While my wife and 6 year old are off at dress rehearsals for the Nutcracker, my younger daughter and I spent some time painting together. Not wanting to get into anything too involved, I did another 5×7 tree study out the back dining room window. It’s a grey, rainy day, so to add some interest, I punched up the color on the tree to the right with some pops of pure perylene maroon.

This was made up of:

Nickel Azo Yellow
Quinacridone Burnt Orange
Viridian
Perylene Maroon
French Ultramarine
Cerulean Blue (just in the sky a bit)
Prussian Blue

Come to think of it, those are the pigments I use most, though my favorite blue on its own is cobalt, which I’m adding back into my palette along with the W&N limited edition Titanate Yellow, which is a Turner like chrome yellow. I am still experimenting with what’s right for me, what’s right for the feel of a painting I can produce, what to apply to some big pieces, to something with a thesis or a question. Nothing better than sorting that out with my daughter doing Turner inspired color studies beside me.