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Watercolour tips – the art of easy colour mixing Mixing colours always seems to be near the top of the list of watercolour problems. But just by using a bit of thought and by looking carefully, I’ll show you how easy it really is. Basics: If we think about it, most of us will remember the basic theory of colour mixing from our school days. There are three primary colours, red, yellow and blue. Red and yellow together make orange, yellow and blue together make green, and blue and red together make purple. Mix all three primaries together in the right proportions and you'll end up with black.
Nearly all artists pigments have a bias towards another colour. If we can see that bias then it's easy to predict what the result of mixing one pigment with another will be. Green: Let's imagine we want to mix a green. Remember blue and yellow make green. Which of the two blues above when mixed with a yellow would give the cleanest most vibrant green? I hope you said Prussian Blue. It's already on the way to green because it's got a yellow bias. If we use Ultramarine with it's hint of red, we'll effectively be mixing blue, red, and yellow together - on the way to black. Greens mixed with Ultramarine will be more muted, not as spring like. Of course, that might be quite useful for painting the landscape, the most vibrant greens are not always the most realistic. Now let’s look at two yellows that continue the theme - on the right is a warm yellow with a red bias, Dull or bright: Let's have some examples. If we wanted to mix a really dull grey-green we could use Ultramarine Blue and Raw Sienna. Why? Because both of those colours have a red bias, so that we're actually mixing blue, yellow and red together - remember that those three colours mixed together make black. Mixing a blue with a red bias and a yellow with a red bias is going to give us a green that's on it's way to being a black, in other words a very dull grey-green. If we want to make a brighter green, then we can substitute one or both colours for ones that do not contain any red. So we could use Ultramarine Blue with Lemon Yellow, or Raw Sienna with Prussian Blue. For a really bright spring green, then Prussian Blue and Lemon Yellow would do the trick. Here are four greens mixed from combinations of the two blues and two yellows I've been showing you. See if you can work out which green was mixed with which colour. For the answer, roll your mouse over the image.
So colour mixing isn’t too difficult after all, particularly if you restrict yourself to just a few tubes of paint, the so called “limited palette”. For more on that click here. Back to the top of Watercolour tips - the art of easy colour mixing Copyright Stephen Martyn 2005. All rights reserved. No images or text on this site may be duplicated without specific permission. |
Here are two common watercolour blues. On the left is Prussian Blue and on the right Ultramarine Blue. I'm sure you can see that Prussian Blue is much cooler looking than Ultramarine Blue. Prussian already has an almost green tinge to it, whereas Ultramarine is distinctly veering towards purple or violet. This is because Prussian Blue has a yellow bias, some small amount of yellow in it. Remember - blue and yellow make green. Ultramarine Blue has a red bias, blue and red make purple or violet.
Raw Sienna, and on the left is a cool yellow with a blue bias, Lemon Yellow. It's important to choose the right blue and the right yellow to mix together to make a green, and it's even more important to understand why the colours react as they do.