Colour Mixing for Students

Archival Series 1 has a complete mixing palette of affordable colours, which are highly pigmented and permanent and much more satisfying to use than traditional all-one-price student-grade paints.

Art Students are usually given a suggested colour list when they start out and the list usually has Cadmiums and Cobalts on it which are too expensive for beginners. Many beginners use the cheaper one-price ranges which offer ‘Cadmium Hues’ to make the list affordable.

For those who decide to use professional artist quality paints with their stronger pigments we suggest the following Archival Oil colours to best serve your budget and provide a balanced palette. The list has the bright colours: a warm and cool of each primary colour and 3 secondary colours plus some extra choices.

The “earth” colours, Yellow Ochre, Light Red Oxide, Burnt Sienna, the Umbers etc are all in series 1 (S.1.) and you will eventually develop your own preferences. Transparent Red Oxide is a very bright transparent modern addition to these muted colours which have a long tradition. You may also consider exploring Green Black, Red Black and Blue Black or the more traditional Paynes Grey.

There are many ways to approach colour mixing. The best policy is to follow closely whatever pathway your teacher uses until you develop your own understanding and can mix the colours you need instinctively.

Explanation of Some of the Technical Terms Used to Describe Colours

• Transparent colours are used in glazes, because when diluted they are ‘see-through’, revealing whatever lies beneath.
• Opaque colours have high ‘hiding power’ and are mainly used in ‘mass tone’ which means the ‘full strength‘. Opaque colours are not transparent when diluted.
• A strong transparent colour also has ‘hiding power’ when used in mass tone and makes strong tints when added to white and is transparent when diluted.

It is wise to add small amounts of colour to white paint until you get used to the differences in strength. Opaque and semi opaque coloursare never as strong. Semi opaque, semi transparent mean the same thing, half way between in character. If you make a sample board of the colours you are using and simply squish them with a palette knife you can see the character of the colours.