Article: The Colour Palette of L.S Lowry

	L.S Lowry, Market Scene, Northern Town, 1939 © The Lowry Collection, Salford

"I am a simple man and I use simple materials: Ivory Black, Vermilion, Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre, Flake White and no medium. That’s all I’ve ever used in my paintings." - LS Lowry.

Any painter who looks at Lowry’s work will be envious of the colour spectrum he achieved from only five colours. Lowry preferred it this way, he was in absolute control of all the colours and tones he could achieve and this allowed him to concentrate on composition, perspective and subject matter...


L.S Lowry's Five Colour Palette

Ivory Black
A relatively low tinting strength black with a warm brown undertone, this is not too overpowering on the canvas and can be used for mixing tones and shades.

Vermilion
A bright, opaque, primary red with a blue undertone, its opaqueness gives an earthy nature in mixtures, nothing too bright.

Prussian Blue
An important historical pigment, it was the first modern colour to be artificially produced in 1704. It is an incredibly strong colour, almost black from the tube and its transparency makes it a good, clean mixing colour.

Yellow Ochre
One of the oldest pigments on earth, Yellow Ochre was used by cavemen more than 15,000 years ago. It is natural earth which has been coloured by its contact with iron. It remains one of the most important colours in an artists’ palette: a tone of yellow which does not contain black, it therefore allows all colour mixtures in this area to be relatively clean.

Flake White
White is obligatory in order to achieve most spectrums in oil painting and without it, impasto tints would not be possible. Popular because it is fast drying, helping to speed the whole painting process, Flake White is of medium tinting strength which avoids producing overly ‘chalky’ mixtures.

About LS Lowry

LS Lowry Sketching

Lawrence Stephen Lowry was born in Stretford, Manchester in 1887, and lived in Manchester for the rest of his life. As well as taking private art lessons and attending Manchester and Salford art schools, Lowry also worked as a rent collector until the age of 65,, painting at night. In World War II he was a firewatcher which gave him wonderful aerial views of the city much used in his paintings. He was an official war artist from 1943 and an official artist for The Queen’s Coronation in 1953. Lowry’s work was acknowledged in his lifetime, yet in his modest way he refused an OBE, CBE and a Knighthood. He died in 1976.

Lowry used Winsor & Newton Winton Oil Colour all his life. A highly pigmented oil range, often with greater pigment strength than many competitors’ artists’ ranges, Lowry liked its relatively stiff consistency as he used it straight from the tube. Winton is found in many artists’ studios alongside  Artists’ Oil Colour which offers a wider choice of colours and even greater colour strength.

In the latter part of the 20th century, after Lowry’s death, many new pigments became available and there were great improvements in the permanence of colours too. Vermilion Hue is now more permanent and no longer risks fading on mixing with Flake White. Flake White has been replaced by Flake White Hue which is no longer lead based and thus avoids the toxicity issues.


There are two choices if you want to use Lowry’s palette:

Using Winton Oil Colour

Winton Oil Colour: Vermilion Hue, Yellow Ochre, Prussian Blue, Ivory Black, Flake White Hue

Flake White Hue, Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black, Vermilion Hue and Prussian Blue. Despite the two pigment changes made, this is arguably the nearest to Lowry’s palette because the pigment strength and consistency will be ‘Winton’ quality. The colours are as close as possible to those used by Lowry.

Using Artists’ Oil Colour

Artists’ Oil Colour could also be used.

Flake White No.1, Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black, Cadmium Red and Prussian Blue. Many artists prefer to use genuine Flake White, the texture, drying rate and exact hue of which are unique. Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black and Prussian Blue will all be stronger than the Winton equivalents. Cadmium Red is the nearest artists’ colour to Vermilion which has not been available since the 1980’s when the quality had become so poor Winsor & Newton decided they could no longer use it. Winton Vermilion was not genuine anyway so it would seem more sensible to use Winton Vermilion Hue than Artists’ Cadmium Red.

Artists' Oil Colour: Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre, Prussian Blue, Ivory Black, Flake White No.1

Prussian Blue still has some permanence issues in that it fades in daylight and recovers in darkness.  Indanthrene Blue overcomes this.


Learning from Lowry, limiting your palette is a great exercise to return to again and again. It forces you to look harder and experiment – you are likely to discover things you didn’t know were possible. It can divert you from working habits which in the end will limit your work. Choose three – six colours, it doesn’t matter which colours you choose. Use this palette for a series of paintings before returning to a wider selection. Next time choose a different selection, there will always be something to learn.