Wednesday 7 October 2015

Quiller palette

Here is my paint-out of the 12 colour Steven Quiller palette. The colours are intended to be set out on a round palette so that the mixing opposites are opposite each other. These pairs can be use to mix neutrals including the earth hues. I explored how these colour mixed to see how it worked. I wasn't overly excited, by either the paints or the mixes, though it's a nice version of Ultramarine Violet.
I think there are nicer colour choices for this type of palette, though I still love my earth pigments :-)

To see a number of other opposite mixes, see my 24 colour single pigment colour wheel here.

6 comments:

  1. Jane, where do the paints in the palette come from -- I'm familiar with him through the sale of his plastic palette (which I've not bought) and googling him I get many hits for that but not for paints.

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    1. You can find them here http://www.quillergallery.com/shop/Quiller-Watercolors/ but as I said above, I don't particularly recommend them - I have used paints from other manufacturers that I prefer. One of the problems is that they are very runny, which makes them difficult to transport. Another is that some of the colours are rather weak and finally I didn't think the mixing pairs were as useful as they could be. The ones I used to do the chart were sent to me as samples by a friend so I could help him to find Daniel Smith paint equivalents.

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  2. I have his book Color Choices. I struggled putting his palette together with my current selection of paints. So a mixture of Daniel Smith, W & N and M. Graham. I really missed the earth tones. I was able to mix them in the end but they were lifeless. There are some great articles in his book on color schemes. However, in the end I could not use his palette. I am much happier using your Unlimited Palette and my DS paints.

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    1. I really believe that watercolour is not just about getting the hue. The range of characteristics that are possible using almost pure pigment as another aspect of painting with watercolour. By limiting your palette to just a few transparent colours you miss out on the granulating/opaque/liftable/staining qualities that add another dimension to watercolour. My palette has a lot of earth colours that I could mix as a hue but I like the way they behave as earth pigments.

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  3. Thank you, Jane! I think this is just the basic palette for learners/beginners. I like his novel approach using the Quiller Wheel, which has many more colors and is helping me understand some things. I'm reading his book "Color Choices" but it refers to many pigments that are no longer available or used as much. My main problem is that the book relies on color names with no pigment codes, so it can be difficult to figure out. I've come to rely more on codes and single pigments. But for a beginner like me, his color wheel helps me understand some things.

    I love what you've done and have learned a lot from your website, so thanks for it. I've gotten several great colors based on your comments about them. Still a long way to go for me. I know this is an old post, but thought I'd comment anyway.

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  4. I am digging through your blog posts now, and have learned a lot! It's so difficult to get to a set color wheel with all the brands going on, so I am concentrating more on pigment codes now, and try to fit in the mixed colors I have as well. Thanks for all the info!

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