The Magic of Colour Mixing in Acrylic

This video takes you through mixing the three primary colours to make secondary colours and tertiary colours. Then it takes you through mixing black with the primary colours then white with the primary colours and the black mixes.

I've kept it simple here because sometimes students end up with just three colours plus black and white when they start painting, and this video proves that you can get a lot more out of those colours than you think!

Mixing complementary colours is one of my favourite mixes. They are more useful than you think. You can get a really good range of colours and dark and light values from using just two complementary colours and white. I've given you a video to show you how to go about mixing them here, and in the video in Lecture 4 you can see a demonstration how you can do a whole painting!

So here is the painting. I've taken a scene from an on location sketch I did many years ago in Yorkshire. It features an old stone barn and some trees. Its such a simple scene but it lends itself well to a study using only two complementary colours plus white. Enjoy!

NB I've sped up the film to condense about 90 mins into 5. If you want to copy the painting as an exercise, you can pause the video as you go.

Dark and light values are so important in painting. Getting the contrasts right can really make a difference and getting it right can make a very simple scene really stunning.

Do the exercise with me by following the video. It really helps you take your time mixing the tints, shades and tones.

The painting in this video is protected by copyright. I based it on a painting I did a few years ago that sold in a gallery in Cambridge. I decided the composition was perfect to demonstrate how tints, shades and tones could be used to create a landscape painting. You don't have to use the colour I chose, you could do it in red, or purple, or even green. But do choose a reasonably darker value colour so that you can get a wide range of values.

Quite often we are tempted to use all the colours of the rainbow in one painting. Whilst these are vibrant and fun, they don't always create the most drama. It is a really good exercise to try a very limited palette so you can get used to creating clean and harmonious colours that are simply stunning.

So I've chosen a triad that you would probably shy away from just so you can see that it isn't all that daunting! What I liked about using this tertiary triad is that it seemed to glow right from the start. Probably due to the yellow orange. It gave me the idea for an autumnal scene, and the muted purples and blues really gave the impression of a peaceful hazy day.

You don't have to do this scene in these colours if you want to have a go. You can chose any of the limited palette options I went through in the tutorial. Why not experiement! You may just be amazed at what you discover!

Identifying the temperature of colours can be really helpful with creating paintings with specific seasons. In this tutorial I take you through two sets of primary colours that are different in temperature.

Taking the cool primaries first, I decided flowers would be the perfect subject. Again, tonal value is important here, and at this stage of the course you are using all the previous elements you have learned to make working in different temperatures work.

Cool colours are perfect for creating paintings with Winter and Spring themes.

Of course it was a real pleasure to use the warm primaries to make a summer scene with one our beautiful sea birds. The colours of the puffin are just stunning, and with the right warm colours it was possible to make the right colours for his black feathers.

Well done! You have done it, and I am so glad you did. I know you will go forward with more confidence now. Do read the PDF before you go, and thank you for joining me on this course. Take care and keep creative!