Payne’s Grey – friend or foe?

Now and again something comes along that splits the artistic community in two. Call it the “marmite” effect if you like. It’s something that you either love or hate! However as fickle artists we are allowed to change our mind, and on this one I recently have. You see, I used to hate the colour Payne’s Grey with a vengeance, but in the past few weeks I have come to accept it as a useful colour – that’s not quite the same as loving it, but I’m less upset by it than I used to be. Let me explain…

The man behind it all…

William Payne (1760-1830)

Wikipedia says about him: Among the innovations with which he is credited were “splitting the brush to give forms of foliage, dragging the tints to give texture to his foregrounds, and taking out the forms of lights by wetting the surface and rubbing with bread and rag”, but the invention by which he is best known is a neutral tint composed of indigo, raw sienna, and crimson lake called Payne’s grey.

Other sources say he used Prussian blue, yellow ochre and crimson lake. Nowadays they make it with ultramarine blue and black or with ultramarine and burnt sienna. But it all amounts to the same – a dark grey that causes mud!

The problem with Payne’s grey

My problem with this colour is that it can become a quick solution for anything grey, especially shadows. Over the years I have seen many, many students reaching for the Payne’s grey instead of mixing their own coloured greys, and this results in a dull and lifeless picture. So eventually I banned my students from using it, and I banished it from my palette as well.

Value studies

However I recently came across an article where a Plein air artist was using it to sketch value studies. Used neat it creates a near-black, and mixed with a little white gouache, or just watered down, it makes a mid grey. The white of the paper gives you the third value. So it becomes a quick and easy way of testing out your tonal composition before committing to your painting. I tried this out on this little sketch of some bushes and grasses, below, and it worked!

Instant black

The other shortcut that Payne’s grey gives is of course black. I usually create my black by mixing ultramarine blue with burnt sienna, but, hey presto, modern Payne’s grey is made from ultramarIne blue and burnt sienna! So this saves me valuable seconds when out in the field. At home I would still prefer to mix from the blue and brown so that I get more colourful blacks, but when sketching en Plein air it provides a great little shortcut.

Muted colours

I tried adding a touch of Payne’s grey to the other colours in my palette, and the effects were varied. Some colours were muted beautifully and I can see myself using them in landscape sketching, but others became just a bit dirty.

So that’s it really. I’m a partial convert to a colour I once despised. I’d love to hear what you think about it. Let me know in the comments below. Please rate this post with a thumbs up if you found it helpful.

#watercolourpainting #paintingtips #watercolorpalette #paynesgrey #paintcolours

My favourite Art Books – Urban Sketching

I don’t know about you but I have a lot of art books! I love them and refer to them often for ideas and help. But this Christmas I was given two that have really caught my attention. They are beautifully made and are absolutely full of inspiration. They are both on the same theme – Urban Sketching – but even if you are not a sketcher there is still much to be gained from getting a hold of a copy and enjoying it. They show artwork from hundreds of sketchers from around the world, each with his or her own unique way of painting and drawing. That alone is inspirational!

Check out my video below as I show you around them.

This is the first book, written and compiled in 2012. Here’s a link to it on Amazon: The Art of Urban Sketching

This is the second book, compiled in 2022 Here’s a link to it on Amazon: The World of Urban Sketching

Let me show you these books in my video below:

Thanks for watching. As ever, if you like this post and found it helpful, then give it a thumbs up below. And don’t forget to sign up to this blog so that you never miss a post!

And if you are interested in sketching, then take a look at my Sketchbook Secrets online course on Udemy.

#artbookreview #sketching #sketchingtips #urbansketching

The colours on my palette

I was asked a few days ago by a reader of this blog if I could share the colours I use on my palette and how I make some of the colour mixes I use in my paintings. Mel asked: Andy, I would love it if you would talk about the paint colors you choose when you’re doing your landscapes. I see some greens…just wondering which you pick. Also, do you use a different palette for urban / city sketching? I see turquoise, peach tones …. some colors that don’t seem possible with your recommended basic eight colors. I would love to hear what colors you use in your minimal kit and how that differs from your studio set up…

So, Mel, for you and everyone else who is interested… here’s my colour palette (as of now) that I use for watercolour sketching. (See my portable sketching set-up here)

Top row, left to right:

1. 1. ultramarine blue – a great all-rounder, useful for darks, skies, and also for shadows when mixed with cadmium red. Having a violet bias it makes a bright purple when mixed with quinacridone violet.

2. 2. cerulean blue – a good sky blue which makes lovely bright greens. Mixed with cad red it makes a slate grey.

3. 3. quinacridone violet – a cleaner version of the commonly used alizarin crimson, which can be a little dirty.

4. 4. cadmium red – an orange-red. Mix a little with ultramarine blue for shadows.

5. 5. cadmium yellow – An orange-yellow.

6. 6. lemon yellow – a green-yellow, good for spring foliage. With these six you can mix pretty much any colour, but for the sake of speed I have added other colours in the bottom row which are great for when outside sketching and you need a shortcut!

Bottom row, left to right:

1. 7. green apatite – this is a Daniel Smith colour that I came across last year and have used in almost every landscape painting since! It’s great for quick foliage and granulates out nicely with brown flecks appearing. Mixed with burnt sienna it produces a rich natural dark for the shaded undersides of trees etc.

2. 8. viridian – a harsh unnatural colour on its own, but when mixed with other colours such as raw sienna or burnt sienna, it produces wonderful clean landscape greens. Mixed with quinacridone violet it makes a lovely black.

3. 9. burnt sienna – another good all-round earth colour.

4. 10. raw sienna – or yellow ochre. I use it all the time for everything from clouds to sand. Makes a natural mucky green with ultramarine blue.

5. 11. Payne’s grey – a recent addition A quick black for when you need it when out sketching which can be used also as a neutral grey. Use it with care when mixed with other colours to avoid mud.

6. 12. zinc white gouache – use alone for white highlights or mixed with any other colour to give opacity. Great for painting lights over darks.

Useful mixes

One of my most used colours is ultramarine blue as it creates great darks and also a variety of other colours.

Here it is, mixed with a few other colours. I use it mixed with cadmium red (4) to make a general all purpose transparent shadow colour. Paint it over your local colour and it immediately creates a good shadow colour, or use it as it is on white paper. When mixed with yellows it creates some nice greens for foliage. Here I’ve shown it mixed with raw sienna (10), cadmium yellow (5) and lemon yellow (6).

Here are some other useful green mixes. At the top is cerulean blue (2) and lemon yellow (6) that gives us a lovely bright spring green. Below is viridian (8) and cad red (4) which gives dull greens and browns – again useful for foliage.

Just to finish answering Mel’s questions: I don’t use a different palette of colours in the studio or out urban sketching as I like to get to know my colours well and so can use them quickly and instinctively when I’m out and about. I try to keep my colours in the same order at home and en plein air so I know where they are when I need them. For the turquoise and peach colours, I expect I added some white gouache to a blue and a red. The white tones down the original colour and produces some nice soft pastel shades.

Please ask me any other questions and I will attempt to answer them here in this blog. For more information on my method of colour mixing see my online course . Please rate this post below and get your arty friends to join the blog! Thanks for reading!

#enpleinair #sketching #learningtopaint #watercolortips #watercolourpainting #paintingtips