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Marvin Mattelson · 11-27-2002, 11:24 AM

Minh,

The palette you are using is an adaptation of the palette taught to the books author by the legendary teacher Frank Reilly. I studied with John Murray an ex Reilly student for 10 years. The palette is based on the Munsell color wheel, which has been scientifically proven to be the most accurate and is THE industry standard for color measurement. (note: yellow and purple are not compliments, yellow and blue-purple are)

The only difference is how the nine value steps between black and white are calculated.

Reilly used nine steps between black and white pigment as his basis, while Munsell used a theoretical black and white since he was categorizing color not limited to pigments.

The concept of the Reilly palette is to have the ability to mix the greatest range of colors using the least amount of pigments. However in some instances (ex. bright magenta) this isn't possible and you need to add other colors.

That said Rembrandt used a yellow, a red, black and white with not too shabby results. But we wouldn't call him a great colorist, would we?

I try to use the least number of pigments as possible without sacrificing my end result. Unity is more easily achieved with fewer colors. I only keep the appropriate amount of colors on my palette for the painting I am currently working on.

That being said, as a beginner you should definitely limit your colors and concentrate on form and modeling. Don't get hung up on color at this point (repeat after me: Rembrandt used four colors!) Color may be the most obvious aspect when viewing a painting but it's by far the least important. Sez me!!!

11-27-2002, 11:24 AM	#7
Marvin Mattelson SOG Member FT Professional '04 Merit Award PSA '04 Best Portfolio PSA '03 Honors Artists Magazine '01 Second Prize ASOPA Perm. Collection- Ntl. Portrait Gallery Perm. Collection- Met Leads Workshops Joined: May 2002 Location: Great Neck, NY Posts: 1,093	A horse of a different color Minh, The palette you are using is an adaptation of the palette taught to the books author by the legendary teacher Frank Reilly. I studied with John Murray an ex Reilly student for 10 years. The palette is based on the Munsell color wheel, which has been scientifically proven to be the most accurate and is THE industry standard for color measurement. (note: yellow and purple are not compliments, yellow and blue-purple are) The only difference is how the nine value steps between black and white are calculated. Reilly used nine steps between black and white pigment as his basis, while Munsell used a theoretical black and white since he was categorizing color not limited to pigments. The concept of the Reilly palette is to have the ability to mix the greatest range of colors using the least amount of pigments. However in some instances (ex. bright magenta) this isn't possible and you need to add other colors. That said Rembrandt used a yellow, a red, black and white with not too shabby results. But we wouldn't call him a great colorist, would we? I try to use the least number of pigments as possible without sacrificing my end result. Unity is more easily achieved with fewer colors. I only keep the appropriate amount of colors on my palette for the painting I am currently working on. That being said, as a beginner you should definitely limit your colors and concentrate on form and modeling. Don't get hung up on color at this point (repeat after me: Rembrandt used four colors!) Color may be the most obvious aspect when viewing a painting but it's by far the least important. Sez me!!! __________________ Marvin Mattelson http://www.fineartportrait.com [email protected]