One of my favorite methods for quickly capturing nature’s details in a field painting. It’s the method of using a limited palette of watercolors; usually just 1 or 2 hues.

Benefits of a limited palette

• Quick and simple to use in the field, or even on a plane ride!
• Can use when carrying your smallest palette – mine is just 4 colors that I made from a metal Altoids candy box!
• Helps you to focus on describing 3-D form with tints and shades.

Limited palette options

Some limited palette options you might try include the following:

• 1 color plus black for shading: as you can see in the acorn painting example below.
• 2 complementary color: such as red and green or blue and orange.
• 2 analogous colors: those next to each other on the color wheel like orange and red.
• Or the simplest option you might try is a truly monochromatic painting using just black that you tint to describe your subject’s 3-D form.
  Note: You may remember my previous tip on this topic in which I shared an example of painting a kingfisher using tints of black. Search for the email I sent you titled: Weekly Sketching Prompt | Value Scale.

Example from my sketchbook

For the painting of the oak tree acorn shown below, I first created a light pencil sketch. Then I chose the watercolor hue of raw umber to represent the basic local color of the acorn.