Hi Michelle I have the colours you suggested and thank you sincerely for your suggested selection I will set these colours my travel palette kindest regards Steve
I think you have recommended a good starter kit Michele. I hope my comments don't confuse your viewers. White paper reflects all colours. when we apply red wave length coloured paint, what happens is the surface absorbs green and blue-violet, so we see only red. As only red is reflected green and blue/violet are subtracted. Therefore paint mixing is called subtractive mixing. The more colours we mix, the more colours are absorbed until we get muddy darks, greyed colours and finally black. The more that the hue is neutralised the more the colour becomes chromatically impure. Chromatically pure colours include Red, Magenta, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue and Blue Violet the colours of the rainbow. These colours are pure hues, primary and secondary colours. Hue is the quality of colour that allows us to distinguish between colours of the rainbow. They are single unmixed hues or a mixture of just two primaries. Chromatically impure colours are tertiary colours, a mixture of all three primary colours. They include earth colours ochres, siennas, umbers, madders, greys, blacks and olive greens and army greens. Although they can be mixed they are often included as convenience colours to save time and make mixing easier. Next step is to arrange the pure hues on a colour mixing wheel to avoid making mud all of the time. I create a six point star of David. Using a compass draw a circle. Keeping the compass at the same radius, place the compass point at top dead centre and scribe a light arch to make marks on the circumference of the circle. Repeat this procedure from each mark on the circumference. One ends up wth six points on the circle. Paint a circle of colour over each point in the following order: Hansa Yellow top dead centre, next and to the right, place Pyrrole Red (I personally use Winsor red) Next point down on right Permanent Rose, (an impure replacement for unavailable pure Magenta), bottom place French Ultramarine Blue (Ultramarine Blue is a good substitute) directly opposite yellow, lower left side phthalocyanine blue Green Shade an impure cyan) then I mix green because Phthalo Blue mixed with Hansa Yellow to make good pure greens. I need them in Thailand but they are rarely needed in Australia. I like having Olive Green, Schmincke Hookers Green and Winsor Green in my paint box. I recommend mixing the intermediate colours between each of these main mixing colours: Hansa Yellow + Pyrrole Red ➡️ Yellow Orange/ Orange/ Vermillion Hues Pyrrole Red + Permanent Rose ➡️ Carmine Red Permanent Rose + French Ultramarine Blue➡️ Violet (Dioxazine violet hue and/or Quinacridone Violet hue) French Ultramarine + Phtahlo Blue I use Ultramarine Blue and Cobalt Blue as blues between French Ultramarine and Phthalo Blue as Pthalo Blue is copper based and contains some green. I use Winsor Blue Red Shade and Winsor Blue Green Shade as a personal preference here but I use Phthalo Blues in other brands. Phthalocyanine Blue Green Shade + Hansa Yellow ➡️ dark green, green and yellow green. I like to also have Manganese Blue to mix with Hansa Yellow for even brighter greens, but it is not an alternative for Phthalo. Blue Then one understands to keep the colours pure do not mix Cyan, magenta and yellow together or Red, Yellow and Blue together. No more than two primaries for pure hues. The colour wheel can be used to approximately identify opposite colours, to enable one deliberately mix tertiary colours, that is, three Primaries in varying quantities and combinations. Add a small amount of French Ultramarine Blue to Yellow, then some more Blue to see the change. Do the same to Yellow Orange. Add a small amount of Phthalo Blue Green Shade to Orange Red then to red and to Permanent Rose. Add Permanent Rose to Greens. This way colours similar to Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Olive Green can be discovered. An alternative is to gradually add black to make shades of each pure hue, add greys to make pastel colours, or white to make tints. That is a good mixing exercise but understand most artists prefer to avoid white in watercolours and black in general as allowing the eye to mix different pigments in such fine close translucent arrangement on the surface of the paper makes brighter richer colours in the painting. I like to have a few Darks Paynes Grey, Dioxazine Violet, Indigo Blue, and Vandyke Brown W&N. My preference for Winsor & Newton comes from starting my Diploma in 1959. W&N was the only good brand we had at that time where I lived. I now use several different brands, they all have their strengths and weaknesses.
Thank you for the clear explanation of the reasoning behind your choices. I'm a fairly beginner watercolors with the added twist of being blind. Like 80% of blind people I have some sight, is just not reliable or always trustworthy. I look forward to watching more of your videos. I found you on the Uptrex website. Another YT watercolor artist I watch I'd having a trip to France. I was intrigued with the server and s started looking at other trips. You're was interesting so I came to YT to see some of your work. I'm very glad I did!
thanak you Michelle, this is brilliant. Ive finally bought myself some windsor and newton paints and they have a lot of the colours you are suggesting...plus black and white. so Ill take them out and replace them with what you are suggesting. Ill be doing the patreon thing as soon as Im up and running. I love your interactions, you are my favorite teacher xx
I’m so glad I found you. I’ve been dabbling with watercolors and the pencils. I love watching your classes, I’m going to have a 3 lumbar fusion in 2 weeks and am so happy I found this class. I’ve got my recovery area all set up and ready for rehab with watercolor, L o L, I’ll be separated from the rest of the household so I’m happy to have you with me. Thank you for everything!
I have studied this video like crazy. It's been extremely helpful for helping me to reorganize my pallets so it's easy to get clean mixes. Now whenever I branch into a new brand of paints, I know exactly what colors to buy to get started
I have attempted to “paint” many times in the past but could not understand why my colors felt off. In frustration I would just not continue…thank you for explaining this principle in a very easy to understand way..i feel as though the fog has lifted, many thanks and many thumbs up! I cannot wait to edit and rearrange my paint box and give it another go.
I'm refreshing my memory of your color advice to make a nice starter palette for my niece. I love convenience colors and have TONS of tube paints...don't want to overwhelm her as she starts her watercolor journey! Thank you so much for such an informative video :D
I have recently started watercolour painting and I'm thinking of making my first custom palette. This video is a god send as I have been confused about what colours to put in the palette, thank you, this video has helped me so much.
I always learn so much from your videos, and especially enjoy your color mixing lessons and the very helpful information you provide. Also, love the delicate and beautiful chain necklaces you're wearing! You always look so pretty. 😻😊👏
Thank you for your clear and valuable content. I appreciate you as a teacher for your explanations of how and why things work or don't. While I have a background in art, I've been away from it for quite some time and you are helping inspire me to return to an art practice. I have played around with watercolors now and again over the years without much instruction. Your videos are filling in lots of gaps. In this is video you helped me identify 1 of the problems with my current palettes - I was missing a rose color! Soon to be remedied! Thank you for generously sharing your content for free. I am planning on taking 1 of your paid courses soon as result of your teaching skill and generosity.
So my beautiful set of paints from your collab arrived and they look beautiful. I cannot wait to try them out. Must move kids' bed time to 5pm! Anyway, packaged very well, the card with mixed colours is very informative and will come very handy.
Hello, Michele. Recent subscriber here. I'm a beginner and I have a paint set of 14 half-pans. 12 of the pans are filled with the following colors: Hansa yellow light, New Gamboge, Quinacridone Rose, Pyrrol Scarlet, French ultramarine, Pathalo blue, Cerulean blue, Veridian, Sap green, yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, and Payne's gray. Would you please recommend two other colors to add for the empty pans? Thank you so much.
Thank for your video! I can not English so well so I didn't underställd which colors you morgon, because you just say bit didn't show. Thankyou so much for Good videos.
Hi Michele, thanks for this video! I have a new respect for pinks which I had previously overlooked when making up a palette. Still learning and practicing my mixing! Thanks again!
I own 7 of these colours! I have experience mixing acrylic paints so I've been thinking about things like warm yellows vs cool yellows. As I start with watercolour I find the mixing part so fun and relaxing. It's a trickier medium to work with IMO but also fun and challenging. thank you for offering substitute colour suggestions. That's a real money saver for those of us just starting to collect supplies. I would rather have good brushes than 4 yellows that behave very similarly.
I'll have to make more use of the Permanent Rose I have after watching this--thanks, all very helpful. I'm not quite certain about Payne's Grey in the usual watercolor sets, however. I remember scoping through what Amazon had in the way of beginners sets and never could find Payne's Grey. You might remember asking you about this color some months ago. I've a big tube of it now, and it's been invaluable so far!
I have a set of Sakura Koi 48 colours...the only mid-level set available here. They have many of the colours you suggest, so I’ve found your suggestions really useful.
“This channel is cat approved” lol lol my three cats and dog will be happy about that 😂 love your channel! You don’t faff about and I find you original - I am loving learning about colour theory here :) xxx
Thank you so much, Michele, for discussing the terms "warm blues" and "cool blues". Even with a strong art background (from years ago) I have been struggling to see any blues, except maybe turquoise, as a warm blue! The terms "red or green-leaning" blues are easier for me to see, understand, & identify. I love all colors and art mediums, so thank you for restoring my visual reality and peace with the paint/pigment world and so much more!! Best wishes from Southern California ❤️ 🪻💙💐🌞🎨🖼💚
In my watercolors, I could only afford about 6-7 colors at the time. So I got 7 colors. The warm and cool version of primary colors and a neutral tint as black. I found I can mix earth tones and some more earthy colors when mixing in a mixed brown or certain primaries but in my gouache, I was able to buy the earth tones and I differently find them helpful and making painting easier and quicker.
Thank you, this has been so useful. I started with the 12x half pan Cotman Sketcher’s Pocket Box. There are stacks of videos which tell me what colours I ‘should’ be using but it’s really good to have your explanations of WHY.
I agree! These are the best picks for the most colour mixes, great stuff! I have all of these and many more I’m an expert I was just curious about your picks and reasoning. I really agree about the blue as well I don’t think there is a warm they are all cool I’ve been calling it violet or green leaning myself lately. Spot on about everything really! Love the video!
Wish I had know this early on it would have saved me so much frustration. I’m a beginner and I ended up taking viridian green out of my pallet, such a wasted color for a beginner.
This was very helpful! I'm a kid, so I don't have a lot of money but have been wanting to get a quality watercolor set. This has definitely been a useful resource when researching.
My husband is a offset printer who worked on 5 colour and 10 colour presses ,yes cymk can mix any colour. As to pantone colours they are just ready made convenience cymk colours he had to mix pantone colours himself to colour match pantone colours and although they are custom colours they still only convenience colours able to be mixed and use cymk at the base level. Within the printing world it may not have the same characteristics such as granulation of a single pigment but it can be colour matched exactly. They use a spectrometer to achieve this which measures the specific gravity which indicates the density of the colours within a sample so the exact weights to be added can be precise. It becomes an exact copy of the original colour, just like synthetic drugs for example have the exact same structure as the original organic chemicals so too are they exact mimics of the original single pigment colours. Single pigment are useful for other qualities specific to each, especially regarding the way it behaves that makes them special. I still have a variety of each primary on my palette for the sake of ease of mixing as we don't have the same equipment to measure exactly as printers do. And I also have some special single pigments mainly for their unique characteristics such as granulation. There are many reasons why people don't just use cymk, but mixing technically isn't the reason it's just easier.
It seems I might need to get a little more creative with my color mixing, with all the colors my set is lacking ... Gotta check my travel set some time, too.
You mentioned Quinacridone gold in your video "Improved Greens." Is there a good substitute for Quinacridone gold? Also for curiosity's sake what would be a warm neutral?
The nearest to quinacridone gold would be a warm transparent yellow with a hint of brown added. Like an indian yellow with a hint of burnt umber, but it wouldn't be quite as 'clean'. A warm neutral would be any brown, but if you mean a warm grey for example then it would be a grey that wouldn't look blue, but slightly yellowish or pinkish, like concrete as compared to stainless steel.
It is a good beginner colour palette video if there aren't a few little things that confuse me a bit. 1. phantone could be explained briefly instead of simply leaving the term as it is. 2. Because of this confusion of names, the pigment codes are important for communicating about watercolour paints because the pigment codes are standardized and apply across all manufacturers, and it does not require that much extra effort to name the pigments that make up the colour in addition to the colour name. 3. I have already mixed a fairly intense orange from a magenta and yellow and the statement that magenta and yellow do not result in an intense orange cannot be correct. I myself do not use CMY as a primary palette because it is far too saturated and intense for me and I decide on my primary colors depending on what I want to paint. 4. The palette seems to be a mixture of CMY and split primary palette and with the ultramarine and the burnt sienna a practical dark grey tone can be created that makes me wonder why Payne's grey is in the palette? 5. why is ultramarine not for sky?
1. The spelling is Pantone, and it's another video in itself. It's basically bespoke, exact colour mixing, more expensive than CMYK which does not cover every hue. 2. The pigment codes I am using are available on my website and on the manufacturer's website. 3. You can mix a bright orange from magenta but it will be a warm orange, not a cool, typical (fruit) orange. The point is that you can mix a version of orange from any of the primaries, but you can't mix EVERY orange hue that exists from any single set of primaries. 4. The palette I have chosen is a split primary with some useful neutrals, Payne's Grey is just there because it's useful, and far easier for beginners than black. The aim of any beginner's set is to mix the widest range of hues, but no set, and no version of primaries will mix every hue that exists because it's not possible, they don't cover a broad enough spectrum, in addition some single pigments are simply unique and cannot be exactly replicated by mixing primaries. 5 Ultramarine can be for skies, but it's problematic for beginners because firstly it's not an accurate sky colour for most parts of the world, and secondly it granulates heavily. Added to this the fact that beginners may have a cheaper version, as it's an expensive colour so price matters for Ultramarine. So it's not an exact rule, it's just an observation that a lot of beginners mess up skies with ultramarine, where they would do better to choose another colour. But if it works for you that's cool too.
Thank you so much! I have been trying to find a starter set with both “warm” and “cool” primary colors. I already have a palette Winsor & Newton and wanted to try to just add to the few “starter” appropriate colors that I had. I greatly appreciate your help with finding the names of colors that I can find in that line of paint. I know many artists use one brand of paint while others use colors from many different brands. If there are pros and cons to these methods please consider making a video f this topic. May 2023 be creative and joyous for you and those for whom you care.
It's nice to start with one brand, but if you find there are colours you don't feel satisfied with or unusual colours you want to try there's nothing wrong with adding others in. A colour like Payne's Grey will be different from each manufacturer so you may want to shop around.
Thank you for the video. I often overlook the earth colours but burnt sienna is gorgeous and the combinations are so pretty. I need to try to use those more often as they have a depth to them which I love.
Thnak you this was a fabulous video. I am often getting friends started on watercolours and I pull out my hair trying to decide what might be best for them to start. I have my own favourites of course, like quinacridone gold that I could not live without,but your choices for the neutrals was opening my eyes. I am going to play with raw umber today and give Payne’s grey another chance. Wow that aubergine! Many thanks.
Absolutely. You can mix most skin tones from three primaries, I have a video that shows you how if you pop it in the search bar (youtube doesn't let me post links here)
Thank you for sharing these tips - SO helpful! I'm definitely going to get a Payne's Gray and swap out my Alizarin Crimson for one of the rose colors ASAP!
I am new at watercolor. I have wanted to learn for years, but life, work, house, kids took up all of my time. Now that I am retired, I am hoping that I can now concentrate on ME and all the things I have yearned to do. I currently am working with Cotman's 24-half pans and am having problems knowing how much water to mix in that will give me a strong representation of the color. I am barely adding any water. I watch artists pulling brushes loaded with water and seemingly getting strong, vibrant color on the paper. When I do this, my paint is so anemic. Please, what am I doing wrong? ☹️
Cotman are my least favorite student's brand, even though the company is good. You will also struggle to pick up a lot of paint from pan paints. I would add a few tubes, either artist's quality, or if you are on a budget try White Nights by St Petersburg. There's no need to ditch your Cotman but I think adding a few tubes would be a big help for you.
I must look at your website, I have become a colour and colour nerd now since lockdown. Now i talk to people about colours and colour mixing, and the other day I discussed colour mixing with a gardener at the farmers market. Hello, my name is Beaulieu, I am a colour mixing addict from London.
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber I am getting there. I am thinking when I see a colour outside , what Mix is that? I will walk into lamp posts one day or into a pond. I was in Jermyn Street the other day and I was admiring the autumn colours of mens clothes in the shop windows and the beautiful red and gold lettering of the shop signs and seeing how they all work well together. I look into the windows and see clothes with green tonal values.... and think, oh, they did a good job there. Then I see a nice red and I wonder how to mix it.
A useful green such as Sap Green, Green Gold or Forest shadow (from my shadow set but can be bought individually). My petal shadow is a really useful colour too, if you paint botanicals, or use it for cloud shadows. Other options are Red Oxide for rooftops and rusty surfaces. Try a Sepia or my Winter Bark for a cool dark brown. Any of these will expand your range.
Thanks greatly for your video Michele, as I'm very much still a beginner so watercolour mixing is something I struggled with. Greatly appreciated stay safe
Michele gives great advice for all artists not just beginners. We're never too old to gain new knowledge, and younger artists like Michele are living proof of just how MUCH you can learn!
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber You are young compared to me I do assure you. I did my first watercolours over 60 years ago, but still learn by taking advantage of your great teaching style and technical knowledge. Many thanks and keep up the good work Michele!
This was very helpful. I have cadmium yellow (not deep), winsor red, burnt umber and neutral tint that you didn’t mention and do have some of the others that you did mention. Would neutral tint be ok to sub for paynes gray? I am using winsor newton prof paints to start with. (Wanted good quality at the start). If I had seen this video a few weeks ago I would not have bought some of the colors I have on hand now.
All colours are useful eventually so don't worry, this is just a list of those that are the most versatile. Neutral tint is not quite the same as Payne's grey but it's a very useful colour!
Such a useful and beyond helpful amount of information, and broken down enough to clearly understand. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge...what a help!
The most difficult is a personal thing. I never found watercolour difficult, I felt I understood it straight away, but many other people find it the hardest medium. Different people have affinity to different things I guess!
Thank you for response ! Other videos I have seen, makes it so difficult! I am differently going to sign up for your lessons once we are out of lockdown in the UK! I live in West London by the way!
I have found your videos very helpful for beginners like me. I am interested in the meanings of the names of different watercolour paints. The names like Cadmium, Cobalt, Hansa, Quinacridone, Permanent, Pyrrol, Perylene, Phthalo etc. etc. How do these different colour names affect the paint colour? I have heard these names before a paint colour name but have not heard them explained. I would love to know the answers or where I can find them. Perhaps there are others that have wondered the same thing. Thanks !!!
Hello! The colour names are usually science or mineral based. Yellow Ochre would for examble be a natural ochre mineral that was yellow. Permanent is often used as the pigment replaces one that previously faded (for example permanent Alizarin has been re-formulated as the early version used to fade). Quinacridone denotes a type of synthetic pigment, Phthalo denotes a family of transparent, staining pigments. Cobalt is a mineral, Cadmium a type of lead, Burnt is literally heated in preparation, Raw is untreated. If you see the word Hue, it often means that this is a colour that looks like the original (often too expensive/rare to be sold now). I should do a video!
Hi Michele! I am a new subscriber to your channel and am ABSOLUTELY loving what I am seeing!! As a teacher, you know how important it is to learn something from the shallow end first, rather than jumping in over your head into much deeper waters. I am currently struggling in the deep end because I never found a basic class on color theory, which pigments make up certain colors, how to make a color chart, etc... Do you have a video or series, here or on Patreon that will help me? I ask because I like your teaching style and I have already gotten a better level of understanding from how you present the material. Thank you so much for sharing everything that is already here and I'm really excited to see more!!
Today is my ME day, so your response came with perfect timing!! I've got my coffee, biscotti and supplies at the ready for what I'm sur will be a fun, new adventure!!! Thank you for pointing me in the right direction on your channel and I'll check out your Patreon.com today too!!! Have an awesome day Michele!!! 💚 😊 💚
Many thanks for your shows, and education hints. I want to paint again, and collects information for watercolor. My supplier sells W&N, and I will buy the primary, and seccondary (6) to a start. The tubes are a bit expensive, but price-worthy in the long run. Many years ago, I crafted small furnitures for kids, and baskets of veneer, and such that I painted by tempera of eggs, linseed-oil, turpentine and water. Sometimes just linseed-oil. I grinded the pigments, and mixed them into good paints. I also painted windows by home made oil paint. It went very good, and it was nice to apply. But not funny to make in large amounts. However. I happen to have a lot of pigments left in a lot of jars. For crafts, I tried to use mostly earth-pigments due to their transparency and beauty. Of ochres, there are gold-, red-, english red-, and caput-mortum. All from yellow to red-purple. Raw sienna, burnt sienna. There are raw umber, burnt umber, earth green, ivory black, and iron oxide black. The sharper pigments was synthetics, but was seldom used. Preussian blue was a disaster. So light, that it invaded all the room. :) Have you ever tried to grind pigments and blend with arabicum and water to make your own watercolors? Some of these real earth pigments are probably rare these days. I might have some for you. I cant use them all. Me swedish,. You english?
Hi Michele. Is it possible to get your color mixing chart as a stabd alone item? I have all the colors you mentioned in your starter set from other manufacturers (some from multiple sources) but i would like to get the mixing chart. Thanks. Marshall
Very useful and well explained. I have been painting for a while but it still has been useful to have this so well organized for me. I think I will make myself a palette that has all these color plus some of my favorites like green gold, cobalt turquoise light, phtalo green etc.
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber I prefer the more golden Winsor and Newton one. DS has the same pigment PY 129 under a different name. I like it on its own it mixed with phtalo green blue shade for a beautiful sap green.
additive mixing happens with superimposing light, e.g., if you throw red and green stagelights, where they superimpose they'll go yellow. subtractive mixing happens when light is absorbed, e.g., when mixing red and green paint, red paint absorbs most colours other than red, green absorbs most colours other than green, so you're mostly left with the yellowish light in between. but because so much light has been absorbed, it's a very dark yellow, aka brown. like you say there are no sets of primaries that will allow you to mix every possible colour. i think CMY does give a bigger range. RYB gives better reds and blues but is poorer than CMY for greens. if you look at a chromaticity diagram there are more perceptible greens so maybe that's why printers go for CMY. Jazza showed an experiment on his channel and to his own surprise found that he could produce a richer range of colours in a sample piece of art with CMY than RYB. however, if your primaries include warm+cool RYB plus the few extras you mention, that greatly expands your available gamut. I think theoretically speaking the colours that would give you the best range would be pure spectral colours spaced around the rainbow: red, yellow, green, turquoise (or cyan), ultramarine and violet. in practice though it depends more on what pigments are available, like you might not be able to achieve pure rainbow colours with pigments.
You are brilliant in describing paints and mixing. I have so many paints and I am setting up a new smaller pallet and am only putting in the " beginner " colors because of your demo. I have been experimenting mixing different pigment and am awed by what I have discovered. Besides useful, it is fun. Thank you so very much.
I seem to have an aversion to warm colors 😂 Someone who saw my (non-hung) paintings commented that I have an awful tendency to take "autumn" scenes and make them "winter" (I'm awful, but I saw what they meant later on). When you swatched that "warm yellow", I saw bright orange. (I do have a vision impairment of sorts, due to hyperthyroidism. I have to wear dark glasses and really shouldn't be painting, but I'm enjoying things and have unloaded a painting finally!) Alizarin in my favorite, and raw umber a close second. Phthalo Turqoise is a favorite, but I collect indigos like alizarins. One of my favorite companies has a "set" and doesn't even include a warm yellow: it goes from PY3 to vermillion! (I didn't pick that set, really: I just said no black or white in any set if I were to start watercolours!) Sennelier. Love the paints, but I'd buy open stock if one wants a starter set. Schminke has some of my favorites, too, but they can't name a paint. Or they desire to rename common colors to their own names. I personally find the Schminke sets atrocious and haven't bought them like that. DS half-pans is probably the best starter "set" (that's commonly available), but they have an overwhelming number of paints and I'm giving most of my tubes away. Their buff titanium is nice, and the hansas (I use the medium and deep hansa yellows for "oranges"; they're plenty enough "orange" for me). DS actually has an exquisite alizarin, but it's the non-lightfast one. I'm quite fond of it, as well as their perm. rose. Very nice indigo, as well (leans gray; can be useful). I'll have to look at Jackman's. All along, I thought you were saying _Jackson's_ (which is rumoured to be Sennelier-sourced, but online swatches make me wonder). Thank you for a delightful video. I'm letting several paintings dry and really, I pray to be able to buy one of your paintings (or a print at least) for all the good videos you put out! ❤️️🙏 You're a gem.
Thank you so much for all your good work! You are by far my favourite teacher on TH-cam. Your videos are very valuable for me. I was on and off with watercolour, but meanwhile I have found out that this is the perfect painting medium for me. I love acrylic colours, but not the painting process itself (Gesso here retarder there, drying time at light speed, etc) Watercolour is easy to carry around and does not take up much space / preparation time. However: As a beginner I still struggle with the issue of a limited pallette although I see why it is important. MY "limited" pallette currently consists of 20 colours. 😀 At the moment, it is inconceivable restricting myself to 12 colours or less. Sooo many beautiful colours to choose from: Perylene green, Cobalt turquoise light, Naples yellow, Dioxazine violet.... 😍
I have more than a hundred colours. Once you are experienced in colour mixing you need not stick to a small selection... but I would always choose a limited set for each painting, it will help give it an atmosphere and cohesive look. Best of both worlds!
Yes, the video was helpful. I have lemon yellow, paynes grey, prussian blue, sap green, burnt sienna, umber, crimson, cadmium orange, magenta. I have a rose but I cannot remember what kind of rose it was. I like to try and, avoid using sap green now but mixing other greens. I have gold and turquoise too, as I quite like a 'personal touch' in my art. I love paynes grey, brown umber, peachy colours and olive greens.
Off topic: i notice you have some great metallic shimmery watercolours, however, I don't actually know how best to use them. It would be great to have a video on metallic painting one day.
Really useful thanks 😊
Very helpful.
Good information, can't wait to start painting!
Have fun!
Interesting thanks
Hi Michelle I have the colours you suggested and thank you sincerely for your suggested selection I will set these colours my travel palette kindest regards Steve
You are very welcome!
I think you have recommended a good starter kit Michele. I hope my comments don't confuse your viewers.
White paper reflects all colours. when we apply red wave length coloured paint, what happens is the surface absorbs green and blue-violet, so we see only red. As only red is reflected green and blue/violet are subtracted. Therefore paint mixing is called subtractive mixing. The more colours we mix, the more colours are absorbed until we get muddy darks, greyed colours and finally black.
The more that the hue is neutralised the more the colour becomes chromatically impure.
Chromatically pure colours include Red, Magenta, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue and Blue Violet the colours of the rainbow. These colours are pure hues, primary and secondary colours. Hue is the quality of colour that allows us to distinguish between colours of the rainbow. They are single unmixed hues or a mixture of just two primaries.
Chromatically impure colours are tertiary colours, a mixture of all three primary colours. They include earth colours ochres, siennas, umbers, madders, greys, blacks and olive greens and army greens. Although they can be mixed they are often included as convenience colours to save time and make mixing easier.
Next step is to arrange the pure hues on a colour mixing wheel to avoid making mud all of the time. I create a six point star of David. Using a compass draw a circle. Keeping the compass at the same radius, place the compass point at top dead centre and scribe a light arch to make marks on the circumference of the circle. Repeat this procedure from each mark on the circumference. One ends up wth six points on the circle. Paint a circle of colour over each point in the following order: Hansa Yellow top dead centre, next and to the right, place Pyrrole Red (I personally use Winsor red) Next point down on right Permanent Rose, (an impure replacement for unavailable pure Magenta), bottom place French Ultramarine Blue (Ultramarine Blue is a good substitute) directly opposite yellow, lower left side phthalocyanine blue Green Shade an impure cyan) then I mix green because Phthalo Blue mixed with Hansa Yellow to make good pure greens. I need them in Thailand but they are rarely needed in Australia. I like having Olive Green, Schmincke Hookers Green and Winsor Green in my paint box.
I recommend mixing the intermediate colours between each of these main mixing colours:
Hansa Yellow + Pyrrole Red ➡️ Yellow Orange/ Orange/ Vermillion Hues
Pyrrole Red + Permanent Rose ➡️ Carmine Red
Permanent Rose + French Ultramarine Blue➡️ Violet (Dioxazine violet hue and/or Quinacridone Violet hue)
French Ultramarine + Phtahlo Blue
I use Ultramarine Blue and Cobalt Blue as blues between French Ultramarine and Phthalo Blue as Pthalo Blue is copper based and contains some green. I use Winsor Blue Red Shade and Winsor Blue Green Shade as a personal preference here but I use Phthalo Blues in other brands.
Phthalocyanine Blue Green Shade + Hansa Yellow ➡️ dark green, green and yellow green.
I like to also have Manganese Blue to mix with Hansa Yellow for even brighter greens, but it is not an alternative for Phthalo. Blue
Then one understands to keep the colours pure do not mix Cyan, magenta and yellow together or Red, Yellow and Blue together. No more than two primaries for pure hues.
The colour wheel can be used to approximately identify opposite colours, to enable one deliberately mix tertiary colours, that is, three Primaries in varying quantities and combinations.
Add a small amount of French Ultramarine Blue to Yellow, then some more Blue to see the change. Do the same to Yellow Orange. Add a small amount of Phthalo Blue Green Shade to Orange Red then to red and to Permanent Rose. Add Permanent Rose to Greens.
This way colours similar to Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Olive Green can be discovered.
An alternative is to gradually add black to make shades of each pure hue, add greys to make pastel colours, or white to make tints. That is a good mixing exercise but understand most artists prefer to avoid white in watercolours and black in general as allowing the eye to mix different pigments in such fine close translucent arrangement on the surface of the paper makes brighter richer colours in the painting.
I like to have a few Darks Paynes Grey, Dioxazine Violet, Indigo Blue, and Vandyke Brown W&N.
My preference for Winsor & Newton comes from starting my Diploma in 1959. W&N was the only good brand we had at that time where I lived. I now use several different brands, they all have their strengths and weaknesses.
Incredibly helpful thanks. Both my beginner sets are lacking a bunch of things. :(
Happy to help!
Thank you for the clear explanation of the reasoning behind your choices. I'm a fairly beginner watercolors with the added twist of being blind. Like 80% of blind people I have some sight, is just not reliable or always trustworthy. I look forward to watching more of your videos. I found you on the Uptrex website. Another YT watercolor artist I watch I'd having a trip to France. I was intrigued with the server and s started looking at other trips. You're was interesting so I came to YT to see some of your work. I'm very glad I did!
Thanks Heidi, it's fantastic that you are still able to enjoy painting, I have taught lots of students with visual issues :-)
You are a great teacher! As a teacher myself (history, not art but I do love me some art history!), I appreciate your clear, concise explanations.
Wow, thank you!
Essential viewing for anyone using watercolour paints! For my part, I am like using Payne's gray. I think it is much underestimated.
Most usefull course on watercolor basics concerning color. Thank you! Now I am able to build up my own palette with confidance!
Wish I’d seen this video before I bought my paints. I learned a lot for my next trip to the art store!
thanak you Michelle, this is brilliant. Ive finally bought myself some windsor and newton paints and they have a lot of the colours you are suggesting...plus black and white. so Ill take them out and replace them with what you are suggesting. Ill be doing the patreon thing as soon as Im up and running. I love your interactions, you are my favorite teacher xx
Thanks so much Kylie, that's brilliant :-)
I’m so glad I found you. I’ve been dabbling with watercolors and the pencils. I love watching your classes, I’m going to have a 3 lumbar fusion in 2 weeks and am so happy I found this class. I’ve got my recovery area all set up and ready for rehab with watercolor, L o L, I’ll be separated from the rest of the household so I’m happy to have you with me. Thank you for everything!
Bless you, I do hope you recover quickly X
Your so sweet. I’m sure you’ll be teaching me a lot. I’ll be a captive audience so to speak. L o L
@@txna58 Hope you're recovering well, and having a fun time painting! Praying for you!
Excellent recommendations! From here forward I will be using these recommendations for new pallets!
Great tips for a travel palette many thanks
I have studied this video like crazy. It's been extremely helpful for helping me to reorganize my pallets so it's easy to get clean mixes. Now whenever I branch into a new brand of paints, I know exactly what colors to buy to get started
I have attempted to “paint” many times in the past but could not understand why my colors felt off. In frustration I would just not continue…thank you for explaining this principle in a very easy to understand way..i feel as though the fog has lifted, many thanks and many thumbs up! I cannot wait to edit and rearrange my paint box and give it another go.
Brilliant, you are welcome Lorie!
Loved this lesson. I am trying to use a more limited pallet and this was perfect.
You really make it easy to understand the difference between cool and warms. I finally got it Thanks
Glad it helped!
This is very helpful. Thank you.
I'm refreshing my memory of your color advice to make a nice starter palette for my niece. I love convenience colors and have TONS of tube paints...don't want to overwhelm her as she starts her watercolor journey! Thank you so much for such an informative video :D
This truly helped! I've been having a hard time mixing colors
Glad I could help!
I have recently started watercolour painting and I'm thinking of making my first custom palette. This video is a god send as I have been confused about what colours to put in the palette, thank you, this video has helped me so much.
Glad it was helpful!
I loved your video. I am a beginner and have difficulty in mixing colours These tips really make a difference! Thank you for sharing.
Glad it was helpful!
I always learn so much from your videos, and especially enjoy your color mixing lessons and the very helpful information you provide. Also, love the delicate and beautiful chain necklaces you're wearing! You always look so pretty. 😻😊👏
Thank you, very clear and useful
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you .... really helpful and looking forward to making the colour swatches and labelling them!
Glad it was helpful!
Very helpful!
This video was great! I learned a lot! I hope I stick with this! It's fun.
Nice selection of colours. My fav is perm rose of course.
Mine too!
Thank you for your clear and valuable content. I appreciate you as a teacher for your explanations of how and why things work or don't. While I have a background in art, I've been away from it for quite some time and you are helping inspire me to return to an art practice. I have played around with watercolors now and again over the years without much instruction. Your videos are filling in lots of gaps. In this is video you helped me identify 1 of the problems with my current palettes - I was missing a rose color! Soon to be remedied! Thank you for generously sharing your content for free. I am planning on taking 1 of your paid courses soon as result of your teaching skill and generosity.
Thanks so much Sheri, I am sure you will enjoy a course :-)
Very very helpful Michelle. I shall try this
Glad it was helpful!
So my beautiful set of paints from your collab arrived and they look beautiful. I cannot wait to try them out. Must move kids' bed time to 5pm! Anyway, packaged very well, the card with mixed colours is very informative and will come very handy.
Thank you so much, do let me know how you find them, yes send the kids to bed :-)
Your videos are very helpful.
Glad to hear that!
Hello, Michele. Recent subscriber here. I'm a beginner and I have a paint set of 14 half-pans. 12 of the pans are filled with the following colors: Hansa yellow light, New Gamboge, Quinacridone Rose, Pyrrol Scarlet, French ultramarine, Pathalo blue, Cerulean blue, Veridian, Sap green, yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, and Payne's gray. Would you please recommend two other colors to add for the empty pans? Thank you so much.
I would suggest Sepia and an oxide-based red such as Venician red or red oxide.
Thank for your video! I can not English so well so I didn't underställd which colors you morgon, because you just say bit didn't show.
Thankyou so much for Good videos.
TH-cam has auto translate to help you. You very welcome ☺️
This was extremely helpful! I wish I had seen this before purchasing some of the colors I have!
All colours come in useful eventually!
Hi Michele, thanks for this video! I have a new respect for pinks which I had previously overlooked when making up a palette. Still learning and practicing my mixing! Thanks again!
You are so welcome!
I own 7 of these colours! I have experience mixing acrylic paints so I've been thinking about things like warm yellows vs cool yellows. As I start with watercolour I find the mixing part so fun and relaxing. It's a trickier medium to work with IMO but also fun and challenging. thank you for offering substitute colour suggestions. That's a real money saver for those of us just starting to collect supplies. I would rather have good brushes than 4 yellows that behave very similarly.
I'll have to make more use of the Permanent Rose I have after watching this--thanks, all very helpful. I'm not quite certain about Payne's Grey in the usual watercolor sets, however. I remember scoping through what Amazon had in the way of beginners sets and never could find Payne's Grey. You might remember asking you about this color some months ago. I've a big tube of it now, and it's been invaluable so far!
such extremely useful information, and I am glad I’m watching it now because I was just about to splurge and buy some tube watercolors
I just love that your supplies are vegan xxx
I have a set of Sakura Koi 48 colours...the only mid-level set available here. They have many of the colours you suggest, so I’ve found your suggestions really useful.
Very nice!
“This channel is cat approved” lol lol my three cats and dog will be happy about that 😂 love your channel! You don’t faff about and I find you original - I am loving learning about colour theory here :) xxx
Thank you so much, Michele, for discussing the terms "warm blues" and "cool blues". Even with a strong art background (from years ago) I have been struggling to see any blues, except maybe turquoise, as a warm blue!
The terms "red or green-leaning" blues are easier for me to see, understand, & identify.
I love all colors and art mediums, so thank you for restoring my visual reality and peace with the paint/pigment world and so much more!! Best wishes from Southern California ❤️ 🪻💙💐🌞🎨🖼💚
Thanks Susan so glad it helped!
In my watercolors, I could only afford about 6-7 colors at the time. So I got 7 colors. The warm and cool version of primary colors and a neutral tint as black. I found I can mix earth tones and some more earthy colors when mixing in a mixed brown or certain primaries but in my gouache, I was able to buy the earth tones and I differently find them helpful and making painting easier and quicker.
Thank you, this has been so useful. I started with the 12x half pan Cotman Sketcher’s Pocket Box. There are stacks of videos which tell me what colours I ‘should’ be using but it’s really good to have your explanations of WHY.
Glad it was helpful!
I agree! These are the best picks for the most colour mixes, great stuff! I have all of these and many more I’m an expert I was just curious about your picks and reasoning. I really agree about the blue as well I don’t think there is a warm they are all cool I’ve been calling it violet or green leaning myself lately. Spot on about everything really! Love the video!
Glad you like them!
Wish I had know this early on it would have saved me so much frustration. I’m a beginner and I ended up taking viridian green out of my pallet, such a wasted color for a beginner.
This was very helpful! I'm a kid, so I don't have a lot of money but have been wanting to get a quality watercolor set. This has definitely been a useful resource when researching.
My husband is a offset printer who worked on 5 colour and 10 colour presses ,yes cymk can mix any colour. As to pantone colours they are just ready made convenience cymk colours he had to mix pantone colours himself to colour match pantone colours and although they are custom colours they still only convenience colours able to be mixed and use cymk at the base level. Within the printing world it may not have the same characteristics such as granulation of a single pigment but it can be colour matched exactly. They use a spectrometer to achieve this which measures the specific gravity which indicates the density of the colours within a sample so the exact weights to be added can be precise. It becomes an exact copy of the original colour, just like synthetic drugs for example have the exact same structure as the original organic chemicals so too are they exact mimics of the original single pigment colours. Single pigment are useful for other qualities specific to each, especially regarding the way it behaves that makes them special. I still have a variety of each primary on my palette for the sake of ease of mixing as we don't have the same equipment to measure exactly as printers do. And I also have some special single pigments mainly for their unique characteristics such as granulation. There are many reasons why people don't just use cymk, but mixing technically isn't the reason it's just easier.
It seems I might need to get a little more creative with my color mixing, with all the colors my set is lacking ... Gotta check my travel set some time, too.
You mentioned Quinacridone gold in your video "Improved Greens." Is there a good substitute for Quinacridone gold? Also for curiosity's sake what would be a warm neutral?
The nearest to quinacridone gold would be a warm transparent yellow with a hint of brown added. Like an indian yellow with a hint of burnt umber, but it wouldn't be quite as 'clean'. A warm neutral would be any brown, but if you mean a warm grey for example then it would be a grey that wouldn't look blue, but slightly yellowish or pinkish, like concrete as compared to stainless steel.
I have got most of these colors in my custom palette. I am really glad that I did this well. Thanks for keeping me inspired.
It is a good beginner colour palette video if there aren't a few little things that confuse me a bit.
1. phantone could be explained briefly instead of simply leaving the term as it is.
2. Because of this confusion of names, the pigment codes are important for communicating about watercolour paints because the pigment codes are standardized and apply across all manufacturers, and it does not require that much extra effort to name the pigments that make up the colour in addition to the colour name.
3. I have already mixed a fairly intense orange from a magenta and yellow and the statement that magenta and yellow do not result in an intense orange cannot be correct.
I myself do not use CMY as a primary palette because it is far too saturated and intense for me and I decide on my primary colors depending on what I want to paint.
4. The palette seems to be a mixture of CMY and split primary palette and with the ultramarine and the burnt sienna a practical dark grey tone can be created that makes me wonder why Payne's grey is in the palette?
5. why is ultramarine not for sky?
1. The spelling is Pantone, and it's another video in itself. It's basically bespoke, exact colour mixing, more expensive than CMYK which does not cover every hue. 2. The pigment codes I am using are available on my website and on the manufacturer's website. 3. You can mix a bright orange from magenta but it will be a warm orange, not a cool, typical (fruit) orange. The point is that you can mix a version of orange from any of the primaries, but you can't mix EVERY orange hue that exists from any single set of primaries. 4. The palette I have chosen is a split primary with some useful neutrals, Payne's Grey is just there because it's useful, and far easier for beginners than black. The aim of any beginner's set is to mix the widest range of hues, but no set, and no version of primaries will mix every hue that exists because it's not possible, they don't cover a broad enough spectrum, in addition some single pigments are simply unique and cannot be exactly replicated by mixing primaries. 5 Ultramarine can be for skies, but it's problematic for beginners because firstly it's not an accurate sky colour for most parts of the world, and secondly it granulates heavily. Added to this the fact that beginners may have a cheaper version, as it's an expensive colour so price matters for Ultramarine. So it's not an exact rule, it's just an observation that a lot of beginners mess up skies with ultramarine, where they would do better to choose another colour. But if it works for you that's cool too.
Thank you so much! I have been trying to find a starter set with both “warm” and “cool” primary colors. I already have a palette Winsor & Newton and wanted to try to just add to the few “starter” appropriate colors that I had. I greatly appreciate your help with finding the names of colors that I can find in that line of paint. I know many artists use one brand of paint while others use colors from many different brands. If there are pros and cons to these methods please consider making a video f this topic. May 2023 be creative and joyous for you and those for whom you care.
It's nice to start with one brand, but if you find there are colours you don't feel satisfied with or unusual colours you want to try there's nothing wrong with adding others in. A colour like Payne's Grey will be different from each manufacturer so you may want to shop around.
Thank you for the video. I often overlook the earth colours but burnt sienna is gorgeous and the combinations are so pretty. I need to try to use those more often as they have a depth to them which I love.
I think it's because they look so dull in the palette, they only come alive with water!
Thnak you this was a fabulous video. I am often getting friends started on watercolours and I pull out my hair trying to decide what might be best for them to start. I have my own favourites of course, like quinacridone gold that I could not live without,but your choices for the neutrals was opening my eyes. I am going to play with raw umber today and give Payne’s grey another chance. Wow that aubergine! Many thanks.
You are welcome Alison!
Im a beginner in watercolor and i want to ask if these colors lets you paint portraits as well? Thank you
Absolutely. You can mix most skin tones from three primaries, I have a video that shows you how if you pop it in the search bar (youtube doesn't let me post links here)
Thank you for sharing these tips - SO helpful! I'm definitely going to get a Payne's Gray and swap out my Alizarin Crimson for one of the rose colors ASAP!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks very much for this. Very informative for a newbie to water color like me :)
So glad!
Learning a lot from this video! I'm getting into watercolor and the options can get overwhelming. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful, Kara!
*Michele
Very helpful thank you:)
Amazing video. Thank you. I’ve been looking for a video like this.
Glad it was helpful!
I am new at watercolor. I have wanted to learn for years, but life, work, house, kids took up all of my time. Now that I am retired, I am hoping that I can now concentrate on ME and all the things I have yearned to do.
I currently am working with Cotman's 24-half pans and am having problems knowing how much water to mix in that will give me a strong representation of the color. I am barely adding any water. I watch artists pulling brushes loaded with water and seemingly getting strong, vibrant color on the paper. When I do this, my paint is so anemic. Please, what am I doing wrong? ☹️
Cotman are my least favorite student's brand, even though the company is good. You will also struggle to pick up a lot of paint from pan paints. I would add a few tubes, either artist's quality, or if you are on a budget try White Nights by St Petersburg. There's no need to ditch your Cotman but I think adding a few tubes would be a big help for you.
I must look at your website, I have become a colour and colour nerd now since lockdown. Now i talk to people about colours and colour mixing, and the other day I discussed colour mixing with a gardener at the farmers market. Hello, my name is Beaulieu, I am a colour mixing addict from London.
I am originally from London, I see colour everywhere now!
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber I am getting there. I am thinking when I see a colour outside , what Mix is that? I will walk into lamp posts one day or into a pond. I was in Jermyn Street the other day and I was admiring the autumn colours of mens clothes in the shop windows and the beautiful red and gold lettering of the shop signs and seeing how they all work well together. I look into the windows and see clothes with green tonal values.... and think, oh, they did a good job there. Then I see a nice red and I wonder how to mix it.
Just ordered these. For a set of 12 what two extra colours would you recommend? thanks
A useful green such as Sap Green, Green Gold or Forest shadow (from my shadow set but can be bought individually). My petal shadow is a really useful colour too, if you paint botanicals, or use it for cloud shadows. Other options are Red Oxide for rooftops and rusty surfaces. Try a Sepia or my Winter Bark for a cool dark brown. Any of these will expand your range.
Thanks greatly for your video Michele, as I'm very much still a beginner so watercolour mixing is something I struggled with. Greatly appreciated stay safe
Glad it was helpful!
Your information is very helpful and easy to follow along. I have subscribed to your channel
Thanks so much!
Michele gives great advice for all artists not just beginners. We're never too old to gain new knowledge, and younger artists like Michele are living proof of just how MUCH you can learn!
I am not young but thank you!
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber You are young compared to me I do assure you. I did my first watercolours over 60 years ago, but still learn by taking advantage of your great teaching style and technical knowledge. Many thanks and keep up the good work Michele!
Thank you very much Michele This was very helpful.
You are very welcome!
This was very helpful. I have cadmium yellow (not deep), winsor red, burnt umber and neutral tint that you didn’t mention and do have some of the others that you did mention. Would neutral tint be ok to sub for paynes gray? I am using winsor newton prof paints to start with. (Wanted good quality at the start). If I had seen this video a few weeks ago I would not have bought some of the colors I have on hand now.
All colours are useful eventually so don't worry, this is just a list of those that are the most versatile. Neutral tint is not quite the same as Payne's grey but it's a very useful colour!
which brand are your coloures in the video? I have searched jackson's but I didn't find your set.
Jackman's not Jacksons 🙂 Google will find it, also via my website.
Thank you for this video 💜
Your explanations are easy to follow and take notes I appreciate your content immensely!
I'm so glad!
Such a useful and beyond helpful amount of information, and broken down enough to clearly understand. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge...what a help!
No problem Stephanie ☺️
Very well explained. Would you say watercolour painting is the most difficult?
The most difficult is a personal thing. I never found watercolour difficult, I felt I understood it straight away, but many other people find it the hardest medium. Different people have affinity to different things I guess!
Thank you for response ! Other videos I have seen, makes it so difficult! I am differently going to sign up for your lessons once we are out of lockdown in the UK! I live in West London by the way!
*Definitely I meant by the way, 😝😂
You're such a good instructor. I love this video. Thanks for the info.
I appreciate that!
I have found your videos very helpful for beginners like me. I am interested in the meanings of the names of different watercolour paints. The names like Cadmium, Cobalt, Hansa, Quinacridone, Permanent, Pyrrol, Perylene, Phthalo etc. etc. How do these different colour names affect the paint colour? I have heard these names before a paint colour name but have not heard them explained. I would love to know the answers or where I can find them. Perhaps there are others that have wondered the same thing. Thanks !!!
Hello! The colour names are usually science or mineral based. Yellow Ochre would for examble be a natural ochre mineral that was yellow. Permanent is often used as the pigment replaces one that previously faded (for example permanent Alizarin has been re-formulated as the early version used to fade). Quinacridone denotes a type of synthetic pigment, Phthalo denotes a family of transparent, staining pigments. Cobalt is a mineral, Cadmium a type of lead, Burnt is literally heated in preparation, Raw is untreated. If you see the word Hue, it often means that this is a colour that looks like the original (often too expensive/rare to be sold now). I should do a video!
Thank you for all that good information. A whole video on the meaning of watercolour paint names and how they are used in watercolour painting.
Hi Michele! I am a new subscriber to your channel and am ABSOLUTELY loving what I am seeing!! As a teacher, you know how important it is to learn something from the shallow end first, rather than jumping in over your head into much deeper waters. I am currently struggling in the deep end because I never found a basic class on color theory, which pigments make up certain colors, how to make a color chart, etc... Do you have a video or series, here or on Patreon that will help me? I ask because I like your teaching style and I have already gotten a better level of understanding from how you present the material. Thank you so much for sharing everything that is already here and I'm really excited to see more!!
Hi Magee. If you go into my playlists, you will find 'How to mix watercolours', which I think you'll find very useful. :-)
Today is my ME day, so your response came with perfect timing!! I've got my coffee, biscotti and supplies at the ready for what I'm sur will be a fun, new adventure!!! Thank you for pointing me in the right direction on your channel and I'll check out your Patreon.com today too!!! Have an awesome day Michele!!! 💚 😊 💚
Thank you! As a Newbie to Watercolors I find your tutorials most helpful.
Glad you like them!
I enjoy the washable easily removed colors...then your sedimentary colors, the the permanent...easier corrections...early on...
Many thanks for your shows, and education hints. I want to paint again, and collects information for watercolor. My supplier sells W&N, and I will buy the primary, and seccondary (6) to a start.
The tubes are a bit expensive, but price-worthy in the long run. Many years ago, I crafted small furnitures for kids, and baskets of veneer, and such that I painted by tempera of eggs, linseed-oil, turpentine and water. Sometimes just linseed-oil. I grinded the pigments, and mixed them into good paints. I also painted windows by home made oil paint. It went very good, and it was nice to apply. But not funny to make in large amounts.
However. I happen to have a lot of pigments left in a lot of jars. For crafts, I tried to use mostly earth-pigments due to their transparency and beauty.
Of ochres, there are gold-, red-, english red-, and caput-mortum. All from yellow to red-purple. Raw sienna, burnt sienna. There are raw umber, burnt umber, earth green, ivory black, and iron oxide black. The sharper pigments was synthetics, but was seldom used. Preussian blue was a disaster. So light, that it invaded all the room. :)
Have you ever tried to grind pigments and blend with arabicum and water to make your own watercolors?
Some of these real earth pigments are probably rare these days. I might have some for you. I cant use them all.
Me swedish,. You english?
Thank you.
Hi Michele. Is it possible to get your color mixing chart as a stabd alone item? I have all the colors you mentioned in your starter set from other manufacturers (some from multiple sources) but i would like to get the mixing chart. Thanks. Marshall
Not at the moment, but you are welcome to approach the manufacturers and see if they will sell it seperately
Very useful and well explained. I have been painting for a while but it still has been useful to have this so well organized for me. I think I will make myself a palette that has all these color plus some of my favorites like green gold, cobalt turquoise light, phtalo green etc.
Glad it was helpful! It makes a good travel palette too. I love Green Gold, I have the Daniel Smith one.
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber I prefer the more golden Winsor and Newton one. DS has the same pigment PY 129 under a different name. I like it on its own it mixed with phtalo green blue shade for a beautiful sap green.
additive mixing happens with superimposing light, e.g., if you throw red and green stagelights, where they superimpose they'll go yellow.
subtractive mixing happens when light is absorbed, e.g., when mixing red and green paint, red paint absorbs most colours other than red, green absorbs most colours other than green, so you're mostly left with the yellowish light in between. but because so much light has been absorbed, it's a very dark yellow, aka brown.
like you say there are no sets of primaries that will allow you to mix every possible colour. i think CMY does give a bigger range. RYB gives better reds and blues but is poorer than CMY for greens. if you look at a chromaticity diagram there are more perceptible greens so maybe that's why printers go for CMY. Jazza showed an experiment on his channel and to his own surprise found that he could produce a richer range of colours in a sample piece of art with CMY than RYB.
however, if your primaries include warm+cool RYB plus the few extras you mention, that greatly expands your available gamut. I think theoretically speaking the colours that would give you the best range would be pure spectral colours spaced around the rainbow: red, yellow, green, turquoise (or cyan), ultramarine and violet. in practice though it depends more on what pigments are available, like you might not be able to achieve pure rainbow colours with pigments.
I am not surprised that CMY gives you the widest range, it makes sense that printers would use it for this reason, thanks for your interesting reply!
So much good information! Thank you!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
thanks, I found this so helpful!!!
You're welcome!
You are brilliant in describing paints and mixing. I have so many paints and I am setting up a new smaller pallet and am only putting in the " beginner " colors because of your demo. I have been experimenting mixing different pigment and am awed by what I have discovered. Besides useful, it is fun. Thank you so very much.
This is one of the best color mixing videos I've seen. Thank you. New subscriber. 😊
Absolutely agree 👍
Yay! Thank you!
I seem to have an aversion to warm colors 😂 Someone who saw my (non-hung) paintings commented that I have an awful tendency to take "autumn" scenes and make them "winter" (I'm awful, but I saw what they meant later on). When you swatched that "warm yellow", I saw bright orange. (I do have a vision impairment of sorts, due to hyperthyroidism. I have to wear dark glasses and really shouldn't be painting, but I'm enjoying things and have unloaded a painting finally!)
Alizarin in my favorite, and raw umber a close second. Phthalo Turqoise is a favorite, but I collect indigos like alizarins. One of my favorite companies has a "set" and doesn't even include a warm yellow: it goes from PY3 to vermillion! (I didn't pick that set, really: I just said no black or white in any set if I were to start watercolours!) Sennelier. Love the paints, but I'd buy open stock if one wants a starter set. Schminke has some of my favorites, too, but they can't name a paint. Or they desire to rename common colors to their own names. I personally find the Schminke sets atrocious and haven't bought them like that.
DS half-pans is probably the best starter "set" (that's commonly available), but they have an overwhelming number of paints and I'm giving most of my tubes away. Their buff titanium is nice, and the hansas (I use the medium and deep hansa yellows for "oranges"; they're plenty enough "orange" for me). DS actually has an exquisite alizarin, but it's the non-lightfast one. I'm quite fond of it, as well as their perm. rose. Very nice indigo, as well (leans gray; can be useful).
I'll have to look at Jackman's. All along, I thought you were saying _Jackson's_ (which is rumoured to be Sennelier-sourced, but online swatches make me wonder). Thank you for a delightful video. I'm letting several paintings dry and really, I pray to be able to buy one of your paintings (or a print at least) for all the good videos you put out! ❤️️🙏 You're a gem.
Thanks so much for the lovely and interesting comment! The warm yellow is definitely on the cusp of orange. Everyone sees colour differently :-)
Thank you so much for all your good work! You are by far my favourite teacher on TH-cam. Your videos are very valuable for me. I was on and off with watercolour, but meanwhile I have found out that this is the perfect painting medium for me. I love acrylic colours, but not the painting process itself (Gesso here retarder there, drying time at light speed, etc) Watercolour is easy to carry around and does not take up much space / preparation time.
However: As a beginner I still struggle with the issue of a limited pallette although I see why it is important. MY "limited" pallette currently consists of 20 colours. 😀 At the moment, it is inconceivable restricting myself to 12 colours or less. Sooo many beautiful colours to choose from: Perylene green, Cobalt turquoise light, Naples yellow, Dioxazine violet.... 😍
I have more than a hundred colours. Once you are experienced in colour mixing you need not stick to a small selection... but I would always choose a limited set for each painting, it will help give it an atmosphere and cohesive look. Best of both worlds!
Thank you Michele
Any time!
Very good explanation, Thank you
I'm starting with watercolour.
This video is so useful.
Thank you!
Can't wait to learn more from your channel ❤😊
Awesome! Thank you!
Yes, the video was helpful. I have lemon yellow, paynes grey, prussian blue, sap green, burnt sienna, umber, crimson, cadmium orange, magenta. I have a rose but I cannot remember what kind of rose it was. I like to try and, avoid using sap green now but mixing other greens. I have gold and turquoise too, as I quite like a 'personal touch' in my art. I love paynes grey, brown umber, peachy colours and olive greens.
Very nice!
Off topic: i notice you have some great metallic shimmery watercolours, however, I don't actually know how best to use them. It would be great to have a video on metallic painting one day.
Great suggestion! Yes I must do this!
Very helpful video. Thank you for your terrific explanation of you chose these colors and what colors you can mix using them.
Thanks for watching!