Question on decoy paint colors

Tom Barb

Tom Barb

Active member
I'm about to order some oil paints and have a few questions. Looking to do some black ducks, mallards, bufflehead and gwt. I have burnt umber, raw umber, burnt sienna, raw sienna, ivory black, and titanium white.

What other colors should I get? Emerald green for the heads? Or another shade of green. Also I was going to get a cadmium yellow.

Thanks.
 
Tom~

I always use Ultramarine Blue mixed with Raw Umber to get a black (almost never use Black per se in oils). Adding a bit of Ultramarine to the Raw Umber is especially useful for the base body color of Black Ducks. Mixed more evenly, you can get a nice deep "black" with the 2 pigments.

I also like Yellow Ochre for bill colors on Mallards and Blacks (and for lots of other colors - it's one of my "staples") - but you can probably get by with the Raw Sienna since you will be getting a Cadmium Yellow. I highlight the bill edges etc with Cadmium Yellow Medium.

I have not used Emerald Green. I mostly use a Medium Green Oxide and stipple for highlights and blend with blues and brown on Mallard heads. (Another option is to mix a green from a blue and a yellow....)

All red pigments are expensive but some (smaller tube?) Alizarin Crimson will be useful for both the Mallard drakes (breast highlights) and the Buffleheads (if you put the full iridescent spectrum on the head). The Crimson, Sienna and Yellow will let you get the bills on the Hen Mallards.

You will certainly have enough different pigments to get wherever you need to go - lots of exploration in mixing colors!

All the best,

SJS
 
Tom,
Ivory black is fairly translucent so perhaps consider a carbon black / lamp black. Thalo green is one I use often as well. There are two shades yellow and blue. I tend to use the yellow shade most and would defiantly use it on mallards. Are you going to show speculum on the mallards and blacks? Blue and purples start to come into play then.
 
I'm about to order some oil paints and have a few questions. Looking to do some black ducks, mallards, bufflehead and gwt. I have burnt umber, raw umber, burnt sienna, raw sienna, ivory black, and titanium white.

What other colors should I get? Emerald green for the heads? Or another shade of green. Also I was going to get a cadmium yellow.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

yellow ochre,
medium green
ultramarine blue
Cad red medium
cad yellow.

With what you have and those colors you can paint almost anything you want. Of course you will have to mix, but that is nothing but fun
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I found all the colors you mentioned except medium green. Is that the actual name of the color?

I'm on dick blick looking at old Hollands and grumbachers artist oils.
 
What other colors should I get? Emerald green for the heads? Or another shade of green. Also I was going to get a cadmium yellow.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I generally like to stick with classic pigments over the modern variants. I like viridian over phthalo green BS as my cool green and cobalt green over permanent or emerald green as my warm shade. Of course, I would also never want to be without chromium oxide for a dull green. I use all three (and then some) on my mallard heads.

Ultramarine blue has been a good suggestion as well.
 
Tom & Steve, Was looking to get some ultramarine blue yesterday and they had (UM green shade) or( French UM) in Pre Tested. My previous UM was a very old tube without the additional info. What do you guys use?
The price on paints and brushes is getting crazy, John
 
I have been using Daniel Smith paints for my greens and blues recently. I like the Permanent Green and Permanent Blue. It is not an expensive paint, it is very smooth and consistent. I have replaced all my Grumbachers with this paint in the off colors and Willamsburg in the frequently used colors.
 
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