Zorn Palette Webinars - St Marks Square

I am participating in an on-line webinar run by Ken Vloothuis over 4 Saturday evenings. It is all about using the Zorn palette to become familiar with values.

The Painting

St Marks Square WIP, 40x50cm (16"x20") oil on canvas

Last Saturday's subject was St Marks Basilica. The building was loosely painted with the focus on the activity in front of the church i.e. the people.
It was an interesting exercise and my first time of

• painting a complicated building and 
• putting people into a painting
• using black as a major colour

The palette
 The Zorn palette uses only two colours

• cadmium red and 
• yellow ochre pale
• plus ivory black and titanium white. 

Those of you who know my paintings will realise this is a far cry from the colours I normally use.

Ivory Black
I do find the ivory black very dull and flat, but this may be because of the brand of paint. It was a last minute decision to join in and I did not have any black in my arsenal of oil paints. So I had to make do with the only one I could find in the local shops and this was a Pebeo, I am ordering some Winsor and Newton paint to see if that makes a difference.

Zorn Palette colour chart
After starting the painting, I researched the Zorn palette and found some interesting colour charts see Here which give me hope that I may be able to get to grips with the palette.

Conclusion 
I am not sure I like the Zorn palette, the colours are limiting although I believe that additional accent colours will be used in the other sessions. I can see that it might improve my understanding of values versus colour. It is always good to jump out of one's comfort zone and learn something new.

I shall keep you posted on how I progress with using this palette.