Shade Mixing with Liquid Watercolor

This submit is lengthy overdue! I do know I’ve promised to video my shade mixing with liquid watercolor for fairly a while. The reality is, mixing this medium shouldn’t be as straightforward as mixing tempera paints. It’s removed from an actual science. A part of that cause is that liquid watercolors are very concentrated so not solely does slightly go a great distance, however they’re all very darkish and look related so it’s simply more durable to gauge the colour you’re making. Another excuse this has taken some time is that I don’t often combine an entire batch of recent colours directly. I often simply fill in when wanted. However I lastly shot the video and put all of it collectively for you!

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Recommendations on utilizing Liquid Watercolor

~ I purchase Blick as a result of I like their shade decisions, and their colours are very concentrated. They last more for my part. However actually any liquid watercolor works! Get the 8oz measurement.

~ Liquid watercolor bottles are inclined to leak from the highest when utilizing the spout, so I simply take off the highest and pour when mixing colours.

~ You don’t have to spend some huge cash on liquid watercolor. You may simply purchase 7 fundamental colours to make each different shade: crimson, blue, yellow, inexperienced, purple, pink, black.

~ I retailer my liquid watercolor in a wide range of jars. Some child meals jars, some hexagonal jars I purchased here, and a few jam jars. Simply be certain the highest matches tightly. The colours ought to final many months, relying on how typically you paint.

~ Have a cup of water useful when mixing colours. Particularly with Blick, you’ll want to dilute relying on how deep or gentle you need your shade.

~ Make a swatch card on watercolor paper with the completed colours. When it dries, reduce up small items to tape to the lid and aspect of every shade. This helps you recognize what the colour is inside.

~ When utilizing a wide range of colours directly for a undertaking, attempt to put a brush in every shade, somewhat than shifting one brush from shade to paint, which might rapidly contaminate the colours. Liquid watercolor is much less forgiving than tempera on this approach.

Notes on the Shade Wheel

~ As I’ve defined earlier than in my Color Mixing with Tempera Paints submit, and my Mixing Skin Tones submit, all colours are derived from the three major colours: crimson, yellow, and blue.

~ Secondary colours are the three colours which can be made when mixing 2 primaries: orange (crimson + yellow), inexperienced (blue + yellow), and purple (blue + crimson).

~ Tertiary colours are if you combine 1 secondary with 1 major. That is when it will get fascinating, and these are the colours are combine essentially the most, like periwinkle (purple + blue), lime inexperienced (inexperienced + yellow), and magenta (purple + crimson). In fact with tempera paint, you should use white (which I add to each shade I combine) to lighten the hue and make much more shades. There isn’t a white in liquid watercolor, so I take advantage of water to lighten a shade.

~ On this submit and video, I principally use the ideas of complementary colours. Complementary colours are reverse one another on the colour wheel: crimson –> inexperienced, purple –> yellow, orange –> blue. To mute a shade, simply add a drop of its complementary shade. This creates a a lot richer shade than simply including brown or black, and creates delicate undertones and variations which can be much more obvious with liquid watercolor.

Watch the Video!

I’ll admit this video was not straightforward to make. My mixing strategies are so instinctual it may be arduous to explain. I additionally filmed it in Instagram mode, which is vertical, so excuse the truth that I maintain the bottles sideways. However I do assume it will likely be useful to see my course of. I combined a couple of colours that I forgot to file, so scroll right down to the underside for notes on these. Additionally, I didn’t combine any greens however you possibly can apply the strategies I take advantage of right here to mixing greens.

I’ve additionally written my notes on every shade under, so hold scrolling for those who want to learn somewhat than watch!

Mixing Mauve

Like with any shade, there are a lot of methods to combine mauve. It’s a light-weight pinky/purple, so I begin with pink, add some water, then add some blue/inexperienced. Why blue/inexperienced and never simply blue? With simply blue, it will make lavender which is cooler than mauve. The inexperienced is an uncommon addition however my thought is that I needed to mute the purple and since purple is de facto simply crimson + blue and inexperienced is crimson’s complementary shade, I went with the blue/inexperienced to attempt it. It labored! It might have simply not labored. With tempera I’d have used pink, purple, a contact of yellow, and white – so one other approach I might have combined this shade with liquid watercolor is pink + purple + drop of yellow to mute the purple and water.

Mixing Maize

One in every of my musts with liquid watercolor is to not use yellow straight out of the bottle (I really feel the identical with tempera). I simply can’s assist all the time muting it barely. Should you add a drop of purple (its complementary shade) then it would mute the yellow and make a mustard shade. To make maize, I additionally added a drop of pink simply to heat it up a tad. I additionally added slightly water.

Mixing Denim Blue

For some cause I spend half my time mixing blues and teals with liquid watercolor. I don’t know why I’ve so many shades, nevertheless it’s in all probability my obsession with the indigo shade, each in shibori and with solar prints. Right here I needed to make a denim blue, which is a muted blue that may be a tinge hotter. I began with blue/inexperienced, added some water, then added a drop of crimson (inexperienced’s complementary shade). This labored! Clearly I like the blue/inexperienced shade straight from the bottle, too. This is without doubt one of the few colours that I take advantage of with out mixing. Add inexperienced to make it extra teal, yellow to make it extra turquoise, and crimson after all to mute. Should you add orange to the blue/inexperienced you begin moving into the brown household.There are soooo many various shades to make with this one bottle of blue/inexperienced.

Mixing Papaya

I don’t love utilizing orange straight from the bottle. I like a extra muted orange. Right here I’m going for a muted reddish orange, which I name papaya. I don’t have a bottle of orange as a result of it’s the best shade to combine. I begin with crimson, slightly yellow, and a few water after which I check out my shade. I like the intense hue however I need to mute it barely, so I add a drop of blue/inexperienced and a few extra water. I might simply use blue to mute, which is orange’s complementary shade, however inexperienced is crimson’s complementary shade so why not attempt the blue/inexperienced to mute and see what occurs! Once more, there are such a lot of shades to make, and within the video I do mess around with it barely as you possibly can see within the following swatches.

Mixing Eggplant

Purples are one other obsession of mine. I’ve many shades always. Right here I need to make a muted purple which is pretty straightforward to do with simply purple and yellow (complementary colours). However liquid watercolor is it’s personal beast and generally you simply don’t get what you assume you’ll get. Within the video you possibly can see that mixing these two within the quantities that I did turned it charcoal. It was very odd, however that’s what occurred. I attempted once more and this time I added a drop of pink. It seems the yellow is sort of sturdy, so I needed to hold including extra purple and pink to get the shade I needed.

Extra Colours

I combined these on one other day however forgot to take a video. Browns are fairly straightforward to make, simply combine 3 primaries or 3 secondaries (which in concept continues to be simply 3 primaries). Then tweak it my including extra crimson to make a reddish brown, or extra blue to make a cooler brown, and so forth. Then add water to lighten the shades. The blues and teals I already defined above, however I simply needed to indicate you some extra shades. I feel my fave shade of all is the teal on the underside left. Simply so good.

Storing Liquid Watercolor

And lastly, right here is a photograph of how I retailer my jars. I hold them in a closet. They retailer very well this manner and are straightforward to take out and put away. The separated bins include the hexagonal jars for those who organize them, however you too can simply reduce down a smallish field in order that it acts like a deep tray.

One final tip…

Mixing liquid watercolor is all trial and error, however there may be actually no “dangerous” shade. They’re all lovely. But when you find yourself with a giant jar of one thing that simply didn’t work out, don’t pour it out. Use is as a base so as to add to different colours to mute them. or pour a few of it in a brand new jar and hold including to get a brand new shade. My jars actually final me fairly some time and I don’t undergo as a lot as you would possibly assume.

Have enjoyable mixing!!

xo Bar

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