Neadeen Masters CDA - Country Carousel Art©

Mixing Colour  or Mixing color?

Mixing colour and learning painting go hand in hand, as we learn and teach more about mixing color there are a few things to try to remember.  I would like to give a few tips that will make it fun to learn. One of the observations that I make as a teacher, is that many students are really afraid of color, let alone mix it, “what if I get it wrong?’ they ask. Well, the worst part of that is you will know not to do that again! Mixing colour is all about making discoveries and making them your friends.  Seeing the color and learning to ‘read’ what the colour really is and how it behaves.  By that I mean learning how to judge the colour, the hue the value and the intensity? How do you know if it is the correct mix? How do you recognize if it is right?

The only answer to that is to get acquainted with colour. Get to know colour intimately, just like making a new friend.  You start slow and with caution, when you become comfortable with them you relax and have fun.  Knowing colour is like hanging out with good friends, but first you must spend time with them, getting used to their personalities and their most important, their quirks! So let’s make friends with colour. The first exercise to do is to test the colour and see what happens when you mix it. Get introduced to colour. Shake hands with it. Let’s begin….. Mix a couple of colours together, with the palette knife drag some of the colour across the wax palette, and see what happens when you do this.  What is the result? – take a look at the standard colour wheel and try to determine the new hue (colour family) Which one of the 12 hues does the new hue belong to? Is it Red, Blue, Red Orange, Yellow Green?

Now add a little Titanium White to it, this will reveal its personality.  Take your palette knife and ‘flash it’ or ‘drag it’ out across the wax palette – this will spread the colour out on the white paper and allows the hue to show. Record your findings on white poster paper. Make notes – is it dull, brilliant or in between maybe? Mix some different values of this colour by adding more white each time. Now record what you see, is the new colour getting lighter? Yes of course – you are adding a lightening agent to it – Titanium White will make the value lighter. That is for sure!

NOW, onto another matter! How much paint?  Well we need paint to be able to paint! It’s that simple.  That is, put out enough paint on your palette to work with.  You can’t do anything with little pea sized puddles. In order to mix colour correctly, you need to have paint on your brush.  Not gobs of paint, but pick up enough paint so when you move to the canvas or the surface you have something to leave behind.  I notice that many new painters as well as those making the shift from oils to Traditions use too little paint.  Then when they try to brush mix, blend or deposit paint there is nothing there to work with other than making a mark on the surface.

Also by using a wet palette to keep your paints hydrated will help you with keeping interesting colours for use when you brush mix your colours. When I brush mix, I adjust the edge of the puddle, not the whole puddle.  Remember you need to test the colour for the result. Either take some from the main puddle and place it somewhere else, or spread some of the colour out from your main puddle, now by mixing on the edge of the puddle, you can see what will happen to the colour. If you are working on a wet palette you can keep this colour for another area of your painting.  Then if you have to adjust the colour once again (i.e. make it brighter or lighter) you can spread out a little more and add another colour to another side of the puddle.  Never adjust by dropping colour straight into the center of a puddle, or you will end up with too much of the colour and if the hue isn’t quite right will it be too hard to correct. Whatever adjustments you make, do them slowly, and remember these are POWERFUL artist grade pigments – they will react very quickly so take your time and familiarize yourself with them. 

On a closing note, spend the time getting to know each pigment and learn the properties of each.  Like personalities, they are all different and unique.  Look at the inside cover of the artist Technical Guide; it will give you the important personality traits of each pigment in the Traditions line.  From Opacity to transparency, from temperature to value and intensity, from this you will develop lasting friendships and some will become your best friends and others, well, somewhat like people you will learn to keep them at arms distance because of their overbearing nature! 

Neadeen Masters  CDA©

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Where do I put the paint on my 'wet' palette?

Layout your paint in the order it sits around the colour wheel.

Many artists have their own ways of setting up their palettes, that is, the actual order that the paint is laid out. The palette serves two important purposes, yes, one is to keep the paint hydrated, but more importantly, it is a visual 'map' to give you shortcuts
to solving colour problems. Coming from an oil painting background I have always had an order to my palette, which keeps me on track, allowing me to adjust hue, value, intensity with little effort.

By setting up the palette in the same way each time one paints, you reinforce the theory behind the colour solution. It's like reaching into your pantry and knowing where the cayenne pepper is each time you need it. Imagine how frustrating it might be if the 'chaos fairy' visited your pantry every night and rearranged the shelves, putting the jams in place of the spices etc. The same applies to
your palette. By repeating the same basic layout, you can problem solve with order and method, not hit or miss. You will be comfortable with choosing colour.

Many student painters squirt a blob of paint in a haphazard order onto their
palette, thinking that the palette is just a place to keep paint wet. The palette is so much more than that. In fact, after I complete a painting, many times I will let the palette dry, and file it with my notes, this is my reference for the future. I can read what I did simply by referring to that old palette.
With the 'Traditions' palette, those of us who are teaching with the
Traditions system now, are suggesting to students to lay the colours out in the order that they come on the colour wheel. Starting with the reds in the upper left, then oranges, yellows, greens, etc. as you move across the top of the palette to the right side, keeping the earth colours down the right side of the palette (Top to bottom). There is so much more to this, and I would have to expand on it quite a bit more, but unless you understand why you are doing this, it would be difficult to explain in detail in this short article.

If you have a Traditions Technical Guide book
http://jansenarttraditions.com on page 30 there is a diagram and a written tutorial section on setting up the palette and how to use it efficiently. It is easier for you to see the diagram and to read the information for yourself, as you will understand why and what the end goal of setting up the palette in this manner is all about.

The colours are arranged in this way to teach you colour theory as you paint, you will learn the colour names and properties very quickly. Once again, I can't stress how valuable this book is and should be owned by every student who desires a better sense of colour and a greater understanding of pigments. The 'Traditions' palette map as drawn in the 'Guide', is so effective for learning, that with little effort students see the results quickly and by default learn colour theory without really trying! a bonus!

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Mixing Exercise

For a simple and effective mixing exercise please look in the Heritage Artist winter 2006 Newsletter, on page #26. The following exercise below will help build additional mixing skills.

See the Heritage Artist newsletter here