The Big Mix-Up Part 1

Ah Ha! You did it, didn’t you? If I’m right, you bought some paint and, when nobody was looking, you tried it! Has it become your guilty pleasure, or did you feel like a fish out of water? No matter, we forge ahead. After all, you can’t swim until you learn to float. Right?

For me, my first painting experience became BOTH a guilty pleasure, AND, I felt like a fish out of water. While I did have a finished product that amazed me, I felt unsure of myself, and clumsy as an elephant on stilts.

In my first post, I encouraged you to try different things. Mix your colors, try different strokes. I also said that a finished product wasn’t important. Well, that’s a, big fat lie! We always say the process is more important than the product, but who doesn’t like a finished product? Isn’t the purpose of creativity to produce something in a new and different way? The very use of the word “produce” implies product!

Of course we all want to paint a masterpiece, but, as I said, we can’t swim until we learn some basics. So if you felt clumsy, talentless, and made a dung colored mess on your canvas, take heart. I can say with 100% confidence that you learned something.

In my early painting days I learned a lot about the properties of paint.

#1: you usually need less than you think.

#2: a little black goes a long way.

#3 a little white goes a long way.

#4 acrylic paints dry out fast.

Let’s focus on mixing colors. It’s a very important basic because, even if you want to pursue some other art form, it will most likely involve color. Being aware of the undertones of a color, knowing which shades go with which other shades, are a foundation for many other artforms besides painting.

We all know that red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and red and blue make purple, but there are so many shades in between! How do you make them all? Artists take whole classes on color theory, it’s just so complicated! Calm down, calm down. I am here to tell you that with a little practice you can create just about any color you need with just your basic set of paints. Here’s my simplified version.

#1 When you mix colors, follow this example. To make green, for example, add a pea sized dab of yellow on your palette. About two inches away, add the same sized dab of blue on your palette. Now, with your pallet knife or brush, take a little of the yellow and lay it down on the palate between the two colors. Then do the same for the blue, but lay it down on top of the yellow. Mix the two smaller amounts of paint together. You can then add more yellow, or more blue according to the shade of green you’re trying to make. I love this video! It really demonstrates how little you really need to mix colors. It is also an excellent tutorial on how to mix a matching color.

Before I learned to do this, I would squeeze great globs of two colors of paint on top of each other and try to mix the whole mess together. Inevitably, I wouldn’t have any of the shade I wanted, but I WOULD have a lot of a shade I didn’t want!

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.#2 Go online and search color wheels. Find one with a lot of shades of color. Study it. Look at the shades as they morph into the next color. If your blue is heading towards green, each shade has a little more yellow in it. If your blue is heading towards purple each shade has a little more red in it. Pretty simple. You can also purchase a color wheel, if you’d like, but the main thing is that you study it. Colors that are opposite one another compliment each other. These are shades that “go together.”

In one art class I took, we had to create a full color wheel with simply red, yellow, and blue. I was so nervous and self conscious, I could barely think with all those people around me! My color wheel looked more like a kindergartener’s efforts at trying all the colors in the paintbox without rinsing the brush! Try it for yourself in the comfort of your own home! No one watching, or judging.

Go ahead. Make a color wheel and "Mix it up!"

Coming up: The Big Mix-Up Part 2 or How My Bubble Burst!