31/10/2026
Some phone pics of the same tree, from a walk on a Spring day. Yes, traditionally "autumn" colours in Spring.
Took these to illustrate a few points. Colours depend on lighting conditions. Selecting a palette.
The leaves were more or less the same colours but there appeared to be a difference with leaves in shade vs backlit leaves. More towards yellow in sun. More towards violet in shade.
The dominant colours I see are red & magenta. Some call magenta red-purple or red-violet. I also see touches of other colours like golden green.
Now, if I were choosing a palette, there are several approaches. If I were to use only high-chroma single-pigment paints, I would likely choose quinacridone magenta. A darker version, not premixed with white. Quinacridone magenta is darker than screen magenta.
I have marked out some of the hues I see:
M = magenta
R1 = red
R2 = warm red
O = orange
Y = yellow
These are all available as pigments. However, one thing to be wary of is that orange and red pigments can mix browns, which are not dominant here.
If I wanted to use as few pigments as possible for all colours, I would likely choose a magenta and a yellow. Mix the reds and oranges. Also choose a blue for sky and mixed in for shadows & hints of green. Would also need white.
So at a bare minimum, I would choose magenta, yellow, blue & white. I would need to check my references but would likely choose a violet-blue like ultramarine blue.
Of course, there is nothing to stop one using pops of red and/or orange as well but brown is not a dominant colour here. So would use any red or orange pigments with caution. Likely not even needed.
