Achieving a sense of color harmony in painting is something that we all strive for as artists, but some of us just never seem to get there and eventually become frustrated and give up.

It is no surprise that color harmony is so difficult to achieve. For one, there are so many different colors to choose from today, and when you have this many choices, things can become rather confusing. Secondly, it is very difficult to find any clear cut advice on this topic.

Hopefully the following tips will help you get a better grasp on color in your painting and you will finally be on your way toward Mastering Color.

One of the most effective methods that will help you harmonize your paintings is to switch to a limited palette of colors. A limited palette simply means that you are reducing the number of colors on your palette.

You will only have a small handful of colors to choose from and you will be required to mix all the colors that you need. Because you are using the same small handful of colors, you become more knowledgeable about those specific colors. More knowledge means better control and more harmonious paintings. Too many different colors can lead to chaos in a painting. With a limited palette, you aren’t distracted by a full spectrum of hues, leaving you more time to focus on the project at hand.

The colors that you choose for your limited palette are completely up to you. There are no right or wrong palettes, but you may be interested in trying the following colors.

This is a palette that Richard Robinson uses. Richard is the creator of the Home Study Course Called Mastering Color. If anyone knows about Color Harmony, it is Richard.

I just recently got my hands on his course and I learned more about Color Harmony from his DVD than from years of reading books and taking classes elsewhere. His course completely opened my mind and made me think of color in a way that I never thought possible. His course is what inspired me to write this post.

Here is Richard’s Palette: Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red Mid, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna.

Richard uses and recommends an oil paint brand called Archival Oils. You can learn more about them below:

Chroma Archival Oils Chroma Archival Oils is a line of professional-quality artists’ oil paints that includes an assortment of Series 1 “Gold Series” colors at a student-grade price. The Gold Series assortment completes a mixing palette that is much more highly pigmented and satisfying for students and professors to use in the classroom. All Gold Series colors are denoted in the table below with an asterisk (*) . With a formulation of “perfected consistency” and a rich, buttery texture, Archival Oils appeal to all oil artists, from beginners to experts. Use them with Chroma’s Archival Odorless Mediums for a healthier and more pleasant working environment. Unique benefits of Archival Oils include: Freedom of Technique — Break the traditional oil painting rules! As an Archival painting cures, the surface layer stretches to accommodate movement below, allowing artists to complete their work quickly without harming it, even when complex layering techniques are used. Fast Drying Time — No need to wait up to six months for your oil paintings to dry! When combined with alkyd-based Archival Mediums, Archival Oils dry quickly on the painting, but remain workable on the palette until mediums are added. Archival Paintings Won’t Crack Over Time — The flexibility of Archival Oils allows for movement as the painting dries, cures, and becomes stable. Age-cracking does not occur when paintings are created using Archival Oils. A Professional Artist’s Oil That’s Accessible to Students and Amateurs — Archival Series 1 Oils offer a complete mixing palette of affordable colors that are highly pigmented, permanent, and much more satisfying to use than traditional all-one-price student-grade paints.

Once they have enough working knowledge of just two colors, they are then permitted to incorporate a third color, a blue for instance, so that they are now working with a warm and cool color. Then they are permitted to incorporate some sort of red, then yellow, etc..

Give a limited palette a try and see what paintings you can come up with!

As Artists we shouldn’t be afraid of color. It should be something that we embrace with open arms. You can master color and become the artist you have always dreamed of. You can learn how to think about color in a whole new way, a way that you never thought was possible!

Follow this link now and learn how to Master Color with over 40 breakthrough color techniques!

Are you an artist who struggles with color? Do you find yourself unable to achieve color harmony in your artwork? Well you are not alone. Did you know that over 70% of artists admit that color is one of their biggest obstacles? Chances are that you are amongst those 70% or you would not be reading this article right now.

If you take the time to work on the exercise below, you will have a new appreciation and understanding of color, and it won’t take years of practice either. You can become more knowledgeable about color after only one session.

What exactly am I talking about?

I am talking about an exercise that will greatly increase your understanding of the properties and interactivity of the colors on your palette. I am talking about creating color charts and lots of them.

You see, the problem with many artists, myself included at one time, is that we tend to just jump right into our work haphazardly without learning proper foundational skills. This will only create frustration and waste lots of your time and materials.

So how will creating color charts benefit you as an artist?

Well apart from understanding how colors interact when mixed with one another, you will also have a resource or tool that you can reference over and over again.

Lets say you have a particular color scheme in mind…say a complimentary scheme of red and green. Just pull out your red and green color charts and you will instantly know what colors you could use and how to mix them. No more guesswork or wasted paint!

You will also be introduced to color mixtures that you never thought were possible. Far too often, we fall into the habit of using the same colors over and over again when something else may work better. Why limit yourself when you have an almost limitless palette of colors at your disposal?

Ok lets create our first color chart…

Here is what you will need:

1. Paint – It doesn’t matter what colors you choose to begin with. When I did my first color chart, I wanted to start by mixing greens. I love landscape painting, so I wanted to see how many different versions of green I could create from various combinations of yellow, blue, black, red and orange.
2. Support – I like to use canvas boards for my color charts. They are inexpensive and strong and will last a long time if you take good care of them.
3. Brush or Palette Knife – I prefer to use a palette knife to make the swatches if I am using oil or acrylic paint. This way you can just wipe the knife clean when creating a new swatch. Obviously if you are using watercolor, you will need to use a brush.

That’s all you are going to need to get started.

Step 1

To begin with, we need to create a grid on our canvas board. You can use a ruler or other straight edge to create the grid. Make the grid so that it is divided into one inch squares with five rows. Leave some room at the bottom of each column so that you can label it with the specific colors that you used or take other notes.

Step 2

Next, lets pick a color as our starting point. As I said earlier, it doesn’t matter what colors you start with, but for arguments sake, lets begin with Cadmium Yellow Light. Hopefully you have this color in your palette, if not, just use whatever light yellow you have.

Step 3

With your palette knife, fill in the top left square of your grid with your light yellow, straight from the tube.

Step 4

Next fill in the very bottom square of the same column with a mixture of titanium white and a touch of light yellow.

Step 5

Now create a mixture of light yellow and titanium white with a value that is half way between the top and bottom values and put that in the middle square.

Step 6

Now create a mixture of light yellow and white with a value that is half way between the first and third squares and put that mixture in the second square.

Step 7

Repeat the same process for the remaining squares and you have your first column of color swatches completed. You now have five different values of light yellow.

Step 8

Now you can move on to the next column. This time try mixing light yellow with another color from your palette, like orange for instance, with the light yellow predominating slightly. Then you adjust the values of each swatch with white like you did for the first column.

Then just continue the process using all of the colors on your palette. You will now have a ton of new colors that you never knew existed before to breathe life into your next painting.

As Artists we shouldn’t be afraid of color. It should be something that we embrace with open arms. You can master color and become the artist you have always dreamed of. You can learn how to think about color in a whole new way, a way that you never thought was possible!

Follow this link now and learn how to Master Color with over 40 breakthrough color techniques!

Today’s questions comes from Pierre:

“Hi, I’m looking for a site or a person that have recipes to mix acrylic paints.

Examples: Recipe for vibrant greens, reds, blacks…etc

Thank you”

Do you have any information that may help Pierre?

Please leave your response in the comment box below.  Thank You!

When I first began painting some 10 years ago, I recall how intimidating it all seemed. With all of the various colors, mediums, brushes and other tools available, it was enough to make my head spin.

How do I make a color lighter or darker? What about making realistic shadows or highlights? This article will shed some colorful light on the situation, and with practice, working with color in your oil paintings will become easier and more enjoyable.

Thank God for the beautiful Sun, for without it, we would not see color. Everything would appear dark and colorless.

Thankfully, the light from the Sun also travels in a straight line. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t have the wonderful variety of light and shadow that makes everything so enjoyable to paint.

If you take an apple for instance, and put it outside in the grass in the sunlight, you will notice several different values that the light creates when shining on the apple.

You have the main overall tone of the apple, the shadow on the apple, the cast shadow, reflection from nearby objects like the green grass and the sky, and highlights. Our job as painters is to accurately depict these values on canvas using color.

There are so many different oil colors on the market today. All of these different colors come from the six colors that make up the spectrum – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet.

Colors have four main properties – value, intensity, temperature and hue. The value of a color refers to how light or dark a color is. The intensity of a color refers to how bright or dull it is – also known as a colors saturation or purity. If you used yellow straight from the tube, it would have a higher intensity then if you mixed it with white. The temperature refers to how warm or cool a color is. Colors range in temperature from warm yellows and oranges to cool blues and violets. Finally, the hue is just another word for color. An apple and a cherry are both hues of red.

Color mixing is not an exact science. Artists have different formulas and methods for mixing and applying paint, so the following tips are general guidelines and not necessarily rules that must be followed.

When mixing colors don’t over mix. Over mixing a color will take the life out of it.

To create highlights in your paintings, use white with a touch of the objects complimentary color. There are some exceptions however. When painting highlights on certain objects like brass for instance, which can be depicted on canvas using yellow, making a lighter yellow tinted with white can create a convincing highlight.

Cast shadows of objects are complimentary to the color that the shadow is cast upon. For instance, the cast shadow of a red apple on a blue tablecloth would be orange.

To get any desired color, try to mix as few colors as possible.

Try to keep the theme of your painting either all warm or all cool in temperature.

Again, color mixing is not an exact science. If you survey 10 artists and ask them various questions about mixing oil paint, you will likely get many different answers. My advice is to keep painting and practicing until you develop your own formulas and techniques that you are comfortable with. Happy Painting and God Bless!