So, are we saying that a beginning student
should or
should not use the Reilly Palette?
I don't know about using it for an actual painting, or using the whole palette arrangement after you're painting at an advanced level (I'm not there yet
) but when I first started painting, the Faragasso book mentioned, and all the associated color exercises, was absolutely invaluable in fully understanding how to use color. Being self-taught, I'd have bounced around for years without that book. I literally painted hundreds of color charts from the Reilly pallete, including the charts Faragasso used to illustrate 'vibrating' a color with cool mixtures. Even before my drawing reached a decent student level, I had color down cold.
That said, however, I have since gone back to using two colors plus white and the various three color plus white and black mixtures outlines in Parramon's 'Big Book of Oil painting'. What I can today with just a couple colors is still kind of amazing to me.
Minh