🎨 Finding My Color Voice in Oils: Between Triads, Fauvism, and the Rainbow Method

Lately, I’ve found myself circling back — again and again — to the question of color palette. More specifically, whether I should commit to a limited palette for mastery and harmony, or curate a broader collection of convenience colors that bring me joy 🌈. This has become especially pressing as I step deeper into the world of oil painting, where the stakes (and the textures) feel more permanent than in watercolor or gouache.

I’ve heard from both camps: some artists rave about the simplicity of limitations, while others freely dip into a kaleidoscope of color and produce work I deeply admire. So why do I keep coming back to this?

I think I’m searching for a sense of resolution — for a personal palette that feels like mine, that can act as a foundation, a comfort zone, a launchpad. A palette I trust. 🧭

🧪 Experimenting With Triads in Oils

Recently, I tested two different triads to see how they felt in oil. These were not random combinations — they were rooted in color theory but chosen for expressive potential.

🎯 Triad 1:

• French Yellow Deep (Charvin) – a warm, almost orange-leaning yellow

• Ultramarine Blue

• Quinacridone Rose (Van Gogh)

✅ Results:

• Beautiful, luminous purples

• Warm, radiant oranges and reds

• Muted greens — more subdued than expected due to the yellow’s warmth

Despite the subdued greens, I found them attractive. This would be an ideal palette for expressive sketching or painterly landscapes — emotive and cohesive.

🎯 Triad 2:

• French Yellow Deep

• Cerulean Blue

• Quinacridone Rose

✅ Results:

• Greens were more luminous and slightly cooler

• Turquoises had a beautiful, moody life to them

• Still no garish hues, which I often struggle with

🩷 Quinacridone Rose stayed in both palettes — it’s non-negotiable for me. It gives me the violets and pinks I love and is central to my emotional range.

🤔 What’s Still Missing?

Even after those tests, I felt something was unresolved. Not in the pigments, but in how I was placing and distributing them. As I studied one of my paintings, I saw green in two places, purple in several — and it didn’t sit right.

That’s when it clicked: I had let go of my inner color structure — something I usually follow through what I call the Rainbow Method. A way of flowing color logically and emotionally across a form or composition. I’d stepped into realism, and abandoned my voice.

🌈 The Rainbow Method Meets Oils (with a Fauvist Heart)

Fauvist painters — Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck — used color not to describe reality, but to convey feeling, light, movement. Their work is bright and saturated, yet never garish. Why?

🧠 Their Secrets:

• 🎯 Limited color families used confidently

• 🎨 Saturation balanced by muted or neutral areas

• 🔲 Strong value and shape design beneath the color

• 💫 Intentional color echo and repetition

🖌️ How I Applied This to a Landscape Painting

A recent subject: a landscape with a meadow, cherry trees, a little house, and a sky. I wanted to apply the rainbow method and Fauvist color logic at once.

Color Flow Plan:

• Foreground (Meadow): warm greens, golden yellow grasses 🌾

• Cherry Trees: pink blossoms (Quin Rose) fading as they recede 🌸

• House: neutrals and warm shadows — maybe some rose reflected from the trees 🏡

• Trees Behind House: shifting into cool blue-greens or blue-violets 🌲

• Sky: lavender near the horizon, cobalt or turquoise above ☁️

This let me create emotional movement through hue, not just through value.

🎨 My Fauvist-Inspired Oil Palette

🔥 Core Vibrants:

• Cadmium Yellow Deep

• Cadmium Red Light

• Quinacridone Rose 💖

• Ultramarine Blue

• Cobalt Teal or Cerulean Blue

• Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) — used carefully

🌻 Harmonizing Earths & Neutrals:

• Transparent Red Oxide

• Raw Umber

• Titanium White

• Violet Grey (Ultramarine + Burnt Sienna)

• Muted Blue-Violet

I use the earths and neutrals to balance the brights, giving them space to shine without overloading the eye.

🧘‍♀️ A Personal Color Ritual Emerges

This process has helped me shape a new way of working:

1. Start with a triad or small group to create a cohesive base 🎯

2. Apply the rainbow method to flow color through space or emotion 🌈

3. Add convenience colors only at the end for sparkle ✨

4. Echo colors throughout to unify the painting 🔁

🌸 Still Searching — But Closer Than Ever

I’m not sure I’ll ever “arrive” at the one true palette. But I’m no longer searching aimlessly. I’m beginning to build a system — not of limitation, but of intentionality. A way to let my color instincts and emotional language speak clearly, especially in oils.

And maybe that’s the real answer:
Not to find the perfect palette,
but to build one that listens to you as much as you listen to it.