I have always found personal paint colour charts very useful in my painting and recently decided to update my charts.

Over the years I have gathered an extensive collection of paints, many of which I have used but not really determined their overall effects. Redoing my colour chart was an excellent way of reminding me of what these colours can do.

As a start I drew squares of about the size of half a pan on a large piece of the watercolour paper I usually use. I then painted in each pair of squares, a colour at full strength and next to it a square of the colour very diluted. I also labelled each pair of squares with the paint name and paint manufacturer. Various manufactures’ paint names can be very different. For example each will have a range of blues and these blues can be very similar but will have a different name, which can be confusing when they produce the same or a very similar effect.

When looking for a particular colour for a painting, the paint chart is a quick reference and it then easy to find what I want. Strong Cadmium Red when diluted gives a very delicate pink; Sepia which is a strong dark brown gives a fawn creamy colour; Brown madder is a beautiful strong dark brown, which when diluted moves towards a peachy/pink. Using the paint chart I found a lot of oranges were dull and disappointing and that the most vibrant orange was Translucent Orange by Schmincke which is my most favourite orange.

I found re-doing my chart a very useful exercise and others may benefit from updating their own personal charts, especially if they have added to their paint collection over the years.

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