Zorn Palette Workshop

Bethany by Sally Struszkowski, watercolour

We got the New Year off to a great start with a workshop led by Jane Palmer this January. Most of us did a portrait using the palette made famous by Anders Zorn, where he used only two colours with black and white to complete the work. These colours were Ivory Black, titanium white, cadmium red and yellow ochre. We allowed the substitution of Payne's Grey for ivory black  however, for a near blue hue as it is not possible to mix true blue or green from this combination of colours.The advantage of the Zorn palette is that it limits decisions but allows enough colours to produce a stunning painting.

The evening included a short PowerPoint presentation to show what could be achieved by using this palette. Most of us managed to complete our paintings and some excellent results were achieved with this limited palette. 

Portrait by Frank Bingley using gouache paint

Some of the shades that can be mixed by using the four
colours in the Zorn Palette. Picture by
Cornelia Wontner