When I teach a workshop and I am asked to give a supply list I always say it is best to get Holbein paints because you can squeeze the entire tube into your palette and the paints don't dry to a hard clump and they become instantly rejuvenated with a little bit of water. Then for the colors, I don't give an exact color I let the students pick their very own favorite colors. I tell them as long as they have the basic primaries, your reds, blues and yellows along with your secondaries, greens, oranges, and violets. I don't give exact colors because there are so many different version of the primaries and secondaries that I let the student bring their favorite.

 

Now the question is how do I decide which colors to use for each individual painting. The answer to that question is I start each painting first looking at the large light and dark value pattern then I choose a color scheme that I think will fit the look of that individual painting. I usually choose a complementary color scheme. If I feel there will be a lot of reds in the work I will pick a green to compliment that red. Sometimes it is more of a tri-color scheme where let's say I use mostly a red/violet I would use colors across the color wheel from red violet like a yellow and green to compliment the red-violet. SEE Color wheel below 

When I say complimentary colors I don't mean an exact color either.. when I say red it could be an orange-red or violet-red and the green could be a yellow-green or a blue-green. All artist have their favorites so I say use the colors that you like best and whatever your favorite is use its complement or a tri-colored compliment scheme and don't forget to follow your value pattern because, in the end, the value pattern is the most important part of your design. The color scheme doesn't need to be as strongly followed as the large value pattern in your work.

 

Limiting your colors in a piece is also a good idea at times. It makes it very simple to paint a scene because you may only have 2 or 3 choices to reach for when painting and it makes you think more about your value pattern and you know for sure your color scheme will work because those 2 or 3 colors are all you get to use.

Of course, the easiest is to just use one color because all you have to think about is the values but that doesn't make for a very colorful painting.

 

I usually tell my students to not worry so much about the color scheme because it will look great no matter what colors you use as long as you have a good value pattern that you follow when you are painting your scene.

Questioned Asked: 

What's your favorite color combination?