Home Forums The Learning Center Color Theory and Mixing Mixing a Transparent Dark Chocolate Brown?

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  • #995246
    Violet Roses
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        I really need a transparent, non-granulating dark chocolate brown watercolor, but I haven’t been able to find one for sale that doesn’t contain black (which is not transparent). I tried mixing various transparent, non-granulating complementary watercolors and got all sorts of weird drab colors, but no nice dark chocolate brown. :confused: Does anyone know a color mixing recipe for dark chocolate brown?

        I love mixed media!

        #1271812
        Patrick1
        Default

            What colors do you have available? One route would be a transparent orange, red or higher-chroma brown, dulled and darkened with a bit of Phthalo Green or Blue.

            Browns can be tricky to get the ‘just right’ color you want, because our eyes are very sensitive to small color variations in the ‘warm’ region of color space, but it certainly can be done.

            #1271815
            Gigalot
            Default

                Chocolate brown is opaque color. It is unified and flat rather than transparent. And it has a little “white” into it. You might try tempera to mix it…

                #1271816
                Violet Roses
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                    Success! Thanks to Patrick’s tip about using a transparent orange and a green to make dark chocolate brown, I finally found a recipe for it:

                    W&N Perylene Green PBk31 (my darkest transparent green)
                    +
                    Daniel Smith Transparent Pyrrol Orange PO71 (my darkest transparent orange)
                    =
                    transparent non-granulating dark chocolate brown!

                    I mixed some white in it to test and it looks like milk cocoa. :)

                    I tried using phthalo green, but it was just too easy to get too much because it is so strong.

                    I love mixed media!

                    #1271813
                    Patrick1
                    Default

                        Good choice with Perylene Green – it’s much easier to use than Phthalo Greens. It’s a color I’ve always wanted to try…esp for all kinds of dark mixes. And yes – adding some white to that very dark mix will bring out the brownness.

                        Orange (or red) + green is perhaps my favorite way to mix a whole range of rich browns, but it’s a less common approach.

                        #1271817
                        Violet Roses
                        Default

                            Perylene green is such a great mixing color! I also discovered that mixing it with perylene violet PV29 makes a nice transparent, non-granulating black, which will be the next custom mixture I add to my palette. I’m experimenting with iridescent watercolor ground and I’ve found that opaque watercolors mask the iridescence and granulating watercolors settle strangely into the ground texture, so transparent and non-granulating watercolors are the best for iridescent grounds.

                            I love mixed media!

                            #1271814
                            oramasha
                            Default

                                I haven’t played around with this mix in a while, but what about transparent red oxide and anthraquinone blue?

                                In acrylic, I love Van Dyke brown hue. It consists of transparent red iron oxide and ivory black.

                                Edit: Oops, I’m sorry. . . I see you had success! Patrick is :thumbsup:

                                #1271818
                                Violet Roses
                                Default

                                    I unfortunately don’t have transparent red oxide, but I do have a similar color, Quinacridone Burnt Orange (PO48), so I tried it with my Indanthrone Blue (a.k.a. anthraquinone blue PB60), and yes, I got a nice transparent dark brown. :) I’m happy to know multiple ways to get attractive transparent chocolate browns.

                                    I love mixed media!

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