Video Transcript
0:09 Hi, I'd like to show you how to adjust the hue, value and saturation of a colour. I'm going to work with this primary triad of oils; Winsor Lemon, Cadmium Red, Ultramarine Green Shade, plus a Titanium White. This Cadmium Red is my starting point for exploring hue, value and saturation.
0:40 I'm going to start by mixing in Titanium White, to raise the value of the red. I'll make five values, adding more white as I go along. This set of values or tones could also be referred to as tints. I'll mix the three primaries together to make a fairly neutral black. Adding black to the red will deepen its value beneath its inherent value and will also reduce its saturation. These values could be referred to as shades.
1:51 Adding yellow to the red in increasing amounts will alter its hue and eventually we will shift it to an orange. I’m adding Titanium White to the black to bring it to, as close as I can, the same value as the Cadmium Red. By incrementally adding this mid-toned grey to the red, I can reduce its level of saturation, but retain its value. The Cadmium Red in its most pure state is prismatic. And here we have slightly desaturated and muted the primary colour.
2:41 Each adjustment is reducing the red saturation, eventually leaving us with a chromatic grey with a red leaning. With Cadmium Red, adjustments are fairly straightforward, but with the yellow, adding black results in a series of greens. This also happens when adding grey to desaturate. This anomaly also occurs when working from observation, as there is no dark yellow in nature. This is such a useful skill to master in observational painting, because in nature, we mainly see chromatic greys.
I hope you found this interesting!