The Oil Painter’s Color Handbook: A Contemporary Guide to Color Mixing, Pigments, Palettes, and Harmony

Painter Casey begins with an overview of the historical use of color in oil painting, with a focus on the Impressionists, who transformed the use of both color and light in their works. This leads into a detailed discussion of color theory, illustrated with several different color wheels from traditional to contemporary, followed by an overview of the pigments used in oil paint and their properties. Casey also discusses palettes for different types of paintings (still life, portrait, landscape, and figure), best practices for color mixing, ways to use color to create visual harmony in a painting, and properties of light as related to color. Each topic is illustrated via paintings that include Casey’s own work, as well as historically significant works from the Renaissance through the modern era. Practical exercises for artists interested in exploring color-related concepts are included throughout.