Color Mixing Part 1: The Power of Compliments

The thing that never ceases to amaze me is the power of complimentary colors. Time after time the answer to almost any color mixing problem is found by looking across the color wheel. For those unfamiliar with the color wheel let me illuminate. When light is sent through a prism it is refracted or separated into its parts. The parts of light are color. Think of a rainbow. For clarity, artists depict these colors in a wheel. The primary colors, red, blue and yellow, are placed evenly around the wheel. The secondary colors are placed between the primaries from which they are mixed (orange goes between red and yellow, green goes between blue and yellow, etc.).

The basic theory goes like this:

1. There are three primary colors: Red, Yellow and Blue. In theory these colors can not be mixed from any others. These are the colors from which all other color are made. The holy trinity of color.
2. There are three secondary colors: Orange, Green and Violet. Each secondary color is created by mixing two primary colors.
3. The colors that are next to each other on the color wheel are called analogous colors.
4. The colors that are opposite on the color wheel are called complimentary colors. Pay close attention to these relationships.

For those who get more from pictures than words, (and lets face it isn't that why we do this?) let's look at the diagram below.

Color Wheel

There are two ways to use complimentary colors. First is how we create shadows, both cast shadows and the dark sides of objects. Second, is to create depth without necessarily, using contrast.

1. Shadows: The common misconception by beginner painters is that you make a shadow by adding black. In reality, all that this makes is a mess. No, worse, a dull mess. The best way to create a shadow is to add the compliment. If I were to paint a lemon, I would start with Cadmium Yellow Light. For the light side I would add a small amount of White. For the dark side, I would add (to the Cad. Yellow Lt.) its compliment, Violet made from Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson.
   
2. Depth: Most students who have done any painting at all know how to create depth in a painting by using varying tonal values, darks and lights. few, however know that there is an equally powerful method for creating this illusion, I call it an illusion because it is impossible to create actual depth within a two dimensional surface. The second way to create depth is by using complimentary colors. By placing the subject, let's say the same lemon, in front of its compliment, violet, you are creating the illusion of depth. Now imagine the same lemon in front of one of it's analogous colors, orange. The depth is now lost. Try to think of it this way: the further away something is on the color wheel the further away it will appear to be in your painting.
   

This is the theory part of color mixing. Next, we'll talk about how this theory translates into actual paint.

(c) 2010 Holm. All Rights Reserved.

The Three Basic Rules of Oil Painting

These three rules will help to ensure the longevity of your paintings.

1. Lean to Fat: Probably the most important. It refers to to the solvents added to the paint to make it move or flow. Lean means adding only thinner, whether it's gum spirits of turpentine or an odorless paint thinner. Fat means adding only medium to the paint which is normally a formula that includes linseed oil, a primary component of oil paint. A typical oil medium is: 1 part linseed oil, 1 part damar varnish and 1 part thinner (gum spirits of turpentine is the norm but I use an odorless paint thinner as a substitute*). Start out by using all thinner then gradually introduce more and more medium into your mixture.
   
2. Thin to Thick: This refers to the thickness of the layers being applied. Remember that your thickest layers go on last.
   
3. Dark to Light: This is the most difficult for beginner painters to comprehend. For several reasons, which will be discussed at a later time, dark colors need to be applied thinly and light colors conversely, need to be applied more thickly.
   

There are a couple of ways to think about all of this. The first is stability. Because oil paint tends to shrink slightly while drying you want the earlier layers to dry before the subsequent layers so that the upper layers don't split or crack. Think about baking a cheese cake. If you simply put the cake mixture into the oven the upper layer will cook (and dry) first. Then as the rest of the cake cooks and becomes dryer, the top of the cake cracks. Another way to think about this is, as a wall patch. Think of patching a hole in the wall with Spackle and being in such a rush to finish that you don't wait for it to dry before applying paint. The coat of wall paint dries much faster than does the Spackle so the paint will inevitably crack.

The second issue is adhesion. Oil paint needs something to grab on to. If the early layers of paint are lean then the oil in the subsequent layers will be drawn into them pulling paint along for the ride. If they are fat then there will be less room for the additional oil. Which do you suppose would be a better choice to sop up spilled milk (don't cry we're only supposing), a full wet sponge or a relatively dry one. C'mon, you know. The other concern regarding adhesion is sheen. Paint is less likely to bond with a shiny, slick surface than it is with a more porous surface.

Getting back to the three rules, as with any painting rule.....

.....remember it, then, forget it.

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* some sources claim an incompatibility between damar varnish and most odorless paint thinners stemming from the fact that damar varnish is made from damar crystals and gum spirits of turpentine. Odorless paint thinner is a petroleum based product. The result is a cloudy medium (which has never bothered me). Some claim however, that it could have a detrimental effect on the longevity of your painting. If you have any concerns please do your own research.

(c) 2015 Holm. All Rights Reserved.