Colors for a Tonalist Palette set of 8 colors

Colors for a Tonalist Palette

Inspired by the French Barbizon School of painters, the first to break with academic tradition and to paint en plein air in the early 19th century, American Tonalist painters emphasized feeling and mood in their landscape paintings. Specific time of day and season became the subject, chosen to evoke both drama and tranquility.

A Winter Sky by George Inness, 1866, oil on canvas is example of early American Tonalist painting
A Winter Sky by George Inness, 1866, oil on canvas, The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH

Imaged above is an example of an early American Tonalist oil painting, A Winter Sky by George Inness, 1866. While close control of values is a hallmark of Tonalism, these paintings were and continue to be about color as much as about value. Color was modified, held in reserve, by complementary mixing to create neutrals and keeping edges soft to create space and atmosphere.

A New Set – Colors for a Tonalist Palette

Working from the later 19th century into the early 20th, the early American Tonalist painters would not have had the benefit of bright modern pigments such as the Phthalo’s and Quinacridones, but Cadmium Yellow, Prussian Blue and the Mars Colors were available. Our new Colors for a Tonalist Palette set provides all three, along with useful colors to control value and create atmosphere, including our warm Ship Rock and the new French Anthracite Gray.

Colors for a Tonalist Palette, new landscape set of 8 oil colors
Colors for a Tonalist Palette – new set!

Here are a few mixed greens created from Prussian Blue with an intense warm Cadmium Yellow and also with the more neutral Mars Yellow from the set:

Mixed green created from our Prussian Blue (left) and Cadmium Yellow. Then modified at right with our Ship Rock
This mixed green, at center, was created with our genuine Prussian Blue (left) and our Cadmium Yellow. The green is modified at right with our warm Ship Rock gray.
Mixed green made with our Prussian Blue and Mars Yellow, then modified with our Ship Rock gray
A more neutral mixed green is at center created with our genuine Prussian Blue (left) and our Mars Yellow. Adding our warm Ship Rock Gray, at right, softens the mixture even more.

Notice in the examples above how natural the result is even with the Cadmium Yellow, helped by the fact it is a very warm Cadmium! The cooler mixing Mars Yellow enables a more neutral mixed green that can be given even more nuance with our Ship Rock. This light, warm premixed gray easily changes the value and makes these mixtures more atmospheric.

The Path to the Village by J. Francis Murphy, 1882, oil on canvas, is an example of an early American Tonalist painting with mixed greens.
The Path to the Village, by J. Francis Murphy, 1882, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, DC

Suggesting Calm with Tints

Our new set also contains two useful light colors, Rosso Ercolano Extra Pale and Orchid, to modify strong primaries or mixtures, and suggest a restful quiet vision of nature and overall harmony of softened tones.

Here are a few examples using our Basic Red, Cadmium Yellow, and genuine Prussian Blue with these magical colorful tints:

Basic Red at lower right mixed with our Orchid tint shown above it and in a mixture with it to create the nuanced coral gray at top and left
Our Basic Red at lower right, is the warm primary red in the set. Shown here with the cool Orchid tint above it, and in a mixture with it to create the nuanced coral gray at top and left.
Cadmium Yellow mixed with both Orchid and Rosso Ercolano Extra Pale
Our Cadmium Yellow, middle left, shown here with Orchid, acting as its complement to create a colorful neutral at top. Our Rosso Ercolano Extra Pale lightens and softens the intensity of the Cadmium Yellow, bottom left and right. Rosso Ercolano Extra Pale is shown unmixed at middle right, and used again at top, where it lightens the value of the golden neutral and adds more color.
Prussian Blue tinted with Orchid at left and with Rosso Ercolano Extra Pale at right
Here’s our genuine Prussian Blue, unmixed at top left. Orchid at bottom left lightens the value, but also warms it away from greener tints. Rosso Ercolano Extra Pale, at top right, acts like a white to tint the Prussian Blue into soft turquoise tints that become more neutral as more of this pink Extra Pale is used in the mixture.

A New Transparent Black

Our Colors for a Tonalist Palette also includes a transparent black, the new French Anthracite Gray. This unique very dark gray-black is gentle in mixing strength, neutral in tone, and ideal for delicate shadows or minor adjustments to mixtures.

Mixed with warm yellows, the French Anthracite Gray creates a variety of green golds, its transparency allowing the yellows to shine through the mixtures. With our Cadmium Yellow, the result is distinctly green and glowing, with our Mars Yellow, the result is more neutral and softly burnished.

French Anthracite Gray is a dark gray-black shown mixed into Cadmium Yellow on the right and into Mars Yellow at bottom left.
Transparent blacks are useful for creating green golds with warm yellows. Shown here is our new French Anthracite Gray (top left) mixed at top center with our Cadmium Yellow and then with more of the Cadmium Yellow at right. Mars Yellow is imaged at the bottom center and mixed into the French Anthracite Gray, bottom left, resulting in a more neutral green gold.

To learn more about Tonalism, including numerous examples from both past and present day painters, visit the website of the American Tonalist Society here.

To view our new Colors for a Tonalist Palette set, visit our website at this link. Use it with your existing palette or pair with our Corot Landscape Set or our Set of Color and Light that features colorful chromatic grays.

November, by Charles Warren Eaton, Private Collection

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