Plotting Color on a Munsell Color Wheel

Munsell Color Wheel using oil paints

The Munsell Student Color Book and Gradon Parrish, artist and Munsell color expert, recommend as a learning exercise creating a Munsell color wheel. I have worked long and hard and have completed my color wheel (see above) following the directions in the Munsell book and from students that attended Graydon's color classes. The large color circles on the wheel represent the Munsell hues in each of the hue sets in the Munsell book at their highest chroma ( that can be obtained in paint). These colors took extensive time to mix by using the hue chips from the student color book.

The smaller color circles are colors directly from the tubes of paint colors I own. I plotted those on the wheel using my knowledge of their hue, value, and chroma and the Munsell colors chips. This exercise really helped me begin to understand the complexities of mixing colors and trying to get the correct hue, value, and chroma. It also helped me see the range of colors (color gamut) and strongest chroma I could obtain from my palette. Now with the color chips and my new color wheel, color mixing and adjusting chroma should be a little easier. Some of the great notes from the student book regarding color mixing and the 3 ways to adjust chroma will also help me when mixing a desired hue. For me Munsell color makes a lot of sense!