Johnnie Liliedahl: Constable Country

Choose only three primary colors, plus black and white, and you’ll be amazed at how many colors you can mix from this limited palette. Refer to DI-1 Understanding Color, for more information on these exercises. The Old Masters used a few transparent colors to achieve richness and depth by glazing luminous dark areas. White makes any mixture opaque, so with white added to the palette, you can double the number of colors you can make from the three primaries. Try three primary colors (different from the ones used in this video) on your limited palette and see how the change in palette offers new color ranges without sacrificing the unity of a color scheme. More colors often create discordant color notes, so avoid that pitfall by limiting your palette to only five paints: red, yellow, blue, black and white.

The limited palette used for this painting will help you create integrated color schemes and powerful compositions with the tips and techniques Johnnie provides in this demonstration.

Printed instructions accompany the video so that you can paint along. Learn old master methods of underpainting, glazing, scumbling and impasto using only three colors (red, yellow, blue) plus black and white.

The Illuminations! Series addresses many of the basic elements of painting that many beginning painters fail to learn because they may not have access to good instructive art sources. Collect the entire series to acquire a good foundation in painting principles, regardless of your chosen medium.