Mixing

Colour Mixing...

Being red/green colourblind & creative, with the desire to paint requires a different approach from those who have normal vision. Manufacturers of artist paints for any medium regardless of quality have a very wide range of colours to choose from & that does create a lot of problems for the colourblind artist. To avoid wasting money by buying a wide range from the colours on sale, using a limited palette with such a choice of ready mixed paints may appear rather stupid when compared to mixing one's own colours. There are three primary colours, namely Blue, Yellow & Red & with these three one can actually mix a very wide range of colours. Now there are many books on colour mixing to choose from. However, there is one specific book which I can thoroughly recommend. The title of this book is Blue & Yellow don't make Green by a Michael Wilcox (ISBN 0-9679628-7-0). https://michaelwilcoxschoolofcolour.co.uk

A strange title perhaps, but I've found it indispensable & refer to it whenever I'm in doubt. This book uses the Colour Bias Wheel. He recommends using just six basic colours, although this can be increased to twelve in due course. Two blues, two yellows & two reds & white. No prepared black as he recommends mixing our black by using one of our blues, Ultramarine & a brown, Burnt Sienna as this combination results in a superior black to the rather dead manufactured blacks. By mixing with our white, Titanium White we are able to create a very wide of greys. Here is a list of the colours I use all the time:

For the two blues, Ultramarine & Cerulean Blue, the two yellows, Lemon Yellow (also known as Hansa Yellow) & Cadmium Yellow Light; & for the two reds, Cadmium Red Light & Quinacridone Violet. By using the colour bias wheel you are in a position to mix any colour you want & without wasting any paints. It is all too easy to use too many colours in colour mixing & end up with 'mud' even for those with normal colour vision.

Mixing greens does create a lot of problems for the colourblind artist. For several years I avoided using greens as I ran into difficulties with colour harmony which I couldn't see! In recent years, I have made use of greens in many of my paintings. It isn't an easy decision to make, but referring back to the book, & by using green's complimentary colour red in the same painting you are able to achieve colour harmony. A red rose & green leaves is a good example. Painting a landscape with only three colours, Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna & Titanium White produces excellent results as you will see from other photos of my paintings, which I will be adding in due course as I increase the pages on this website. During the summer months many greens darken, which by autumn are more brown than green which is most noticeable at higher altitudes. You can use any medium of your choice. With some manufactures' ranges finding the 'Light' versions of Yellow & Red may not be available. From my experience this makes little difference. It is best to buy Artist quality paints as it is false economy to buy cheap paints as they have minimum pigments & lots of what is called 'filler'. They are also more susceptible to fading with time. Most people are introduced at an early age to watercolours. A lovely medium, but it isn't permanent when dry. Any finished painting should be framed behind glass to keep out moisture. I used Acrylics soon after they came onto the market. They are permanent when dry & dry fairly rapidly, although this can be slowed by the addition of a retarder. The advent of water mixable oil paints has eliminated the need for toxic thinners which are used with traditional oils & that has solved the problems with brush cleaning. In the past I used linseed oil to thin oil paints, but for cleaning brushes, I still had to use a thinner like turpentine with its toxic fumes. Having cleaned the brushes I also ended up with wasted paint & the problem of a safe disposal. The water mixable oils can be used like watercolours & acrylics in thin washes with excellent results. Two of my paintings on the Home Page, namely the pink carnation & the yellow irises were painted with those paints as was the Spaniel on the Paintings Page. These 3 paintings were painted on primed watercolour paper (6"x4") with thin washes. Each card prior to folding had the front primed with two thin coats of Titanium White (Acrylic).

Thankfully paints in tubes come very well labelled. I only sqeeze out enough paint for immediate use, this being most important with acrylics. For a palette I actually use the bottom of a plastic milk bottle which being transparent & laid on a white piece of paper allows one to see the actual tube colour exactly as what comes out of the tube. Most of the time I use only two colours in a mix. To lighten a mix, I use Titanium White & to darken the complementary colour of the mixed colour with the use the Colour Bias Wheel.

With watercolours in pans use the list that came with the paint box. When using one's own selection of colours in an unmarked box make sure you write their names down & place the pans in your box according to your list. However by sticking to a limited palette of two reds, two yellows & two blues plus Titanium White & Burnt Sienna what I've written above becomes much easier. However, I felt some guidance was necessary to avoid anyone loosing the desire to pick a brush & develop their creative abilities.