Customizing your kit: A sky and cloud palette
I love my Minimalist Paint Kit, and for 95% of what I want to quickly add color to in the field it’s perfect.
But there are times that I want something a little more than my triad-plus-two colors won’t do well or at all. Examples:
When I’m practicing a lot more “skyscapitos” and I want more options in my blue range.
When I want an old-fashioned tinted look using ochres and turquoises and lapis (all earth pigments).
And so I’ve developed a few custom mini-palettes: my Clouds & Sky Palette, and my Earth Tints Palette.
Here I’m going to discuss the Clouds & Sky Palette; I’ll go deeper into the Earth Tints Palette in a future post.
As you can see from the topmost image, I settled on five blues and one warm red for my six-half-pan Minimalist Paint Tin (see below). These are tiny little palettes, and barely take up any extra room in your bag. Here are the colors (all Daniel Smith) and why I chose them:
Manganese Blue Hue — This is a bright, transparent cyan blue for those skies that are very “fair weather” and cool in tone. Mixed with the Burnt Sienna, its grays are neutral and very uniform.
Cobalt — Probably the perfect overall sky color —slight granulation makes great texture, and it’s a warm-ish blue, nearing neutral. Makes gorgeous grays, too.
French Ultramarine — A beautiful, rich warm blue that has tons of texture and makes the best granular (mottled) gray in stormy skies. (And why “French Ultramarine” and not just “Ultramarine?” manufacturers claim French Ultramarine is warmer and more granular than Ultramarine, but test by artists consistently show it’s pretty hard to tell them apart; see this excellent post by ParkaBlogs . . . so I use what I have, which is French).
Pthalo Blue — When I want a staining bright cyan blue, I use Pthalo (“green shade). You have to be confident when you use this one as once it’s on the page and starting to dry it’s permanent. So if you want a non-lifting under-color, this is a good choice.
Indigo — I’m experimenting with this one (usually my “dark” blue is Indanthrone but this is warmer and even darker blue made from Indanthrone Blue mixed with Lamp Black). If you want a quick night sky (use white gouache to make starts and planets) or use it as a light was for instant story cloud blue-gray).
Burnt Sienna — This is mixed with the blues to create blacks and grays. You can also use other reds such as Pyrrol but I love the slightly granular grays made with Burnt Sienna).
Make your own custom mini palettes with one of my Minimalist Paint Tins which come in two sizes and empty half-pans (link is below).
Interested in practicing your skyscapes? Join us for a “Skyscapitos Appreciation Society” Zoom meet-up, where you can share your skyscapitos, ask questions, and learn a lot from a whole community! (Click the event link below right.)
