modification of the primary palette
The idea of a split primary palette with a warm and cool red, yellow, and blue (six paints) of course modifies the palette in the right direction to reduce saturation costs simply by having more paint and reducing the space between them on the color wheel. However, it still seems to accept the assumption that all the other hues can then be mixed with this revised palette. The underlying logic is sometimes explained by the need for a warm and a cool of each primary without a firm grasp on the issue of saturation costs. The split primary palette is simple not a thinking person’s solution. For example, there is no attention paid to having a workable dark, avoiding monotony, and mixing convenience. It’s not that you can’t paint a picture with this palette. It’s just why would you want to do so?
The most distressing aspect of the advice to use a split primary palette ( Winsor Newton here for one ) is when it is given to watercolor artists trying to paint like Ann Abgott for example, mentioned in the high saturation chapter, who uses so many more paints to avoid desaturation, not a warm and a cool red but 7 reds for example. It’s strange that Winsor Newton tells artists to buy six paints to mix all the colors they need when they might with more accuracy (and more profit) tell them to buy 40. Perhaps they are worried they will be seen as self-serving.
This page has the following sub pages.
