Hints, Tips & Techniques for Colour Mixing - Practical Tips to get Results!

New Colours For The 21st Century

The founders of Winsor & Newton would have been delighted with the opportunity provided by the development of pigments throughout the 20th century. 

Their determination to improve the range of colours available to painters and provide colours of greater permanence has continued and in the early 1990’s, artists’ quality oil, acrylic and water colour from Winsor & Newton all benefited from updated pigmentation.

Many of the new pigments are complex chemicals with high tinting strength, high transparency and very complicated names! Listed here is a precis of suggested uses for the new colours from Winsor & Newton.

Benzimidazolone Maroon
A dense, transparent, blue shade maroon, excellent for darks and shadows.

Benzimidazolone Orange
A bright, transparent, single pigment orange.

Bismuth Yellow
Bright, semi-opaque, permanent yellow which gives bright mixtures.

Cobalt Blue Deep
A red shade cobalt blue. Granulating in water colour.

Dioxazine Purple
Strong, mid shade violet.

Graphite Grey (Finity Artists’ Acrylic)
A single pigment dark silver grey, excellent for tonal mixtures.

Green Gold (Artists’ Water Colour)
A bright yellow shade green. A strong useful mixing colour.

Indanthrene Blue
Intense dark blue, good sea colour. Makes excellent darks mixed with Raw Umber.

Manganese Blue Hue
A very light, transparent blue which is not a tint. A Perfect summer sky colour. 

Naples Yellow Deep (Chromium/titanium oxide)
An excellent, tonal mixing colour. A single pigment Naples Yellow unique to Winsor & Newton.

Perinone Orange (Finity Artists’ Acrylics)
A very red shade, transparent, single pigment orange.

Permanent Alizarin Crimson
A permanent alternative to the very popular blue shade Alizarin Crimson.

Permanent Sap Green
A permanent alternative to the very popular landscape green.

Perylene Maroon (Artists’ Water Colour)
Dense, strong, very transparent red maroon. Excellent for darks and shadows.

Perylene Red (Finity Artists’ Acrylics)
A blue shade, transparent, single pigment red.

Pyrrole Red
A mid shade, strong, single pigment red.

Quinacridone Burnt Orange (Artists’ Acrylics)
A strong, transparent red earth colour.

Quinacridone Gold
Strong, transparent mustard-orange colour. Gives deep oranges and greens in mixing.

Thioindigo Violet
Single pigment deep red shade violet in Artists’ Water Colour.

Transparent Yellow
Particularly transparent, bright yellow, makes bright greens on mixing.

Get Those Paints Out

Nothing can beat getting your paints out and working your way through this booklet. This will turn colour theory into a useful reality for you. Here are a few tips to help you on your way.

Beat The Confusion

It is normal to feel confused about all this green shade, red shade business when you first read about it.  Dark blue usually just looks dark blue! So, have a look at both Winsor Blues mixed with Transparent Yellow. Mix various proportions on your palette and the differences between the greens will be visually obvious.

Add some Titanium White and the differences will show even more. Repeat the exercise with both Winsor Blues mixed with Permanent Rose and observe the violets. Remember that colour theory is all bound up with the physics of light and explanations about how much red is in a blue is about wavelengths of light, not particles of red pigment in the Winsor Blue.

Top palette L-R: Winsor Blue (green shade) mixed with Transparent Yellow and Winsor Blue (red shade) mixed with Transparent Yellow
Bottom palette L-R: Winsor Blue (green shade) mixed with Permanent Rose and Winsor (red shade) mixed with Permanent Rose 

Different Ranges

The same pigment, eg. Ultramarine Blue, can produce slightly different colour blues, depending upon the binder which is used. Ultramarine in water colour will be a different colour than in oil colour. In itself, this can lead to the preference of one colour over another in different ranges.

Ultramarine Blue in Water Colour	Ultramarine Blue in Oil colour

The difference between an artists’ colour and the student grade will also have an affect on colour mixing. The higher pigment strength in the artists’ grade will result in higher intensity colour and greater tinting strength, eg. Ultramarine in Artists’ Water Colour versus Ultramarine in Cotman Water Colour. Try mixing a colour with first artists’ quality and then the second quality equivalent to show the different results.

In water colour, tubes will tend to give stronger colours than pan colours. Experiment with the same colour from the artists’ range in tube and pan form to experience the differences. Both will work the same if the tube colour is highly diluted or the pan colour is worked for a little longer. 

Top: Winsor Violet Tube Colour
Bottom: Winsor Violet Pan Colour 

And finally, manufacturers all work from their own formulations and the same pigment type used by two different manufacturers will produce two different colours.

Proportions Used In Colour Mixing

A secondary colour is not necessarily achieved by mixing equal proportions of primary colours. Using the three primary colours in the range of your choice, combine the primaries in different proportions to show the spread of possible colours. eg. mix red with yellow to show the range of oranges produced.

Mixing a secondary orange

Thickness Of Film

The thickness of the paint film will affect the colour.  A very dilute water colour wash will give a totally different colour than a heavy wash. In water colour particularly, water is a great colour mixing tool. Take some Permanent Alizarin Crimson and make a wash with an equal amount of water to colour. Repeat the exercise by continuing to add 100% every time and paint the colour out. The variety in hue from one colour is amazing.

Alizarin Crimson mixed with water to create different strengths of film 

Colour And Texture Of  Surface

What may seem a minute variation between two canvas textures or the colour of two water colour sheets can magnify itself when colour is applied. Increased canvas texture will tend to subdue the colour, bright white paper will give very bright washes.

Any surface which is over-absorbent, for example paper used for oil colour, will result in dullness of the colours.  Choose a transparent colour, decide on a method of application and build up a comparison library by painting out this colour onto every new surface which you come across. You’ll be amazed by the difference!

Sap green water colour
Sap green oil colour

Texture Of  Pigments

Different pigments can give different textures which in turn affect the appearence of their colour. The most noticeable examples are water colours which granulate. These colours separate on the paper to give a mottled effect. When colour mixing, granulation can subdue colour mixtures. Granulating colours are marked on the colour charts.

Left-Right: Cerulean Blue (granulates), Winsor Blue (green shade) smooth wash 

Where You Paint

The light in which you paint will affect your colour enormously. Wherever possible, paint in daylight. North light is the preferred studio light because it is the most constant. In the summer, avoid painting in direct sunlight or your painting will be too bright indoors. If painting in electric light, daylight bulbs are best. Conventional tungsten lighting is yellow whilst fluorescent strip lighting tends to be blue. You simply can’t see which colours you’re really mixing.

and finally...

Anyone can paint, you don’t need to know all about colour mixing before you start. But, once you’re painting and enjoying it, you might start to wonder why some things don’t work and this section will help.  The most important thing is to enjoy painting!