Color blends | 25 BLACKS AND BROWNS There is no need to buy black watercolor paint, as you can make dark brown and black by mixing red, blue, and yellow. By using different shades of the primary colors, you can make a range of dark colors. Colrtu dark ern ‘vib medium dark. = oat ue obo f Burnt ube rin crmson mating the med clr ny Black Usina Freeh24 | MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES Color blends Practice mixing the ten colors in your basie palette It is a good idea to mix the paints on paper and to see how many new colors you can make, Try label the color swatches that you create, as below, mixing combinations of two and three colors: don't use __so that you have a record of which colors mix ‘more than three colors as the end result will be muddy. well together. MIXINGTWO COLORS As you experiment with your paints, you will see that but if you use cadmium red instead of aliacin some colors mix together more successfully than _emson, you get a muddy purple. Here, you can. others. Far example, French ultramarine mixed with see examples of some of the best mixes that alizacin vimson produces a pleasing, warm mauve, can be made from your basi palette COLOR MIXES Cerulean bua cadmien yon mekea st green ‘Sp een and cadmium yellow make a sar lime room Sap gtean and cadmium red make ash madam brown22| MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES Color mixing It is easy to mix watercolor paints to make new colors, both in a palette and on paper. The recommended basic palette of ten colors (see p. 12 and below) includes the three primary colors, green, and browns, so you will be able to mixa wide range LIGHTENING COLORS By varying the amount of water you add to paint, you can create a range of different shades from Tight to dark. IF you want the paint to retain its of colors. There are several shades of some colors; for example, there are two reds: cadmium red and the bluer alizarin crimson, The different shades of ‘color react differently when mixed with other colors, increasing the range of colors you can create. wanslucency, you should always make colors Tighter by adding water rather than shite paint, which makes colors opaque. Azar ceimson Sep aren Burnt sienna Cobo ive Rave sienna Clin re