This weekend think about limiting your color choices so that you can maximize your color mixes.
Here’s a portrait with the colors I used listed. Four pigments resulting in a lot of different mixes.
When you mix with a limited palette your color mixes have a relationship to each mix that is also on your page.
Take colors you typically use and swap one out for a new, or less frequently used player in your mixes.
I almost always use Burnt Sienna (which is a neutralized orange) to neutralize my blues, but in this sketch I used Transparent Orange. This skewed my neutrals a range of browns. I loved the bright orange hair that actually is realistic.
I was then free to play with the idea of warm and cool values across the face.
When you keep your palette limited you also allow yourself to make quick decisions if you are sketching from life in public. While this sketch was made at home, it allowed me to make decisions I can now use out in the field.
Experiment
Spend some time this weekend choosing a limited palette (here a red, orange, yellow and blue).
Use that palette over the weekend several times to capture different subject matter.
Your output from the weekend will all have a harmonious feel, regardless of which of your four pigments you make the hero of each individual painting.
