Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Play at Color Mixing

Just a little play last night in color mixing.

I'm not crazy about mixing my own greens with blues and yellows......instead, I prefer to use Sap Green (or other favorite tube greens) as a starter base adding other colors to it. Even with that said, I do enjoy making the color charts.  If nothing else they remind me of why I prefer tube greens.

For example Cobalt Blue in the Daniel Smith line (to me) has this muted/milky feel.  I don't care to use it for mixing at all.  It's value range is limited so for a dark, one has to add yet another pigment.  That for me is a quick recipe for mixing mud.

Out of the combinations I chose to play with mixing green, I prefer the Cobalt and New Gamboge mix over the other yellows used.  As for violets..........Cobalt Blue and Quin Rose.  In fact the only violet/purple I like is with Quin Rose mixed with any of the blues.  Results are cleaner to my eyes.  (Of course the other results, I'm sure,  have their place as well at times within a painting.)

Aureolin to my eyes is a 'happy' ............. 'sing to me baby' yellow :-)


3x5" Handbook



5 comments:

straythreads said...

Pansies are beautiful. They are such a simple flower but they cause me a lot of problems when I sketch them

Ann

Sandy Sandy Art said...

Nice studies, Susan. Cobalt does have white in it. I don't use it and prefer Ultramarine or Prussian (Phthalo) for cleaner mixes. The only other blues I use occasionally are Cerulean and Turquoise, but these also have white in them.

Susan Bronsak said...

Ann......I know what you mean. There are several flowers I find quite challenging to get down to my liking. They may look simple or easy to do but then actually doing them another story. Practice, practice, practice (I keep telling myself.....lol)

Susan Bronsak said...

Sandy......I do plan to do more of these with other primaries on my palette. If I do these enough, I might actually get it in my head which blue/yellow combos best to use instead of sitting there trying to remember. (Another reason I grab the tube greens....lol)

All the charts I do, you'd think I'd remember or have a chart on the wall as a reminder. All my charts are in books or portfolios (what good they do me sitting there.......live and learn :-)

Elizabeth said...

I'm like you - I prefer the Sap Green as a base, it's such a lovely color! And I also agree with you on the Quin Rose, mixed with blues it makes a series of beautiful lavenders and violets. The cleaner the blue, the cleaner the colors are.

Wonderful pansy studies - I love the different color combinations and color mixes!