It’s late and I’m rushing to get my post done because we went blueberry picking!
I’m just going to paste my notes from earlier here… But, basically today was all about neutral color testing.
My palette
Quinacridone magenta: this is my primary.
Cadman yellow medium:
Manganese blue hue:
The first thing I’m going to do for my color test this morning is try and figure out how to best way to neutralize the main colors I’m going to use for this painting. I’m starting now with quinacridone magenta and neutralizing it with emerald green.
This mixture produces a very blue color with a value around two. It is a very neutral color but still has a lot more chroma than the basic Munsell neutrals.
The next two mixtures I made was magenta and orange which created a very high chroma nice looking red. Then magenta with radiant turquoise which also made a fairly high chroma purple. A nice looking purple.
The next mixture I made with magenta was with sap green because I wanted to take it a little bit closer to yellow. This produced a super rich and dark brown that looks very close to transparent earth red. But when adding white to it it neutralizes really nicely into a lighter neutral brown.
Next I mixed the magenta with a neutral gray #4 and yes it neutralize that color pretty quickly but I’m not sure if I want to go that way. I will learn from it and treat it as an option though.
I tried mixing magenta with radiant green and I got a somewhat neutral purple. Then I mixed magenta with cadmium green and I got a very neutral orange. Then I mixed magenta with Pthalo green and got a neutral blue.
Lastly I mixed a bit of white with my original mixture which was magenta and emerald green and by far that is the most neutral color I created.
The problem that I’ve seen with mixing complementary colors, or colors that are close to their complimentary, as close as I can get with two paints alone, is that it changes the original color dramatically. If I want to continue with the same hue yet neutralize it the best way is to add a neutral gray. If I want to neutralize the hue while change it completely then I will add a complimentary.
Now I have to figure out a way to save all these mixtures and chart them so I can remember.
See chart below.
I also worked with neutralizing Manganese Blue Hue, but I didn’t take any notes on that yet.
Very effective day!
I could plan our berry picking time better.
Nope. It was a lot of fun even though I’m rushed to get things done before bed.
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