In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is–as it physically is…if one says red and there are fifty people listening, it can be expected that there will be fifty reds in their minds~Joseph Albers

Colors and the light that affects them creates such a wonderful but complex world. An artist must select how he/she will use them in relationship to the painting they are attempting.

How should you put the colors together to create the emotion you wish to accomplish? Should you mostly use an open palette drawing from a full range of colors such as Kandinsky’s, Composition Vll, or the selected range of opposite colors used by Lynn Burton in his painting, Parrots? They both use brilliant hues with high chroma to create their attraction.

Artist change in their style, technique and use of color as often as they are inspired to do so. They usually are always trying to create an emotion or mood. Sometimes they fall back on the one true purpose of a painting in the first place and that is to entertain.

Some artist use an open palette with a full range of colors, while others use a very limited palette. Some will make whatever they prefer a habit and stick with it, while others will experiment around and use whatever they feel comfortable with allowing the painting itself to dictate the palette chosen.

Of course, if their goal is harmony, a very limited palette should be used as in the painting of Pablo Picasso’s, A Woman in White, pictured below. Picasso used hues of blues and reds in values so light that they approached white.

There are different emotional impacts created with the use of the different palette approaches. A more open palette tends to be busy and exciting, especially when the colors are at or near saturation. A more limited palette creates a more subdued and tranquil emotion.