It started with a simple question about what colours should be in my portable paint palate.
And now it has a life of it’s own! I can’t imagine that a similar investigation would have resulted in such diffuse meandering through physics and opthalmology in the days prior to the internet.
Not to mention the shock of discovery of possible misinformation from the common man’s Pantone: Crayola.
Admittedly, red, yellow and blue are mostly sold as “bold”, rather than primary colours in the crayon and pen ranges, but they are still described as such in this modelling clay.
I should have realised it earlier, I’ve seen used colour cartridges kicking about for long enough.
Cyan, Magenta and Yellow.
The pigment primaries.
This has lead to some other lines of enquiry.
Each which will require it’s own post:
1) Why are these colours not then, the artist’s “limited” palette?
2) What is the relationship between the primary colours of light and of pigment?
3) What a headache, now I’m looking at photons…
3) and the nervous system and how it has INVENTED a colour
not necessarily in that order (my prediction is that the photons will give me some trouble… 😉 )
p.s. any practical thoughts on that paint palate appreciated
a frontier almanac 
Having worked in advertising my whole life and knowing as much as I do about printing, this makes perfect sense to me. ; )
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It’s crazy how 2 pieces of conflicting information managed to happily co-exist in my head: the print cartridge colours and my more ancient belief in red, yellow and blue! I’m still not much further forward with the original question though! Any thoughts from the printing side of things? Is cyan, magenta, yellow and black the “ideal palette?
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The ideal palette is individual and what you use to make your best works. Sometimes it’s good to experiment in other palettes to challenge your creativity. Why play a standard when you can be an original?
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I like it! 🙂
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