MC_05_MixingColor.pdf

Richard Robinson's

Mastering Color

[Chapter 5]

Mixing Color

Oils

Large palette - larger than A3 size is

good. An A2 sized glass palette is ideal.

Brushes of any size.

Painting medium for oils like Liquin or

Chroma Archival Classic Medium.

Palette Knife.

Colors as recommended throughout the

lesson.

Acrylics

Large stay-wet palette - A3 or bigger is good.

Brushes of any size.

Retarding Medium to slow the drying of your

paints.

Water spray bottle for keeping your paints wet.

Palette Knife.

Colors as recommended throughout the

lesson.

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Which Colors to Buy?

In order to mix colors we have to have some to start with, but which colors do we buy? The range of

available colors is pretty overwhelming. I've seen some artists use up to 30 different tubed colors on

their palette with great success, whereas I often use only 3 colors and still manage to get confused

sometimes. In the end your palette of colors is your personal choice as you will discover just what you

are comfortable working with. To begin with however, a little guidance and knowledge will help you on

your way to discovering color for yourself.

Earlier I mentioned Munsell's color wheel and his system to

describe color with hue, value and chroma. Although Munsell's

color wheel is widely used today it's not actually very helpful

when it comes to mixing color as the tubes that we buy in the

shop aren't normally labeled using the Munsell system - instead

of Munsell's 5B we have Ultramarine Blue…instead of 5YR we

have Cadmium Orange - you see the problem.

So far, American Artist Stephen Quiller has produced the most

useful artist's color wheel available in that it lists the names of

actual paint colors on it and places them correctly on the wheel

so that each color is directly opposite it's mixing complement.

Remember that if you mix two complementary colors together

you get a grayish color.

Munsell's color wheel

Richard Robinson's

Mixing Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 5]

There are still a lot of colors on Quillers Wheel though, it doesn't suggest a palette of colors for you - it

just shows you all the colors. Here's a more simple version so it's not so confusing…

CADMIUM YELLOW LIGHT

CADMIUM ORANGE

PERMANENT GREEN LIGHT

CADMIUM SCARLET

PHTHALO GREEN

PHTHALO TURQUOISE

CADMIUM RED MEDIUM

ALIZARINE CRIMSON

PHTHALO BLUE

ULTRAMARINE BLUE

MAGENTA

ULTRAMARINE VIOLET

Primary Color

Secondary Color

Tertiary Color

You could use all these colors on your palette or just one. Obviously the colors that you use will

determine the coloring of your painting. When you are starting out I think it's best to keep it simple

with three colors and then add new colors as you feel yourself getting comfortable with those and

wanting to try new mixtures. The obvious three colors to choose from this color wheel would be

Phthalo Blue, Permanent Alizarine and Cadmium Yellow Light. These three colors will give you a wide

range of color mixtures.

However, I've seen several sources quote these 3 colors as the best possible primary colors:

Phthalo Blue, Magenta and Cadmium Yellow Light. So that's another palette you can try out.

Richard Robinson's

Mixing Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 5]

In this painting I've used a palette of Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Alizarine, Cadmium Yellow Mid and

Titanium White. Trying out different palettes is like trying out different tinted glasses - it lets you

express what you are seeing within a certain color range.

Using a simple 3 color (Primary) palette for quick outdoor sketches.

Richard Robinson's

Mixing Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 5]

Here's another way to choose a palette; we could just use the six colors which make up the star pattern

- 3 primaries and 3 secondaries. That would give us a palette of:

CADMIUM YELLOW LIGHT

Cadmium Yellow Light

Permanent Green Deep/Phthalo Green

Phthalo Blue

Ultramarine Violet/Purple

Alizarine Crimson

Cadmium Red Light

Zinc White/Tinting White

Carbon Black/Lamp Black/Ivory Black

CADMIUM ORANGE

PERMANENT GREEN LIGHT

PHTHALO GREEN

CADMIUM SCARLET

PHTHALO TURQUOISE

CADMIUM RED MEDIUM

ALIZARINE CRIMSON

PHTHALO BLUE

MAGENTA

ULTRAMARINE BLUE

ULTRAMARINE VIOLET

So those are just a handful of options for color palettes but there are literally hundreds of possible

palette combinations which can yield beautiful mixtures to paint with so it's a good idea to play around

with a few so you can find out what suits you best. The palette I have been working with up until now

has been a warm/cool primary palette consisting of a warm and cool version of blue, red and yellow.

I tend to use Ultramarine Blue and Phthalo Blue, Cadmium Red Mid and Alizarine Crimson, Cadmium

Yellow Mid and Cadmium Yellow Light. Depending on the subject I'll often include Cadmium Orange,

Yellow Ochre, and Burnt Sienna. I have an aversion to green so I don't often use a tubed green on my

palette. That's something I intend to remedy though in going through this course with you. I've been

using Titanium White exclusively, though I'm going to have a play with something like a zinc/mixing

white now too.

The best way I've found to try out different palettes is to just choose a few colors you're interested in

and make a few little paintings with those colors - this keeps it fun and interesting without having to

struggle through a big painting when you might not be feeling comfortable with the new mixtures.

Color Charts

By far the most comprehensive way to learn about color mixing is to make your own color charts. This

practice comes highly recommended by American artist Richard Schmid, who is a living master. It can

however be a very dull and time consuming exercise for most people who simply don't have the

patience to go through the whole process. However, for the sake of those who do have the tenacity to

do this I'll show you how to build your own color charts.

Color charts are about discovering what your colors can do when lightened with white, and when each

color is mixed with every other color.

Here's how to make the first chart:

1. Choose a surface like canvas board, masonite panel or illustration board coated with gesso.

2. Count the tube colors you would like to use in your charts. Lets say you have 6. Measure out a grid of

1" squares 5 high x 6 wide with a quarter inch space in between each square. Lay this out using ¼"

masking tape.

3. Take your lightest color (eg. Cad yellow light) and paint that into the top left square, making sure the

paint is thick enough to cover the canvas.

4. Using a palette knife to mix on your palette, mix enough white and yellow so that the mixture is

nearly white, but still exhibits some yellow. Paint that into the bottom left square but leave a glob on

your palette.

Richard Robinson's

Mixing Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 5]

5. Make a yellow and white mixture which has a value half way between pure yellow and your previous

mixture. Paint that into the third left square.

6. Now make mixtures who's values are in between squares 1 and 3, then 3 and 5. Paint in those

squares. You should now have a 5 value scale from yellow to nearly white.

7. Choose your next darkest tube color and repeat this process for that color in the second column, and

so on until you have completed the first chart.

The next charts get a little bit trickier. They are designed to show what all your colors look like when

mixed with every other color. If you have 6 six colors, that's how many charts there will be. Each chart

takes one color as the predominant color, and mixes that with every other color. The predominant color

for each mixture should be obvious, but not to the extend that you cannot tell which other color has

been mixed with it.

Making the Predominance Charts:

1. Lay up another 5x6 grid and using your lightest tube color again (eg. Cad yellow light), make a 5

value scale in the first column as in the previous chart.

2. Now mix your Cad yellow light with your next darkest tube color (eg. Cad yellow mid) so that Cad

yellow light predominates - until you can see there's more Cad yellow light than Cad yellow mid in

the mixture (this gets easier with darker colors).

3. Paint this color into the 2nd top square and then make a 5 value scale with it, adding white as before.

4. Repeat this process in the next column with the next darkest tube color, and so on across the

columns until the chart is complete with every color being mixed with Cad yellow light

predominating, and 5 value scales of each mixture.

5. Now lay out another grid, choose your next darkest tube color (eg. Cad yellow mid) and follow steps

1-4 until you have a completed Cad Yellow Mid Predominance Chart. Repeat with all your chosen

tube colors.

Building your own color charts will build your understanding of color mixing very quickly, and it can be

a very rewarding experience - in fact Schmid himself says he does this exercise every few years because

his color knowledge deepens considerably each time he does it.

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First Color Chart

First Predominance Color Chart

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