In this case, I'm talking the colors of paint you are choosing.
Here are some basic formulas for creating a color with the basic colors you have in your palette. What colors you choose may depend on what colors you are going to want to mix. If you're not using Cobalt Blue, why include it if everything you mix is going to depend on Ultramarine blue?
These are based on Daniel Smith which are mostly single pigment paints. If you are using another manufacturer, your milage may vary.
Payne's Gray - Ultramarine Blue + Burnt Sienna or Quin Burnt Orange
Violet - Quin Rose + Phthalo Green blue shade
Imperial Purple - Quin Rose + Ultramarine
Red - Quin Rose + Hansa Yellow Medium or New Gamboge. Add more yellow for scarlet.
Orange - Quin Rose + Hansa Yellow Medium or New Gamboge or Quin Gold.
Phthalo Blue green shade - Phthalo Blue red shade + Phthalo Green blue shade
Phthalo Turquoise - Phthalo Green blue shade + Ultramarine Blue
Sap Green - Phthalo Green blue shade + Quin Gold or New Gamboge
Cascade Green - Phthalo Blue green shade + Quin Gold or New Gamboge
Hooker's Green - Phthalo Green blue shade + Hansa Yellow med. + Quin Gold or New Gamboge
Olive Green - Ultramarine Blue + Hansa Yellow med. + Raw Umber
Olive Green - Cerulean Blue or Manganese Blue Hue + Raw Umber.
Undersea Green - Ultramarine Blue + Quin Gold
Green - Phthalo Green blue shade or yellow shade + Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Quin. Burnt Orange, Quin. gold, Hansa Yellow Medium, New Gamboge.
If you see a lot of the same paints used to mix the colors, those are the ones you want on your palette. You can print a mixing cheat sheet to put in your palette to remember.
In a previous post on choosing your palette colors I mentioned that you don't put white or black on your palette. The white is your paper. But what about black when you really need black?
Black = Phthalo Blue red shade + Pyrrol Orange
Black = Phthalo Green blue shade + Pyrrol Crimson
There are many ways to make black but that's a start.
Remember that the Phthalos are the most powerful colors you have. A little goes a very long way. AND THEY STAIN! So don't start with a Phthalo, start with the other colors. Then put a tiny bit on the tip of your brush and mix. You can always add more if you need to.
You want mountains in the far distance? Mix a bit of quin rose with Ultramarine, then add just a touch of phthalo green and maybe an earth color to tone it down a bit. Then add water until you have a pale violet color. Take a flat brush and put in some mountains in the background. Be sure to leave some white where the brush has skipped a bit. Now they are snow covered. A pale violet gives you distant mountains.
While sometimes you want to mix colors on your palatte sometimes you want to mix them on the paper. Want a really nice grassy meadow. Put a wash of Hans Yellow, New Gamboge or Quin Gold on your paper, then wash over it with some Ultramarine and allow it to mix on the paper. Use a diluted blue at the top in the distance but as you wash farther down the page add more blue as you get toward the foreground. You can do this with a lot of the green mixes above. Start with a wash of the yellows and then wash again with the blue color, adding more blue as you wash down the page to give the impression it is coming toward you.
Lastly, remember not to paint everything solid. This is not a coloring book. Go ahead and leave those areas of white where the paint skipped because your brush was a little dry. That gives you reflections on water or snow and texture on wood or clouds in the sky.
I spent some time on the Daniel Smith website recording what pigments they use to mix their colors. Remember this is for Daniel Smith only. For some I recorded how many parts in the mix, I.E. 1:PBr7 would be 1 part of raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt umber or raw umber, depending on if I could identify which PBr7 it was. If you want to know what colors the numbers correspond to, you can see the single pigment Daniel Smith colors in the post called Pigments.
Olive Green 4:PY97 1:PB29 2:PBr7 (raw umber) (Or PY175 for PY97)
Undersea Green 1:PB29 (FrUl) 1:PO49
Emerald Green 8: PG18 2:PY35 1:PW4 or 6
Permanent Green PY3 PG7
Permanent Green Light PY3 PG7
Terre Verte PG18 PBr7 (raw umber)
Prussian Green PB27 PY35
Spring Green PG36 PY151 PY53
Hooker’s Green PG36 PY3 PO49
Sap Green PO49 PG7
Deep Sap Green PB27 PY3 PO48
Phthalo Yellow Green PG36 PY3
Phthalo Green Light PG7 PY153
Green Gold(PY10) PG36 PY3 PY150
Cascade Green PB15 PBr7 (raw sienna)
Cadmium Orange Hue PY53 PO73 PY83
New Gamboge PY97 PY110 or PO48 PY150
Indian Yellow PY97 PY150
Aussie Red Gold PY83 PR101 PV19
Quin. Deep Gold PO48 PY150
Quinacridone Sienna PO48 PY150 PR209 (or PO49 & PY150)
Naples Yellow PW4 PY35 PR101 (Venetian Red)
Naples Yellow Reddish 20:PW4 20:PW6 0.01:PY42 0.01:PR242
Flesh Tone PW4 PW6 PO62
Phthalo Turquoise PB36 PB15
Ultramarine Turquoise PG7 PB29
Indigo PB60 PBk6
Verditer Blue PB28 PB36 PW4
Cobalt Blue Violet PV19 PB28
Perm. Aliz. Crimson PR177 PV19 Q.red PR149
Rose Madder Perm. PR209 Q.Yellow PV19 Q.Red PR202 Q.Magenta
Wisteria PW6 PR122 Q.Lilac
Lavender PW6 PV15 PB29
Shadow Violet PG18 PB29 PO73
Imperial Purple PV19 PB29
Raw Umber Violet PV19 PBr7 (raw umber)
Rose of Ultramarine PV19 Q.red PB29 U.Bl
Moonglow PG18 PB29 PR177
Burnt Sienna Light PR101 PO48
Terre Ercolano PR101 PBr7 (raw sienna)
Sepia PBk9 PBr7 (burnt umber)
Neutral Tint PBk6 PV19 PB15
Payne’s Grey P PBk9 PB29 or PB29 PY42 or 1:PB29 1:PBr7 (burnt sienna)
Payne’s Blue Gray PB60 PBk6
No comments:
Post a Comment
This is a blog on watercolor and plein air. If your comment doesn't refer to either, it may be removed or denied. Play nice.