Portrait Studio Wall Color

[Elizabeth Schott]

Sorry to bump this up, but my head is doing the "Exorcist" thing and spinning after reading this...

I have to call in my paint colors this evening and thought this would be easy. He uses MAB paints - which is my first problem. My second is trying to remember Scottsdale, Linda's and Chris' studio walls.

My biggest problem is since my studio opens off the main house it will need to work with my other walls, and was hoping just to step them x 4 to a lighter value.

I am sure this will show a whole lot of nothing, but I shot this in color corrected light (98 CRI) shown is my Grey Card (older and should be replaced, but I have never really figured it out) and a value scale with color aid chips - but then I am sure I messed it up in Photoshop.

The 3rd from the lightest is what I want for the house walls and then just go up 4 steps, which works out to be a number 6 value, which might not be dark enough.

I was just hoping someone could get an idea from this paint sample if the color looked even close?

[I]Side note; Mike or anyone who might be reading this, is it better too shot your artwork with a smaller - 13 - or a larger - 5.6 - apperature (?) setting?

[Garth Herrick]

The green card, Beth? Not even close! Way too much green chroma at any value.

If you want the right formula and look for the "Whitaker Green", then use the posted formula and the Benjamin Moore brand, because they can mix this, their own formula.

Garth

[Elizabeth Schott]

Garth what I remember was the second to darkest green on this strip.

The post of Bill's chip on my monitor looks grey.

The ones you posted, one looks like it has lots of yellow/almost brown and the other is just grey.

If I give them the formula that Bill typed way above, can any paint company go from that?

[Garth Herrick]

Beth,

Why not just order a test quart from Benjamin Moore? You will see if you ike it or not. If you don't, surely someone else will use the remainder on their walls.

Another paint brand will probably not be faithfullly be able to match the formula, as each brand has their unique proprietary base formulations, each being of a different tinting strength or quality.

Surely there is a friendly Benjamin Moore paint store in your neck of the woods.

Garth

[Richard Monro]

Beth,
Way too much stress over wall color. No one color is perfect for everybody. However, there are some key concepts.
1) the paint should have low reflectance - less than 15
2) use a mid value gray - 5 is great. Depending on your other colors for ceiling, doors, trim,etc. darker may be better.
3) slightly tint the gray to the shade you want. You just want a hint of color. Not a lot of chroma.

The Whitaker color is a yellow gray with a hint of green. Daniel Greene uses a green gray. I think Linda uses a true gray. I use a gray with a very slight tint of green from Dunn Edwards called Stone Creek. The value is 5, reflectance is 13 and the color is luscious. In some lights it transforms into a gray with a hint of blue. Everyone that has seen my studio loves the color.

In any case, use a gray with a tint of color that makes you feel good and inspired. Hope this helps.