LIMITED COLORPALETTE

Let’s explore how tonal value, color purity, and contrast effect the impactof the elements in our painting.

Lora S. IrishArtDesignsStudio.comLSIrish.com

LIMITED COLORPALETTE

What captures your attention first?1. The barn scene.

2. The path and background mountains.

3. The Christmas tree and fence lights.

It is the Christmas tree and fence lights thatcatch my eye. The barn scene becomes asecondary element which simply tells thestory of where that Christmas tree islocated.

The reason the tree is dominate is because Ihave used a limited color palette.

PLANNING YOUR PALETTE

Limiting your color palette does not necessary meanusing just a minimal number of colors, although thatis one method of creating a limited palette painting.

This painting used fifteen different colors butspecifically limits where each color can be used.

For this sample it means that I have carefully plannedin advance where I would use my colors and whattype of color - neutral, pure, or tonal value - I woulduse for each element.

I began by categorizing each element in the paintingas a neutral area, natural area, manmade area, treelights area, and the main feature of the design. Thisgives me five types of elements in the pattern.

ASSIGNING TONAL VALUE PALETTES

Neutrals are my blending and shading tones for mynatural and manmade elements. These are simplewhite, black, and mid-tone brown.

Naturals are my snow, sky, mountains, and trees. Forthis palette I chose mid-tone gray-scaled colors ofmedium blue-gray, medium purple-gray, and mediumgreen-gray. All three have the same muted mid-rangegray tone which unities them on the tonal value scale.

Manmade elements include the barns, the silos, andthe fence posts. To make these areas slightlydifferent from the natural tones I have added amedium red-gray to my colors. This color is onlyused in those manmade objects.

Tree light elements use a total new palette of onlyprimary and secondary pure colors that contain nowhite, gray, or black toning.

Highlights of pink and pale bright green are usedonly in the primary element of the main Christmastree to make it the dominant feature of the entiredesign.

GRAY SCALE V. PURE COLOR

Gray-scaled tonal value colors are used throughoutthis scene, with the exception of the tree light colorpalette.

The greatest contrast of those tones are found in thebarn roof overhangs where the pure white of the snowmeets the darkest black tone of the barn wall shadows.The strength of this black-white contrast is most oftenfound in the front elements of your mid-ground area.

As you come forward in a scene, into the foreground,more colors can be distinguished and therefore thereare less black-toned elements. A foreground treetrunk has shades of brown and gray where a mid-ground tree trunk tends to lose that coloring thereforegoing into the black-tones.

Background scene elements tend to be in the white-toned area of your colors. Distant trees, mountains,and the sky area of worked in the pale white-graytones.

Pure colors as primary and secondary hues have noadded white, gray, or black tone and therefore no realtonal value.

WHAT HAPPENS TO PURE COLORS WHENGRAY SCALED?

The finished painting has been gray-scald using agraphics program. The first thing that becomesapparent is that the dominant Christmas tree in thetrue color image has nearly disappeared in the grayscale image.

Those bright pure colors become mid-toned withonly as much visual impact to the design as thebackground mountains.

In the gray scaled painting what has becomedominant are the areas of greatest tonal valuecontrast - those areas where the blackest tones liesdirectly against the brightest white tone.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR OURPAINTING?

It means that color dominates tonal value, thatdramatic changes in tonal value dominate over mid-toned values, and that by choosing to limit our colorpalette we, the artist, decide which elements we wantto have the strongest impact in the final design.

I can push an area forward by using pure color huesor I can set the element firmly in the mid-groundrange by using dramatic tonal contrasts, or I can pushthe area into the far background by using closelyrelated mid-toned values.

HOW DO I GIVE EXTRA IMPACT?

Our original limited palette contains only two pasteltones - pink which is red plus white, and paleCaribbean green which is green plus white. Neitherof these colors contain gray or black.

Those two pastels, used only in the main Christmastree are enough color change to separate this treefrom the other lit pine tree and the fence line lights.

Home Sweet Home

Jewel-Toned Dark Value Palette

This Home Sweet Home hen uses a limitedpalette of only dark-toned valued colors -dark red-brown, dark green-blue, darkyellow, and dark brown. The dark tonedcolors are often called jewel tones.

As a folk art design the elements in thepattern are simple and a very limited colorpalette emphasizes that simplicity.

USING A LIMITED COLOR PALETTE IN OUR WOOD CRAFTS

Ceremonial Mask

Transparent Wash-Tone Palette

Only very water-thinned, pure color makethe limited palette for this Ceremonial Maskrelief carving.

By only using transparent coloring andcoloring without a gray-tone addition, thewood grain and antiquing remain dominant.

Mayan High Priest

Pastel and Mid-Tone Value Palette

For this coloration I chose to use only mid-toned valuecolors. All the colors used contain the addition of amiddle gray value. There are no black or whites.

Toucan Family

Pure Color Palette

Pure, bright, nearly neon colors decorate thissimple, low relief carving of the toucan family.While black s used, it is used as a pure color andnot as a toning additive.

Vintage Chip Carving

By using only muted tones that containbrown instead of gray, this chip carvingtakes on an aged effect.

The brown-toned colors imply age,handling, dirt build-up, and the deepeningof the wood’s patina.

Snow Day

My final example of limited palettecoloring for your wood crafts uses onlyprimary and secondary colors. Notertiary hues are used.

Since this is a wood burning this smallwall heart was painted using watercolorswhich allow all of the sepia burning toshow underneath the hue.

ABOUT THE ARTISTJoin Lora S. Irish, internationally known woodcarving, pyrography, and pattern book author,as she teaches the basic steps, techniques, and

practices to our favorite wood crafts.

Because of Lora Irish’s teaching style, this book isperfect for the brand new beginner that wants a

strong foundation in this craft and has many specific,advanced techniques for the long-time pyrographer

to bring their wood burning to a new level.

You can contact Lora S. Irish directly through her freeprojects blog at LSIrish.com and visit her line art

pattern website at ArtDesignsStudio.com.

Copyright, 1997 - 2020, by Lora S. Irish, 1997 - 2020

Limited Color Palette is an original work,first published in 2020 by Lora S. Irish andArt Designs Studio and fully copyrighted,All International Rights Reserved and may

not be distributed in any manner.The patterns contained herein are copyrighted

by the author. And meant for personal use only.