Winged Victory (Triad Palette)

This piece is one of the very first oils that I painted in my art classes at Converse College.  Art was my major, so every year we had 9 hours a week of studio art.  During our freshman year, we only worked in charcoal, drawing the many statues and busts like this one.  Our sophomore year, we were introduced to oil painting, but, for the first semester, we painted the same subjects, in black and white only.  Finally, in the second semester of our sophomore year, we progressed to color, but only three.  We used the three primary colors . . . Red (Indian), Yellow (Ochre) and Blue (Ultramarine), plus white.  Using a limited palette is a wonderful way to paint, because you learn to mix colors well, and, since the same colors are used throughout the painting, there is harmony throughout the piece.  I still enjoy working with a limited palette today.  When in college, I was really getting tired of drawing and painting these same subjects, over and over again, and using very limited materials.  It took me many years to realize how fortunate I was to have had this intense, "old masters" training.