Summer Smoke Palette 2025

 

Its been an odd summer with dry and rain spells, and a yellowish haze over everything due to the wild fires in Central and Western Canada. Earlier in June I made a series of paintings featuring the hazy sky, and since then noticed a orange-yellow haze that is prominent on the horizon, but also tints everything with a subtle amber hue. I recall the pandemic when there were  no cars in Montreal, after a week or two the sky became a crystal clear 'true blue'. Now, I can see the subtle variations in atmospheric colour changes from a painters perspective. About a month ago I instinctively added a blob of raw sienna (PBr7), cadmium red hue (PR254/PY53) and bismuth yellow (PY184) to my palette, as seen above in the painted sketch. The other day, it occurred to me that those three colours provide the amber tint caused by smokey skies. Its an unfortunate adjustment for the sake of realism. The rest of the palette is pretty much the same as before, pigment codes are scribbled on the sketch. My paints are made by various companies: Holbein (Japan), Daniel Smith (US), Schminke (Germany), Da Vinci (US), Shin Han (South Korea), and Winsor and Newton (UK/US). I buy them from Avenue Des Arts, Kama Pigments, and DeSerres. 

Summer Smoke Palette 2025, sketch book paper