Colour Mixing Study

Colour mixing is the bane of many an amateur artist's life. Some even go so far as to buy a wide range of colours to avoid the issue altogether. Making colour mixing easy for yourself can save you money, time, and most of all frustration. 

Take a look at the image to the left. You'll notice a row of six colours at the top there, there is a seventh hiding in the centre. These colours are cerulean blue, cadmium red hue, cadmium yellow hue, titanium white, lemon yellow, alizarin crimson and utlramarine blue.

These were the seven colours I used, I now use cobalt blue more often than cerulean blue but I may switch back so I have kept this colour study for future reference. In the columns beneath these colours you can see I have added patches of greens, oranges, purples, browns and greys. Those secondary and tertiary colours have been mixed using the primary colours and white. By varying the ratio of the mix I can alter the hue of the shades created. By adding the complementary hue to each mix I get greys that are not flat black/white mixes. By using all three primaries with varying ratios, and adding titanium white, I get various shades of brown that are clearn and vibrant not muddy-looking and flat. This is just a small selection of the colours I can mix using these six primaries and titanium white. 

I could, for example, mix the ultramarine with the cadmium yellow rather than lemon yellow - that would give me a whole palette of slightly different greens. The same goes for switching the mix for the oranges and purples.  With careful practice, and a lot of these colour study sheets, I can create any colour at all. By mixing my colours from a limited palette, I avoid the need to buy lots and lots of tubes of different hues. I save money and guarantee my paintings are full of harmonious colours - how could they not be harmonious when they are mixed from the same initial primary hues?

If your colour mixing tends to end up muddy looking and flat, or if you can never figure out whether you need cool or warm primaries to get the desired colour, do a few colour studies of your own. Use equal amounts of two primaries to get your secondary colour. Then add more of one to one side of your mix and more of the other to the other side. Keep adding more of each to the corresponding sides to get variations in colour. Then add titanium white to desaturate and cool the colour. To make your greys, add a tiny amount of the complementary colour.

For each mixture paint a small blob of colour beneath your primaries, in future you will see at a glance which colours you need for any given hue. 

I am no expert - this is not my never-heard-before-wisdom, this is a method of colour mixing I have picked up from other, more experienced, artists. It helps me, I hope it helps you too.