WHAT DO I NEED TO LEARN ABOUT COLOURS TO GET STARTED
Colour is a vast and fascinating area of study and some very good books have been written on the subject. At the outset it's a good idea to learn some of the basic terminology and principles of colour-mixing and theory. Only the very basics can be covered here. Some artists are definitely 'colourists' and develop a very fine sense of colour and how to use it. If you lean in this direction then further study of this subject would be invaluable.
THE PROPERTIES OF COLOUR
Hue - this is the 'local' colour of an object. The colour you perceive when you look closely at it - an object's true colour eg. green is the local colour of a blade of grass in spring. These 'local colours' can appear quite different when viewed from a distance, eg. green grass can look quite bluish when seen from a long distance owing to atmospheric effects. This is called 'atmospheric colour'. Local colour can also be affected by colours from surrounding objects which are reflected onto it, eg. the green apple in your still life may have hints of red in it from a neighbouring red jug; the green blade of grass may have a blue-green tint as it catches the blue of the sky. The temperature of colours is another aspect to consider. Colour is an exciting and complex area but the rewards of study, observation and your own colour experiments will be invaluable to you.
Value - this is the degree of lightness or darkness of a hue.
It is helpful to construct your own value chart for each of the pigments in your basic palette. First paint a narrow band of the colour, 6" x 1" (15cm x 2.5cm) very well diluted with water. This will represent the lightest tint of that colour. When dry, paint a slightly stronger band over the top but leave about 1" (2.5 cm) of the first colour uncovered. Continue in the same way until the last layer which will be the colour at full strength, The result will show at a glance the full range of values for that particular colour and will be a very useful reference chart
Intensity or saturation denotes a colour's strength or weakness , brilliance or dullness. Winsor red is an intense, highly saturated colour whereas Raw Umber is a dull, unsaturated colour.
A Colour Wheel is a pictorial description of the 12 colours which derive from (and include) the three primaries - red, yellow and blue. It is good practice to make your own colour wheel by first laying down the three primaries, then mixing them to obtain the three secondary colours, then mixing the primaries with the secondaries to create the six tertiaries. In the very centre of the wheel you can paint a small area showing the neutral colour formed by mixing the three primaries. Label all the colours you've painted and keep the wheel for future reference
The Primary Colours are red, yellow and blue - the colours that can't be produced by mixing any others.
The Secondary Colours are orange, green and purple. They are produced by mixing two adjacent primaries eg. red + yellow makes orange; blue + yellow makes green.
The Tertiary Colours are yellow-orange, red-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple, red-purple. They are produced by mixing a primary with a secondary.
Complementary colours are the colours that lie directly opposite each other on the colour wheel eg. red is the complement of green, orange is the complement of blue. By combining a pair of complements you can neutralise the colours and produce some very nice greys. It is often better to allow one of the colours to slightly dominate the mix to ensure the grey is not too dull and lifeless.
If you need to tone down the intensity of any colour, try adding a little of its complement. Very useful to remember when painting landscape greens which are seldom bright or intense colours.
There is another system of complementaries called 'visual' complementaries and these are the colours which enhance each other when juxtaposed, eg. blue is the 'visual' complement of yellow - whereas blue is the 'mixing' complement of orange. This is an exciting area of colour to explore and utilise.
Colour Temperature is the degree of warmth or coolness exhibited by a colour. Eg, Sap Green is a warmer (yellower) green than Phthalo Green which is cooler (bluer) green. Temperature is a relative term but certainly worth thinking about when you're planning a painting. A painting often looks better if it's dominated by either warm or cool colours. A predominantly warm painting will need some areas of coolness for contrast and to avoid monotony and vice versa for cool paintings. Colours evoke emotional responses and this has a lot to do with colour temperature.
Colour will ultimately be a personal choice for you. What is offered here is a guideline for beginners in the purchase of their first colours. Nita Leland - artist, author and Aquanet member - has provided the following selection of paints as a good beginner's palette.
Winsor Red (or Cadmium Red Medium)
Alizarin Crimson (or Permanent Rose)
Indian Yellow (or New Gamboge)
Winsor Lemon (or Cadmium Lemon)
Winsor Blue (Green Shade) or Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
French Ultramarine
Burnt Sienna (preferably Winsor & Newton)
These hues should all be available in your own country in most leading brands. You'll note that there are two yellows, two reds and two blues - a warm and a cool version of each primary colour. With these variations you can mix a number of secondary colours (greens, oranges, violets) as Nita explains:
How to mix the secondary colours:
Mix the Winsor or Cadmium Red with Indian Yellow or New Gamboge for the oranges.
Mix the Winsor or Cadmium Lemon with the Winsor or Phthalo Blue for the greens.
Mix the Ultramarine with the Crimson or Rose for the violets.
Use the Burnt Sienna with any pure colour or mixture to make the earth colours.
It is advisable to work with these seven colours initially, combining them in different ways and keeping all your colour-mixing experiments for future reference. This knowledge will form a valuable foundation for your future work.
Later when you are thoroughly familiar with these colours you may want to extend your palette. For instance, you may wish to do flower paintings which call for specific pure colours which aren't in your basic palette, or you may be living in an environment which calls for a specialised palette of colours. Or you may feel the need to extend your palette when painting in foreign countries where the light and colours are different. There are a vast array of alluring colours for sale but keep in mind that after your initial colour-mixing exercises you will have the expertise to mix a lot of colours from your basic palette. Many artists are tempted into buying far more colours than they can ever really get to know. As experience grows they will often revert to a simple basic palette for much of their work.
You'll see that there are no black or white pigments included in the basic palette. Although a few leading watercolourists use both black and white in their work for specific purposes, it remains a question of personal preference and long experience to know just how and when to incorporate these two colours successfully.
White is not used in 'pure' watercolour work as it makes colours appear chalky, rather opaque and will take away the lovely transparency which we are generally aiming for. Adding patches of white paint to an otherwise transparent painting can throw the picture out of balance. If you find you like mixing white with your colours, then it may be better to use 'gouache' colours which are expertly designed for opacity while retaining brilliance of colour, and where the use of white is standard practice.
Black can have a deadening effect when mixed with your other colours and destroy some of the luminosity of a watercolour painting. There is certainly a place for black in decorative or abstract painting. However white and black are best avoided if you truly want to capture luminosity and transparency in your paintings.
Several very dark 'darks' can be mixed and used in place of tube 'black'. They offer a livelier dark than can be achieved with black paint. Some favourite mixes are:
Alizarin Crimson and Phthalo Green. This makes a very dark, yet luminous 'black'. Vary the mixture by allowing the alizarin to slightly dominate in one mix, and the green to slightly dominate in another mix. This will create an area of transparent dark tone which has cool and warm variations and is full of life.
Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna (or Burnt Umber)
This makes a good strong dark, rather sedimentary and less transparent than the above mixture, but very popular in landscape work.
Phthalo Blue (or Winsor Blue) and Burnt Sienna or Burnt Umber
Cadmium Red and Phthalo Green
Cadmium Red and Phthalo Blue
Don't be tempted to use white paint to achieve pale colours. In pure watercolour work pale tints of any colour are created with the help of the white of the paper and lots of water. For example if you want a very pale blue, then dilute one or other of your blues with plenty of water and test on a scrap of paper till you get just the pale tint you're seeking.
The advantage of using a limited palette of even three primary colours - a red, a yellow and a blue can produce a full range of secondary and tertiary colours. Your painting will have a good sense of unity because all colours you mix will contain some or all of the three primaries. This colour unity is one of the real advantages of a limited palette and many beautiful paintings have been created using limited palettes. For instance, a light, high-key painting can be achieved with just Aureolin Yellow, Rose Madder and Cobalt Blue. Strong darks are impossible with this triad, hence the 'high-key' tonality. A low-key, rather heavy and moody painting can be created with Indian Red, Yellow Ochre and Cerulean Blue which are rather opaque and provide some strong darks.
If you are aiming to create wonderfully luminous paintings then it is advisable to stick with the transparent pigments. This will ensure that the maximum amount of light passes through the colour washes into the paper and is reflected out again to the viewer. Mixing transparent pigments together will also free you from the possibility of creating muddy mixtures.
Here are some of the popular transparent colours:
Aureolin, Indian Yellow, Rose Madder Genuine, Cobalt Blue, Viridian, Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Blue, Phthalo Green, Quinacridone Gold, Red, and Magenta, Prussian Blue.
On the other hand, using opaque pigments will immediately reduce luminosity, as they are much heavier than transparent colours and limit the amount of light that can be transmitted.
A number of pigments are classed by their manufacturers as semi-transparent eg. French Ultramarine, or semi-opaque eg. Olive Green The semi-transparent ones should be fine, but care will need to be taken with the semi-opaque and opaque pigments if you wish to retain luminosity. Opaques can have their uses in mixtures to create certain rich colours but a good rule of thumb is to 'mix an opaque with a transparent colour'. If you mix two opaques together, or even three you're courting muddy mixtures and disappointment.
A number of semi-opaque and opaque colours have very attractive granulating qualities which add texture and interest to a painting and can be used to great advantage at times. Opacity and transparency are relative terms and any paint applied in a thick enough layer will be opaque, while an opaque paint if applied thinly enough, will appear reasonably transparent. If you're now totally confused, remember that experience and practice with colour mixing will give you the knowledge as to when to use each of these categories of colour.
Here are some of the really opaque colours:
Most of the Cadmium colours, Naples Yellow, Lemon Yellow (Nickel titanate), Cobalt Green, Oxide of Chromium, Light Red, Venetian Red, Indian Red, Sepia, Indigo, all the Blacks, and Titanium White.
It's quite easy for beginners to inadvertently create 'mud' when mixing and applying colour. Muddy colours can be avoided if you initially stick to two-colour mixtures and use transparent colours.
*Mixing the three primaries together will create a muddy colour unless the mixture is handled very carefully.
*Mixing two complementary opaque colours can result in mud, caused by the sediment in the mixture preventing the white of the paper from shining through. When mixing greys from a complementary pair of colours make sure that you allow one colour to slightly dominate the grey.
* Mud can also result from layering or glazing one colour over another. If you first lay an opaque colour, then glaze another colour on top, the first layer will be disturbed and mix with the next layer creating a dirty colour. This is why it's important when layering colours to apply any opaque colours last and use staining colours as the underlayers.
On the other hand 'mud' is a relative term and can only be truly assessed in relation to surrounding colours. Sometimes a muddy colour may be exactly what is needed in a certain passage. In these cases the artist has deliberately chosen to create a 'muddy' colour to achieve a specific effect or to set off other brighter colours.
Exploring Color by Nita Leland.
Making Color Sing by Jeanne Dobie
Color Right from the Start by Hilary Page
Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green
by Michael Wilcox (1994, North Light Books)