellow Ochre
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Cadmium Red
Aliz Crimson
Burnt Sienna
Titanium White has a good
consistency and it is bright. It is the
most opaque of all whites. A lot
more opaque then lead white. I do
not like runny or too thick of paint
and this white has been very
consistent with most manufacturers.

Ultramarine Blue is a go to color for

most painters. It is the darkest value
amongst my colors. A good unifier
and will gray mixtures down. Now
this is an artificial color, but it used
to be a natural version over a
hundred years ago. Though I think in
watercolors they may still sell the
natural version. It is made from the
mineral lazurite.
Cerulean Blue hue is a
wonderful strong color. The
hue version is a lot more
vibrant than the non-hue or
pure version. It is also less
expensive. I use it to get
more vibrant skies, or mix it
straight into my yellow. This
achieves a punchier green.
The hue version is actually a
human-made color hence its
intensity.
Ivory Black is something I have
been wrestling with, but it turns
out I use it more and more. I
really like it. I use it when I mix
my greens. It produces a beautiful
warm green as opposed to a cool
green when you include yellow
into it. When I mix Ultramarine
Blue into Yellow it will produce a
cool green. Not to say, I could
not warm this green up, but by
using Ivory Black and Yellow I do
not need to warm it. The only
danger with black is if you start
mixing it into ALL of you colors
it can dull them down too much.
Be careful of this pitfall.
Raw Sienna and Yellow Ochre are
my modifiers. I can mix them into
most colors and they do a good
job dulling things down.Yes, I
could mix these colors but since I
use them a lot I want them to be
premixed for me on my palette. I
had many artists ask: “Why use
them if I can mix them?” If I can
get to the same end result with
less mixing, then I will do it.
Cad Yellow Lemon is the brightest
yellow that I found out there. Its
chroma is very intense. Remember
you can always take the chroma
down, but not up. Also, it does not
lean into red or green at all.
Cad Orange is very intense. I can
get very close mixing red & yellow
together to get this color, but it
always falls short a bit. I use it
where I need that extra chroma,
and cannot mix it from my
primaries.

Cadmium Red is one of my mother

colors, and it is very flexible. I could
bring along this color plus
Ultramarine Blue, Cad Lemon
Yellow, and Titanium White and be
fine to paint anywhere in the world.
I eliminated it for a year and used
Alizarin Crimson instead, but the
Alizarin lacked the high intense
chroma that Cad Red has.
Alizarin Crimson can become a
great color when mixed with
Ultramarine Blue. It will give you a
beautiful purple. Great for distant
mountains or hills. If you put a
touch of Raw Sienna into this
mixture the intensity will be
reduced to give you the feeling of
distance. A little will go a long way,
so be careful.

I removed Burnt Sienna for years

from my palette. But... it is officially
back for me. When I need a
stronger more intense Raw Sienna
it is a good color to use. Also, I can
mix it into Cad Red to get a rusty
color.
Please take all my color mixing
suggestions with a grain of salt.
Each of you will find the colors
that will work best for you,
and what you are trying to
express in your paintings. This
is why one color palette will
not work for all. Make sure to
experiment, but also make
sure you understand the
mother colors (primary
colors) first before moving on.
If you enjoyed this guide you may thoroughly enjoy my instructional videos. Each
video covers a different painting from start-to-finish. You will have a deeper
insight into my color mixing and how I use these colors in my actual paintings.