Saturday, May 17, 2008

Palette Poll Results

Your votes are in on the palette poll, and the top 16 most-used colors are:

Ultramarine Blue 180
Titanium White 172
Yellow Ochre 161
Cadmium Red 158
Cadmium Yellow 150
Burnt Sienna 150
Alizarin Crimson 141
Burnt Umber 126
Black 98
Raw Umber 97
Raw Sienna 81
Cerulean Blue 79
Cobalt Blue 73
Viridian 64
Naples Yellow 60
Sap Green 56

Ultramarine was the runaway favorite, not counting white, which would have scored 245 if you counted flake and zinc. No greens made the top ten, though I think permanent green would have scored fairly high; I just forgot to include it.

The results are quite different from the results in Jason Peck’s original poll (link), which scored highest with white, black, burnt sienna, and vermilion. As a couple of you observed in the comments, you could paint almost anything with the top four colors in the survey of blog readers.

This week we’re polling your favorite paint brands. If you use a variety of manufacturers, you can vote for more than one. Thanks, Jason, and thanks to everyone for participating.

6 comments:

William R. Moore said...

James,
I enjoy your blog very much and find it very informative.

I have a question of a technical nature rather than art related that I hope you can help me understand. There are some sites that I dont like to browse because I cannot back out of the site. Up until a few days ago, I could always back out of your site but now I no longer can. It is a little aggrevating feeling like a captive on these particular type sites.

Thanks,
Will

Anonymous said...

Hey James, I just put my vote in on brands. I just read the list of colors that poled the highest. Im happy to see that I can pick my palette out of this selection of colors. My Palette of 13 colors from the highest poled is as follows:

Titanium White 172
Naples Yellow 60
Cadmium Yellow 150
Yellow Ochre 161
Raw Sienna 81
Cadmium Red 158
Alizarin Crimson 141
Burnt Sienna 150
Ultramarine Blue 180
Cobalt Blue 73
Viridian 64
Raw Umber 97
Black 98

This is the palette I use in my studio. My favorite mixture has to be Ultramarine blue + Burnt Sienna.
Wonderful Results.

Sincerely, Jason

James Gurney said...

William, I'm no expert on the tech side--maybe someone else can comment--but if you mean the back arrow on the top bar, I wonder if there's something wrong with your browser. But if there's really something wrong with the blog site or dinotopia.com, please let me know how to fix it.

Jason: good palette, and I also like working with blue and burnt sienna, or ultra and raw sienna in watercolor. By the way, my apologies to watercolorists, because I left off Payne's grey, Hooker's green, and all the standards.

craigstephens said...

I noticed the omission of permanent green. I use a lot of it. especially in spring time in California. All the grass is already turning yellow though so I won't be using quite as much for the next eight months although it does make a really nice dark neutral tone when mixed with alizarin crimson.
I didn't see Daniel Smith on your list of manufacturers. I use a bunch of it. I order from them for my classroom and I really like the stuff. It fits my high school teacher's budget and seems to have a pretty high pigment content.

innisart said...

I took the poll on brands, but what about a category for "other"? I use Robert Doak and Michael Harding, in addition to the some of the others on your list.

As always, a great Blog. Your research and knowledge are amazing.

Jeremy Logan said...

Your poll is also missing M. Graham which is one of my current favorite brands.