Color theory: mixing colors

Revisiting Split Primaries

Here I want us to pay attention to just how many new colors we can create with just the six from our split-primary palette. We visited the color wheel in our previous post and I think this a great opportunity to touch on color harmony. When we refer to color harmony, we refer to how well colors "go together" within a given piece. Now this can be applied in all kinds of different scenarios from plein-air to realism. Often times it is recommended to use colors that better fit together than the ones we see, this will help us create a more unified piece in the end. I like to use already existing colors and mixes I have on my palette; if I'm already using lemon yellow and cadmium red, and I want a yellow-leaning orange, instead of bringing in a new color (like cadmium yellow), it's better to mix the colors previously mentioned.

Recommended Resource

When referring to mixes and their uses, I love the book "The Watercolor Painter's Pocket Palette" by Moira Clinch (ISBN 0-89134-401-2), which goes through mixing everything from red to purple, as well as using blues with browns, muted colors, and mixing skin tones. The later of which I plan on covering in a future blog post.

Forbidden Colors

I also love to refer to call these "goblin" colors, because of how messy they look. We are often discouraged from mixing complementary colors, or colors that would result in what is referred to as "muddy" colors. However, I strongly encourage experimenting with these color mixes, as these will be very useful for creating contrast and shadows in your work. Remember, that even though there are "rules" about what to and what not to do; do them anyway so you know why they're the way they are or so you can learn from them and make it your own.

Happy coloring,

Viktoria