color mixing

[tigerpaw]

Hello everyone. I am trying to learn color and color theory, even though I have been painting on and off for 40 years , (more off than on.). My question is to the color experts on this forum, Has anyone tried mixing 3 colors together and then lighten it with white ,something like Mr. schmid's alla prima book. say, colors 1-12, and mix 123 then lightened it with white then 124,125 and so on, then next swatch 231,234,235,236 etc. then another swatch 341,342,345,346... etc. ? excuse my english,and I hope I am making sense.

[Blick Art Materials]

Hello,
While we haven't done that exact exercise, our watercolorist does an exercise where she places the base pigment in the middle of her paper. She then introduces Payne's Gray or a softer black in gradations on one side of the paper to create darker values of that color. On the other side of the color, she'll simply mix in water to lighten the value.
It is a common practice for other media beyond paint. Some pastel brands, for example, commonly blend white into colors to create color values and code the color name numerically according to the lightened value. On a practical level, latex house paint chips are also formulated in a similar manner.

Kristal

[tigerpaw]

thank you for your advise and reply.