Paints – How To Mix Colours Hints and Tips

Choosing Your Paint

Both acrylic and watercolour paints come in various qualities and are generally available in tubes or pots to suit every artist: 59ml, 150ml, 500ml and huge 2.25ltr in selected colours.

In choosing paint, I look to match quality at an affordable price but would never expect anyone to buy above their personal budget.

Daler Rowney also offers a selection of acrylic paints, such as iridescent and pearlescent mediums, for giving your acrylic paints a subtle and distinct metallic shimmer.

Winsor & Newton Galeria watercolours are a range ideal for artists who require large quantities of good quality colour at an economical price.

Mixing Colours Hints and Tips

As a professional artist, teacher, and demonstrator, he has used both Winsor & Newton & Daler-Rowney for acrylic and watercolour paints while always looking for special offers and sometimes finding them in discount stores.

Again, this is a personal choice, and for beginners, you may choose to use a cheaper brand to practice at first, and that’s fine, too.

Mixing Greys

Mixing greys, black and white in varying degrees is the obvious way, but this gives a flat, lifeless colour. 

Instead, try using a blue and a browny-red such as burnt sienna, raw umber or burnt umber. 

Depending on the amount of each colour used, these will usually result in a deep bluey grey. Blues and oranges (e.g. ultramarine and cadmium orange) will also result in greys. 

You also need to add white in varying degrees to lighten the grey. 

Try your grey mixing out on a piece of scrap card so that you get used to doing them. 

Remember to use a little paint until you know what you’re doing.

Gary from Barnsley Adult Skills shared some downloadable FREE resources with learners on previous courses to help you get started. He kindly gave me permission to share it with you.

Basic Watercolour Palette