MTM Classroom: Limited Palette Colour Mixing and Practical Techniques

Artchrispy · #1 10-09-2009, 10:59 AM

This is a read only file, the original thread can be found here.

MTM Classroom: Limited palette colour mixing and practical techniques for gauging colour and value.

Handouts are in post #2.

Hello and thanks for visiting and participating.

My name is Chris and I volunteered to host a class about color mixing with a limited palette. Before I volunteered I checked the classroom hosting guidelines and read that a candidate doesn't have to be an expert on a subject to host a classroom, and since I am NOT an expert at color mixing, I decided to volunteer. I'm a little nervous standing up here speaking in front of the class, so if you don't mind, I will manage by imagining you are all reading this in your underwear.
The purpose of this class is to explore how we can mix colors by using primary colors plus white and black. I learned from writing this that the hardest thing about mixing color is trying to explain it sufficiently.
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Suggested Palette:
To be able to mix a wider range of colors with just primaries, it makes sense to have an expanded set of primaries. Some suggest using a warm and a cool version of each hue.
For the blues, I'll use french ultramarine and cerulean. Reds: Alizarin Crimson and Cadmium Red. Yellows: Cadmium yellow (or y. ochre) and lemon yellow .
You also need white (titanium white and/or acrylic gesso), burnt umber, and black. You can mix your own black (i.e. ultramarine plus burnt umber) or just use a tube black.

Why 2 versions of each primary? Limiting yourself to just one tube of each primary has limitations. If you want to mix ,for example, a turquoise, a cooler french ultramarine and cadmium yellow just won't work. Cerulean is closer to the turquoise and a more logical place to start. Mixing a bright vibrant orange just isn't possible with alizarin crimson. A warmer cadmium red would be in order. You don't have to lay out all 6 primaries for every painting, but choose your primaries as your subject dictates.
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Hue? Value? Saturation?
A direct way to arrive at a desired color mixture is to mix the color on your palette in manageable steps.
Generally, You have to be able to make 3 decisions about a color to mix it precisely. You have to decide on the target color's (1) hue, (2) value, and (3) saturation.
For definitions and illustrations explaining hue, value, and saturation, please see the attached reference sheet containing the color wheel. (The reference sheet is located in the post directly below this post. The information compiled on the sheet is provided free of charge from Wikipedia and also borrowed, with much gratitude and written permission, from artist Malane Newman's website: http://www.malanenewman.com/color_theory_color_wheel.html

Mixing in Manageable Steps:
Please refer to the attached handout showing the apple.
The apple reference sheet will illustrate the steps outlined below. Please feel free to retrace the steps using the free WetCanvas interactive
color mixing palette http://www.wetcanvas.com/colormixer/colormixer.php
I used the WC palette to process the mixtures and I also borrowed the apple reference image from the RIL. (Thanks to Sketchophrenia for contributing the reference photo.)

Let's begin by first isolating and then mixing a specific color on the apple. In practice, our first color decision in matching a target color is to decide on the hue and to mix it.

Step 1 Hue
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We first pick the tube color that most closely matches the color that we wish to mix. Then we decide if we need to modify that hue.
In the case of the apple, we decide alizarin is the closest hue resembling our target color, but not quite close enough. The section of the apple we are considering is just a little more purple looking than pure alizarin. How do we achieve that slight shift toward purple? Mix in some blue into our alizarin pile to bend that color toward purple. (Red + Blue= Purple.) If we accidentally add too much blue, we just need to add some more alizarin
back into our mixture to reduce the proportion of added blue. In real life we should be testing our mixture by painting a swatch of it on scrap paper and holding it up to our target color to compare.
After approximating our hue, our next step is to consider the target color's value. (In practice, if you are having trouble determining the closest top level hue of your desired target color, hold up your color wheel next to the target. Ask yourself, "Is this target color more red, yellow, blue, purple, orange, green?")
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Step 2 Value
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Value is the relative degree of lightness or darkness of a color.
In practice, Our next step after mixing the proximate hue of our hypothetical apple is to adjust the value by deciding if our mixture from step 1 is lighter or darker than your target color. If the red we mixed is appearing darker than what is observable on the hypothetical apple, we need to lighten our mixture. We can lighten by either adding in
either white, or yellow, or both at the same time. Adding just white to lighten our mixture will not only lighten it, but will push the color pile a little towards blue. Adding just yellow will not only lighten our mixture but will also push the color pile towards being yellow (orange.)
Adding white and yellow at the same time will lighten the value without pushing the pile too far blue or yellow. (Always consider using yellow or white plus yellow to lighten a colors value.) So, in practice, we just need to add a little white, or yellow, or both to our red hue mixture to lighten it up a little. In the case of they hypothetical apple, we decide it's safe to only add white to lighten the value. (Since our target color is bluish red we don't want to lighten our mixture with yellow, which will bend our color towards yellow.) (Had we been painting the apple in shadow we might have needed to darken our red/purple mixture's value by adding black.) If you can't determine the value, use your grey scale value checker. Squint down at your target color and note where it seems to visually
melt into its equivalent on the grey scale. Do the same with your mixture and adjust accordingly.
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Step 3 Saturation
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Since our hue and value look correct, we should now consider saturation. How pure is our reddish purple as compared to what is really showing on the apple? Sometimes we make the mistake of judging colors to be purer than they really appear. Decreasing saturation is sort of like neutralizing or greying a color but not completely eliminating its influence.
To change the saturation we can either add grey to a mixture, or add the mixture's complement. If we decide to add grey we need to make sure the grey is close to the same value as our current mixture. When adding grey we are in effect weakening its visual potency by diluting our mixture. Another way to reduce saturation is to add the color's complement. This is sort of like negating a fraction of the particles in our mixture to grey them out. If you add too much of the complement you completely grey the mixture. When adding a complement we might also have to go back and lighten the value as adding the complement can potentially darken the mixture (depending on the complement.)
In the case of the hypothetical now purplish apple mixture, we decide our mixture is a little too pure and so we decide we want to reduce the saturation. We add just a little yellow (the complement of purple) to neutralize it.
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Note, If desired, you can adjust the saturation first before changing the value. It's also important to note that changing the value can automatically adjust the saturation, since adding white or yellow or black to a mixture is also in effect diluting or de-purifying that mixture.
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Hope I'm not making this sound too complicated.
In a nutshell:

Step 1 (Hue)
A.Choose a tube color that most closely approximates your target color.
If you don't have a tube of the desired hue, or if you are deliberately working with a limited palette, then mix the needed hue. (i.e. Yellow +Blue= Green. Red +Blue= Purple.Yellow +Red= Orange.)
B. Alter that hue if necessary.
(i.e. My tube of ultramarine isn't greenish enough to match this hypothetical bluish green cup I'm trying to paint, so I'll add just a dab of yellow to the ultramarine to green it up.

Step 2 (Value)
Once you approximate the generic hue, correct the value if necessary.
Add black or a complement to darken the mixture's value. Add white or yellow or both to lighten it. If you don't like using tube blacks mix your own black. (I.e. Burnt umber + ultramarine.)

Step 3. (Saturation)
Neutralize the colors purity if necessary by adding grey or a complement.
If you darken the value while neutralizing with a complement, refer back to step 2 and add a little white, yellow, or both to lighten its value.
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Important: When mixing a color, after each step, paint out a swatch of your mixture on a scrap piece of paper and then physically hold the swatch next to your target color and make a side by side comparison to check your mixed color against the reality of the target color.
Modify your pile on the palette as necessary - change the hue? value? saturation? Repaint your swatch, then compare again. No need to guess, or arrive at a needed color by accident. Be like a scientist objectively comparing your results with your target color. If you are struggling be assured it gets easier.
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Sometimes you'll find you can skip steps. The value of the tube hue might be fine but the saturation might be off. Or the hue and value adjustment might bring you to the correct target color with no need to worry about saturation. The best way to internalize this information is to experience it in practice for yourself. We painters need to be like paint mixing machines, mechanically and intuitively capable of mixing any color put forth before us. Our computer printers can approximate this with just 3 primary ink cartridges plus black. Any of us can do this.
Browns: For mixing purposes it might help to think of brown as a low value orange.
Black: Ultramarine plus burnt umber is one way to mix black. Feel free to use tube blacks instead. Black with just a little yellow added makes a great, earthy green.
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Separate your target color from the color herd.
Our apple as a whole form in the above example isn't just composed of a single uniform red, but of dozens of reds existing across the whole red spectrum. In order to paint a representational apple We need to be able to recognize red from red and to mix each accordingly and place each with reasonably accuracy in its approximate position on the canvas with reasonable accuracy. We painters have to be able to isolate and focus on colors to mix them properly.
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For next time I'm preparing a workbook page of color swatches for you to print, mix, and match. You might want to buy some cardstock or 8.5x11 watercolor paper to load into your printer, so that your support will hold up. If you don't have a printer you can just match what you see on your monitor.
Current homework:
Until next time, please practice mixing by trying to mix various exact colors in your surroundings, or on a reference photo. You can print the apple reference and try to match all the reds and greens and oranges. Once you match, say, a green, paint a dab of green directly on the reference photo.
Remember to first mix the hue, then adjust for value, and then finally saturation. . Since we are using a limited palette of red, yellow, and blue, we will obviously need to mix our secondary hues of green orange and purple. (Red+Blue=Purple. Red+Yellow=Orange.
Yellow+Blue-Green.)
Take as long as needed with each mixture. Don't give up till you've worked it out. To see your mixed colors properly, paint swatches on scratch paper and hold up the swatches to your target color to compare, first the hue, then the value, the degree of saturation.
In addition to the color matching exercise, I promise I have an exceedingly fun and possibly enlightening practical exercise planned for next time. Also we can discuss a seemingly less painful and possibly faster method of mixing a target color by mixing directly into a base color of a midtone grey. After all, most of what we are mixing in life is in the middle tone range and not nearly fully saturated. We've all heard some of the contemporary hot shots proclaim that their paintings are held together primarily by an array of colorful greys.

Please feel free to post your color experiments.

I did locate a brief and basic YouTube demo on acrylic mixing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga1s5UUyju4
In addition to the primaries she uses a tube purple to darken her colors rather than black. If your are worried that a tube black will "flatten" your mixtures you can mix a "colorful" black with burnt umber and ultramarine. Notice how she used yellow to "lighten" her red. She didn't really cover saturation but it's only a 4 minute video. I searched the information kiosk but couldn't readily locate a past class on primary color
mixing (if you know of any please post them,) but as you already know WC includes a great channel dedicated to color theory and mixing:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/channels.php?s=&channel_id=10
If you decide to use an expanded palette, you can still modify and fine tune those palette colors by adjusting hue, value, and saturation as discussed.

Thanks for visiting and attending. Did any of that make any sense at all? Next time it won't be nearly so wordy. Feel free to post your mixing methods and ideas. Thanks again!

Artchrispy · #2 10-09-2009, 11:01 AM

Attachment 454383
Attachment 454384

**Charlie's Mum** · #3 10-09-2009, 12:19 PM

Thanks Chris - you may now take a break and have a cuppa!!!

This is excellent and I hope we're now all diving in and copying the exercise notes!

Question - in the UK we don't (that I know of) have 'cardstock' - is it just the equivalent of a w/c practice paper perhaps? ... usually about 90lbs weight?

The other point puzzling me is your two yellows - I think I'd have gone for a lemon yellow (cool and makes excellent spring greens when mixed with cerulean) and either the cadmium or ochre (or Naples yellow, similar to ochre and warm).

Did you want us to work from the apple photo?
I may have missed the link above, but if it's not there, it's here! .......... anyway, I'll work from that and try to get close to the target and add swatches to the print out!
Please tell me if this is not what you want

Thank you so much for this - no, we didn't have a colour-mixing class earlier!

**Charlie's Mum** · #4 10-09-2009, 12:29 PM

PS - I'd heard the virtual palette wasn't working properly but I've just checked it and my mixes were fine!

Enjoy using it Peeps

Kathrin G. · #5 10-09-2009, 01:49 PM

Hi Teacher

Thank you for this class

This is exactly the type class I needed all along

So Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

I brought coffee, tea and lots of different snacks, nibbles and treats/sweets to go around

Hi Maureen

Looking forward to trying the first exercise

susme48 · #6 10-09-2009, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by artchrispy

I'm a little nervous standing up here speaking in front of the class, so if you don't mind, I will manage by imagining you are all reading this in your underwear.

Good idea, Chris...some of us actually are!

I have been working out really hard in preparation of this class...Attachment 454432

And so I could bring you this 'little' apple, as a token of thanks!!Attachment 454433

Cannot wait to have some time to get started!!!

Artchrispy · #7 10-09-2009, 01:30 PM

Thanks Maureen. Now that I think about it your are correct. The lemon yellow is the way to go. I have it and use it all the time. Please scratch the yellow ochre. I always loved tube yellow ochre which is why I snuck it in. It's great for flesh tones and the has a nice tint and tone for landscape painting. Wish I could modify the intro thread.

Anyway, great idea to substitute the lemon yellow.
It's probably best if we work from the same reference so let's work from the apple photo. http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/show...hp?photo=88191 (Someone please teach me how to turn text into hyperlinks.)
Please definitely match the colors on the apple and basket and place your swatches directly on the printed photo. It's exciting to see your mixed colors optically blend in almost seamlessly with the photo reference.
If you have time or inclination, don't stop till you completely cover the reference image, so you have a painting sitting on top of the printed image(like a hand-enhanced print.)
Also, please practice matching objects in your immediate surroundings.
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Cardstock is whatever you would print on to make your own greetingcards or postcards. I just checked and the stuff I buy at our Staple's Dept Store is 110lb. 90lb should be fine too. It's close to bristol board or poster board. Here they sell it in large packs and its relatively inexpensive. Bristol board would work fine too. Any support will work as long as you can load it into your printer and it won't ball up or fall apart when wet paint is applied. Thanks again. Looking forward to this.

**eyepaint** · #8 10-09-2009, 01:58 PM

Hi!

Thanks for this classroom.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artchrispy

It's probably best if we work from the same reference so let's work from the apple photo. http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/show...hp?photo=88191 (Someone please teach me how to turn text into hyperlinks.)

To make the link, first locate the destination page and copy the long http://.... address. Then take the text you want to become the link, such as "this apple photo" in your sentence above, highlight it, and click the link button (the globe with links in front), and paste the URL into the box. Click OK.
Attachment 454419

The link button is on the left; the unlink button is on the right.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

**Charlie's Mum** · #9 10-09-2009, 02:00 PM

We've got the same photo link there Chris, so that's OK.
I'll edit your post for you - would you like ochre as an alternative to cad yellow?
I'll try our Staples here! Not hopeful though! Maybe I'll just use a card - see how the colour prints!

**Charlie's Mum** · #10 10-09-2009, 02:24 PM

Lol EP -we xposted and I've just Pm'd Chris with an illustrated guide!!!

Your's is simpler though!

Artchrispy · #11 10-09-2009, 03:06 PM

Thanks Kathrin! I'll take a jelly donut.
Thanks EP and Maureen. Now I'll finally be able to fix my signature line. lol
Please Maureen if you don't mind edit the suggested palette to include lemon yellow and make the ochre an alternative. Thanks a lot!

**Charlie's Mum** · #12 10-09-2009, 03:59 PM

First post edited Chris - please check and see if you agree?
Also, if I need to change anything elswhere? Thanks

Artchrispy · #13 10-09-2009, 04:23 PM

Thanks Maureen. I think, too, that I may have spelled every instance of the word gray incorrectly.

Thanks for the apple Susan. That was sweet.

First hypertext links, now imported animated gifs. You guys are savvy.

*dee* · #14 10-09-2009, 05:39 PM

Maureen, the cardstock I have is 110weight, so 90 isn't far off. Its referred to as "cardstock" because its generally what greeting cards are made from....here in the US anyway.

My grandkids love using it for their artwork...much more substantial than copy paper. Needless to say, I go through quite a bit of it.

susme48 · #15 10-09-2009, 10:56 PM

Seem to be having trouble with the site tonight, and can't download anything...so I may just use something else for tonight...I want to get started!!

Finally got it working....yipee!!!!

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