Student Success In India
March 30, 2017Learn to Paint For Beginners
April 6, 2017Sick of Mixing Muddy Colours?
Hi … Do you have this problem?
A lot of people starting out learning to paint often struggle with their paint mixes getting muddy and lifeless.
I hear it all the time from our students.
It’s a topic we will be covering in great detail in the new Colour Mixing Course
The problem with mixing mud on your palette is that it is usually lifeless and rarely the colour you were hoping to mix. It leads to frustration for a lot of us starting out painting.
So what do you do when you have mixed a pile of mud?
As I said we will be covering it in detail in the new Colour Mixing Course but let me share with you a few thoughts that will help you right away.
First … how do we end up with muddy colour anyway?
Well muddy colours is usually a result of mixing three or more colours together in the wrong proportions (typically in equal amounts). When you introduce too many colours into your mix it reacts by turning to a dull grey brown colour.
So when you try and mix a colour think about what are the two dominant colours in the mix. When you mix say blue and yellow (two primaries) you get green. So if you are trying to mix a green and it goes muddy then you have probably introduced red in the wrong proportions.
Keep you mixes simple with two dominant colours and you will keep away from mud.
A second key idea is the temperature.
When you mix mud its usually neutral in temperature.
So if you find yourself with muddy colours on the palette then you can either WARM it up or COOL it down. By altering the temperature of the mix you bring it back to life.
The big challenge for beginners of course is when you watch videos of master artists you see them dancing their brush across the palette dabbing into all sorts of colours and adding them to the mix.
This can be confusing to beginners because it looks like they aren’t even thinking about it. Of course they are not … they are doing it unconsciously based on years of experience.
As a beginner you need to follow simple principles to avoid mud.
Again we will be covering this in a lot more detail in the Colour Mixing Course.
For now though remember:
* Keep your mixes simple with two dominant colours
* WARM up or COOL down your muddy mix to bring it back to life
I hope these tips help you keep out of the mud
PS … The new COLOUR MIXING COURSE starts on 12th April. You can join at the Early Bird Price and save 50% if you join before the course starts. It will run for 6 weeks and teach you everything you need to know about COLOUR.
Thanks Rod. Some great tips that begin to sort out this annoying perennial problem.
Thanks Colin glad you found it useful