Zorn Palette - easy way to mix accurate colours and values (day 3)

To make the Zorn colour chart a useful and an accurate reference tool for colour mixing, its best to mix as many of the colour samples on your palette before placing them on your chart. This is no time to be stingy with your oil paints, as you want the best result for a chart which can be useful to an artist for years to come.

I find the best results come from using a palette knife rather than a brush for application to your chart. The colours will have more body and intensity.

Self portrait by Anders Zorn with his famous limited palette

Top row of chart showing pure pigments of Yellow(ochre), Cadmium Red and Black(cool) with mixes in between

Add white to each colour to give a range of 4 more tones (values) ranging from dark to light

Zorn Colour chart with the lower half reflecting the top half tinted with a little of the third colour

In the top row of the chart - the 1st square is the pure Yellow ochre, the 5th square along is the cadmium Red (pretty obvious!) with the cool Black being the 9th square along. The in between squares are various degree mixes of Yellow and Red, Red and Black, Black and Yellow.

The careful addition of white result in a range of 4 tones, from the pure pigments and their mixes to very light. It is useful to do the Black column first, and then use it as a visual guide to mix the tonal values of the neighbouring colours.

The lower half is a reflection of the top half, but slightly tinted with the 3rd colour: Yellow and its mixes with Red are tinted with Black; Red and its mixes with Black are tinted with Yellow; Black and its mixes with Yellow are tinted with red thus creating a beautiful shift in 'temperature'