I recently posted this message to my new students. It’s a good lesson about color.

Why put all your colors our on the palette?

I get arguments from students about putting out all their colors on the palette. Nothing could be more important. Not using the full spectrum of colors as the building blocks of your painting is like only having 5 strings on your guitar, or only 75% of the letters in the alphabet to write. Impossible!

The reasons I hear that students don't want to put them out are:

1. They don't want to waste money.
2. They don't want to take the time.
3. They are convinced they don't need them.

To the first objections I'll say that scarcity mindset will hinder you in major ways. The cost spent in time and money is infinitesimal, and the price you pay for "saving" these resources is too high. I'll highlight it below.

To the third objection I'll say watch the Seeing video again. Your insistence that you don't need them is born of inherent blindspots. You came to learn from someone who presumably has a highly developed ability to see in a way you can't yet. Trust me, you need them.

How does it hinder you?

Not having all the colors with which to build a palette automatically forces you to compromise. It will stunt your creativity, limit your skills, and even hinder your sight. It prevents you from growing your ability to render, which is why you joined a painting class.

What colors are we talking about?

You've been given a palette of 12 paints. Use them all, except for black.

We always want the palette to contain:

White

A few browns (some version of Umber, Ochre and/or Sienna)

and below, ROY G. BIV (fun way to remember the rainbow)

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Violet
(or a way to make them, as in blue plus yellow = green)

Your ROY G. BIV colors should be the most intense in their hue. Red, not Crimson. Yellow, not Naples Yellow. Ask your teacher if you don't know.

Thanks for making your experience 100 times better and for saving your teacher's sanity.