Who to mix paint colors?

What colors do you need to mix to make other colors? If you're trying to create a secondary color, you'll need to combine two of your primary colors. Red and blue make purple, red and yellow make orange, and yellow and blue create green.

Nevertheless, there are instances in which black is uniquely valuable, such as the range of greens it can produce when mixed with yellow.

Importance of the opacity of the medium in color mixing-

Different pigments have different properties. Some pigments are highly transparent and are evident from underneath multiple layers of paint. Others are highly opaque. Considering this could further assist you in the process of layering your work.

The color mixing in watercolor would differ from color mixing in acrylic paints or oil paints. Traditional water paints do not encourage the usage of white and blacks, while acrylic and oils do not work efficiently without the two. It’s important to know which category your art medium falls into to better understand the painting process

It’s important to understand the summary about the paints & other pigment-based materials to further study color mixing in-depth as artists.

Every medium is pretty much created from the same sources of powdered pigment. Some colors are derived directly from nature, and others are man-made or synthetically produced. When the powdered pigments are mixed with various additives, which are called binders, the following are then created –

Oil paints:As the name implies, pigments are mixed with oil (usually Linseed) in the tube, which is slow drying & easier to blend. It can be used straight from the tube or thinned down with the medium for under-painting or glazing. Oils maintain their intensity once dry, unlike water-based paints, which tend to dry darker or lighter than when wet.

Water-soluble oils:This kind of paint is Inter-mixable with traditional oils. Water can be used to clean the brushes if it is used in pure form.

Oil sticks:These contain waxes that bind the pigment to a stick—slow drying as oils. Solvents are the same as oil paint.

Acrylics:This medium contains an emulsion creating a non-soluble waterproof, plastic surface when dry. It can be used diluted with water or used straight from the tube without dilution. Texture pastes can be added for impasto or a 3d effect. Replacing the water in the jar and thorough cleaning of the brushes after every paint session is advised to eliminate paint clinging to the brush. It can be used on any non-oily surfaces from paper to board & canvas. Acrylics cannot be reactivated in the same way as watercolors or gouache. So, to test out a unique color made from multiple colors, mix it in small quantities until you can fix the formula for it. Else you will end up with a lot of undesirable color on your palette that could go to waste.

Gouache and poster colors: It contains a binder that remains water-soluble when dry. Pigments are generally of a coarser or gritty quality than watercolors and are therefore more opaque or non-transparent. It can be re-activated for further blending using water.

Watercolors:Watercolors of higher quality are derived from the most finely ground pigments. They are created by the addition of special water-soluble gum-arabic. This medium is used on watercolor papers having a smooth, rough or texture that lies in-between the two. It is essential to know that despite being a transparent medium, there are watercolors that incline more towards being opaque. These lack vibrancy and dry out dull on paper. One of the best examples for this is black. That is the reason why artists advise learners to mix a color closest in resemblance to it rather than using the color straight from the tube unless it is to obtain certain hues.

When painting, there are many different techniques and aspects that you will use. One of the important things to know is mixing paint colors. Mixed colors are necessary for being able to paint a wide range of images and shades.

If you have just started out with painting, your set will probably only include a few colors. This does not matter, however, as long as you have the three primary colors, as these will allow you to mix colors of absolutely any shade you want. The primary colors consist of blue, red, and yellow. Together, these colors make up all of the colors you see.

Often, when the paint is used directly from the tube it is not the exact color shade you want. Sometimes it needs to be subdued a bit or brightened up. This is where mixing colors comes to be useful. Mixing colors is also a great skill for saving money and time, as it allows you to avoid buying every single shade of paint and rather making your own when you need a small amount.

The first thing to know about mixing colors is understanding the three primary colors. You will most likely know about primary colors already and their importance. However, let us go over the topic of color theory to make sure that you are up to date.

As you already know, red, blue, and yellow make up the three primary colors. Using combinations of these colors can result in a massive range of additional colors. You also need primary colors as you cannot mix them yourself. While this is pretty straightforward, there are many different shades of each primary color available. When buying your first paint set, it is best to have two of each primary color – one in a warm tone and one in a cool tone. To access a perfect color-mixing chart, the following shades of paint are recommended:

When mixing secondary and tertiary colors, having two different shades of each primary color makes things easier. You can get the exact tone you want with less effort, and have more color options to play with. By having different shades of each primary color, you can also mix a wider range of colors. For example, you can use the different yellows and blues to achieve different shades of green.

Once you have all your primary colors ready, you can use them to mix secondary colors. Two primary colors combined will create a secondary color. Orange, green, and purple make up the secondary colors. You can follow a color-mixing chart to achieve the exact tone you want, but below is a basic color-mixing guide for achieving the secondary colors.

When mixing colors in this category, you can create a massive range of shades and tones. This can be adjusted depending on how much of each color you add, and which tones of primary colors you use. You can follow a color-mixing guide to get the exact shade you want, but really the best thing to do is just expermiment. The more you play around with mixing colors, the more you will start to understand which combinations produce which results.

In a basic understanding, tertiary colors are really just variations of secondary colors. By mixing secondary colors with different ratios and shades, you can achieve a wider range of colors that we call tertiary colors. This can be done by mixing a secondary color with a primary color to create more variety. Tertiary colors are great for creating a more detailed color profile, and for transitioning from one color to the next.

When mixing colors here, you can create six different tertiary colors. These can all be modified to create a wider range of shades. The tertiary colors are:

When learning how to mix colors, you can see that each color is related, and that they all stem from the same basic shades. When mixing paint colors, you really only need to start with three primary colors to reach a much wider range of tones.

When you start mixing colors, you will be faced often with the color wheel. The color wheel is a type of definitive color-mixing chart that can help you to understand the different color relationships. Having a color wheel will allow you to easily determine which colors to use when mixing certain shades.

If you look at the color wheel, certain colors sit directly opposite each other. These are complementary colors. As the name suggests, these colors complement each other when used next to one another, providing a brighter effect.

When looking at complementary colors, yellow and purple pair together, blue and orange go together, and red and green complement each other. Then there are split-complementary colors. This is a similar idea, but it uses the colors directly surrounding one as opposed to the opposite color. This produces the same effect as complementary colors but provides more variety.

To get analogous colors, you just look at the three colors that are next to each other in the color wheel. Just point to any part of the color wheel, and the three colors in a row will be analogous to each other. These are colors that are closely related, so they work beautifully when placed together.

Triadic colors are any colors that are spaced out evenly when looking at the color wheel. When used together, you create a bold and exciting arrangement of color. For example, orange, green and purple are triadic colors and work well together for an eye-catching effect.

Some mixed colors are fairly easy to achieve, while others can be very difficult to get right. Two of the most difficult shades are brown and grey, which are compound tertiary colors. Compound tertiary colors are created by mixing together each of the primary colors. The different ratio of each color is what determines whether you get brown or grey.

After going through all of the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, you may ask, “What colors make brown?”. The exact proportions of colors that you use will determine the specific shade of brown. However, here are some good methods of mixing paint colors for different brown shades.

If you want to paint natural brown items, such as wood trees and bricks, then you will want to achieve a warm brown shade. For mixing this, you will need a warm green, which can be achieved by mixing a yellow that contains some red with a blue that has a touch of red in it. Mix this green with a warm red to achieve a beautiful brown shade.

In comparison to a warm brown shade, you can also get a cool brown. Instead of using warmer tones, you will use cool primary colors. Red and green are used, but they must be made with a cooler shade to them. This can then be warmed up with red or cooled down further with blue. This kind of brown shade is great for painting things like dark hair or dramatic trees.

Quite simply, white can be used to lighten up any shade of brown. Always start with a very small amount of white, and slowly add more until you reach the correct shade. Adding white is easy, but taking white out is difficult.

If you want the brown to be a bit darker, then either use red or blue to achieve this. Avoid using black as a color for darkening, as this will just cause a muddy effect. Whether you choose blue or red should depend on the warmth of the brown tone.

Many think that grey is an easy color to mix, as it is just a combination of black and white. This is wrong. It is important to know what colors make black before making grey. Black is often made using a combination of every primary color. So adding white to this only creates a greenish or purple type of shade. So, first you will need to understand what colors make black before adding attempting to make grey.

For a perfect shade of grey, start with a lot of blue and a small amount of orange and white. This should be mixed together and experimented with until the right type of grey is achieved. Using more white and some red and green will achieve a softer, more delicate shade of grey. For a warmer grey tone, you can combine purple, yellow, and white. It is best to experiment with this and get your own feel for it.

Although this has been said before, it is an essential piece of guidance: Practice and experimentation are the only way to really understand painting. When mixing colors, you will need to spend plenty of time trying different ratios and mixes before you gain a solid understanding of each shade. Once you have a good basis, mixing paint colors of any shade becomes easy.

In order to help get you to that perfect level of mixing colors, we have highlighted four great techniques to follow. These practice exercises will help you to gain a strong understanding of color theory and mixing colors.

When you look at the color wheel, you will see saturated colors consisting of primary and secondary colors. Colors like brown, earth tones, and khaki are compound colors, meaning that they are a combination of the three primary colors. Creating color gradations is about moving from one complementary color to another one including all the compound colors in between.

To do this, draw a line that has seven squares. Place a red-orange shade in the far left square and a blue-green shade in the far right square. Work through the compound colors in order to get from the one shade to the next.

Make sure that you mix enough of the colors before beginning to paint through this exercise. You can start with the red-orange and darken it a bit each time to get the right gradient going. The colors should move from warm to cool, with the square in the center being neutral. This is not an easy exercise to get right, so it may require quite a few practice rounds.

When referring to tones, this is the amount of light or dark in a certain color. When experimenting with color tones, draw a line with black on the one end and white on the other. Create the different tonal steps to get from each color to the next.

Once you get black and white down, start doing the same thing using any other color of your choice. Creating a tonal scale like this is pretty easy with watercolors, as they can be lightened easily with just water. Oil paints, acrylic paints, and gouache can be lightened with the addition of white.

The process of an exercise like this is similar to the color gradation one above. Use a line with seven squares to move from one shade to the next – adding a small amount of white each time you progress. Again, a perfect transition is not easy to achieve, so this will require some practice.

Learning the process of color matching can be very useful in art. Color matching as an exercise is fun, but not that easy. You do this by creating six or more squares cut out from different colors; using a magazine is a good idea. Stick these squares on paper, and draw an empty box alongside each one. Then try to create the exact same shade in the empty box as the color next to it. Continually doing this exercise will give you a great grasp of mixing colors in a wide variety.

Knowing how to use the colors for adding layers of depth and perspective to paintings are important. Start this exercise by creating a grid of squares. Use two complementary colors in various shades to add some kind of design. Through the use of warm colors and saturated colors, you can find the central feature of this design. Then you can add layers of depth and contrast through complementary colors. Tonal contrast through cooler colors is important for creating perception in a painting.

A good way to go about this is by choosing one complementary color as a dominant force in the design. The other colors can be used to add extra bursts of color and highlights or points of emphasis. Placing two bright complementary colors right next to each other draws attention quickly. Just have fun experimenting with this to get a good feel for using colors.

Mixed colors are not always easy to get right, and so plenty of experience is required for mixing colors effectively. Here are some helpful tips and pointers to achieve the best results when mixing colors.

When darkening a color, less paint and effort is required compared to making a color lighter. For example, if you are making pink, only a tiny bit of red will darken it. To lighten pink, on the other hand, a great deal of white needs to be used.

While this varies with brands and paint types, you often get a slightly different finish between wet and dried paint. Dried paints are often lighter. This means that you might want to darken some colors before using them, as they will dry to a lighter shade. Before changing colors though, always test them out first and experiment a little.

Black paint should typically only be used for one purpose: Painting black. You should not be tempted to mix black into your colors to darken them, as this will result in muddy effects that change the overall color scheme. Rather use dark tones like purple or blue to darken colors. Black is usually made up of many different pigments, so it can be difficult to get a shade that mixes into other paints easily.

Paints that only consist of a single color pigment produce the best bold, bright colors. If the paint has various different pigments in it, you can get a range of muddy or mixed up colors when mixing, as the different pigments will react to whichever color you mix with the paint.

You can experiment with not mixing the final color too much. For a more natural painted effect, having a tiny bit of variation in the color is a good thing. This also helps to blend colors together better. Again, experiment with this before finding the right mixing technique.

You might end up with one color with more intensity than what you would like. This can be toned down through the addition of certain colors. You could add in some brown, or even a very small amount of the color’s complementary shade. For toning down colors, this technique really works.

When mixing colors, you really only need the three primary colors and white. Together, these colors can create any shade possible.

When mixing paint colors, using paints of the same brand is preferred. This is because you will get varying amounts of pigments in different brands, which can make mixing colors difficult.

White combines all the different color tones on the light spectrum. Some consider this unique shade a color, while others see it as simply a shade for lightening other colors. Another theory is that white is the opposite, or absence, of color. White cannot be created by mixing colors together.

Black can be achieved by mixing together dark red and dark blue. It can also be made by mixing together all three primary colors. Some artists like to mix their own black while others would rather buy it ready-mixed.

Yellow is a primary color, so it cannot be mixed by other colors. Primary colors have to be bought as they are.

Orange can be made with red and yellow. If you add more yellow, the orange gets lighter. To make the orange darker, add more red.

You can make purple with a mixture of blue and red. As is always the case, the different ratio of these colors provides a different shade of purple.

Blue cannot be mixed by other colors because it is a primary color. Adding white to blue can create a range of different shades, though.

Green can be achieved by combining yellow and blue. Using different shades of yellow and blue, as well as different ratios, will provide various shades of green.

Red is a primary color, so other colors cannot be mixed to create it. You can make red lighter by adding white.

For beginners in painting, mixing colors can be quite confusing. Not only the color theory, but also the different painting media are important. Here you get an insight into this topic and we show you the most important tips and tricks to mix your colors.

The primary colors are the three color shades that are not mixable and therefore have to be bought ready to use. From these three colors and white, basically, any desired color can be mixed by yourself. The three primary colors are:

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Secondary colors are obtained by mixing two of the three primary colors together.

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If you mix all three primary colors together, you will get black.

The tertiary colors are created by mixing two adjacent colors of the color circle of the primary and secondary colors. These colors are also called fractional colors because they are not as bright and distinct as the primary and secondary colors.

Since in nature mainly these color tones are found, the tertiary colors are very important for natural-looking pictures. Examples of tertiary colors:

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If you take a closer look at color theory, you will learn that every color of the color circle has a complementary color. For each of the three secondary colors, the complementary color is the primary color that was not used in the production.

Knowing about complementary colors can help you choose a suitable color to influence contrasts and guide the viewer’s perception (see also: Complementary Contrast).

With regard to the secondary colors, the following complementary colors result:

We have programmed a Color Mixer to mix your desired colors to see the immediate result, share the color mix or save the color as an image. Have a look here: Color Mixer.

The three basic colors, also called primary colors, cannot be created by mixing other colors. These primary colors are red, blue and yellow.

If you combine two primary colors with each other, you get a so-called secondary color. If you mix red and blue, you get violet, yellow and red become orange, blue and yellow become green. If you mix all the primary colors together, you get black.

This depends on which secondary color and shade you want to create. If you mix a deep cadmium yellow with a red ocre, you will get a different shade of orange than with a titanium yellow. You can get a different secondary color pair with any combination of two primary colors.

To get orange, you mix the primary colors red and orange. The mixing ratio of these two colors determines which shade of orange you will get after mixing. For example, if you use more red than yellow, you will get a reddish-orange. If you add more yellow than red, you will get a yellowish-orange. So we advise you to experiment with the shades you have. Try out different combinations and mixing ratios and keep a written record of your results so that you can mix the colors repeatedly.

You can choose from a variety of different shades of primary colors. Here are some examples:

In order to have the brightest possible colors, you should make sure that the colors you use consist of only one color pigment and not several. You can usually find information about this on the color itself or on the manufacturer’s website.

By mixing a primary and a secondary color (for example, red and green) or two secondary colors (for example, orange and green) you get a tertiary color. Especially when you mix secondary colors, you usually get muddy colors like brown, gray, and black. Tertiary colors such as blue-lilac, yellow-green, green-blue, orange-yellow, red-orange and violet-red are all created by combining a primary and a secondary color.

If you want to darken a light color, you only need a small amount of dark color. For shades you want to lighten, the opposite is true. For example, if you want to lighten a dark brown, you need to use a lot of white color.

The opacity of your paint is very similar to mixing light and dark shades: to make an opaque paint opaque, you only need a small amount of opaque paint. To make an opaque color opaque, you only need a small amount of opaque color, whereas to make an opaque color translucent, you need a lot of transparent or opaque color.

You get black by mixing the primary colors yellow, blue and red. However, we advise you to buy white and black, as you will need these two colors again and again.

Complementary colors are the colors that are opposite each other in the color wheel, i.e. they represent the opposite color. If you use complementary colors in an image, this can be irritating for the eye. But if you use these colors consciously, you can also create exciting effects.

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For a natural result of the color, you should not mix the used colors too thoroughly. This creates small differences in color within the mixed color, which makes a much more harmonious impression, especially in natural images.

Some colors are perceived as warm and others as cool. Warm colors include yellow and red, while blue is a cool color. It is also possible to mix these characteristics, for example, to create a warm sky blue. If you mix two warm colors together, the result is also a warm color. Mixing a warm and a cold color tone, on the other hand, results in a rather neutral color tone.

To obtain a clean and beautiful green, we advise you to mix lemon yellow and phtalo blue. You can also have a look into our in-depth guide on how to mix green.

The following shades provide a good base:

The tertiary colors gray and brown are obtained by mixing all three primary colors in different proportions. We have a separate tutorial on how to mix gray colors.

If you want to create a nice earthy brown tone, you should try the combination of red and green.

A nice gray color is obtained by mixing a lot of blue color with a small amount of orange color and then adding white color until the desired brightness is achieved.

Since violet is the complementary color to yellow, you get violet by mixing blue and red.

Purple is a violet with a high blue content, therefore the mixing ratio must not be 1:1. So if you add a little more blue than red, you get purple. By increasing the amount of blue you can adjust your purple tone individually. Learn more about in our article what colors make purple.

We have compiled everything about what color makes orange in a separate article.

To mix the one dark green color, different colors are needed. Often there is one green color in the paint box. If this color is too light for you, you can simply mix it with some black color so that the green becomes darker and darker. Check out our what colors make green guide for more tips and tricks.

A really popping-out hot pink color tone can be mixed with one part blue (for example Phthalo Blue), two parts red, and about one part violet. After thorough mixing, you can add a small amount of white to lighten your mixture up a bit up to your liking. You can find more information in our what colors make pink guide.

If one color seems too intense to you, you can soften it with a complementary color or a little brown. For example, you can soften too harsh gray tones with a little umbra. You should not use black for this purpose, as the color then appears a little dull and not soft.

To obtain clean tertiary colors, you should follow the following basic rule: The more different colors you mix, the muddier the result. If your colors look muddy, there is often only one solution: mix the colors again.

Before you really start painting, it is recommended to test the mixed colors on a piece of paper or canvas from time to time, because the colors on paper have a different effect.

Besides the physical mixing of colors, there is also the technique of optical color mixing. You paint two colors next to each other, which are optically mixed by the human eye when viewed. This technique is called divisionism in technical jargon.

To make lighter colors stand out more, you should paint them next to neutral colors. A red looks more intense if it is painted next to a gray tone. With dark colors, it behaves exactly the other way around. For example, a dark green will be more intense if it is surrounded by a light color like lemon yellow.

The juxtaposition of warm and cool colors is another optical color mixing technique. This is done because the eye perceives cool colors as being further away than warm colors. For example, if you want the eye to perceive a greater depth of the canvas when looking at it, you can place warm earth colors in the foreground of a landscape picture and use cooler and cooler colors towards the horizon.

When mixing acrylic paints of different manufacturers and different compositions, undesirable chemical reactions can occur. Therefore you should only mix acrylic paints from the same product line. Self-produced and mixed colors should always have the same composition.

In this blog, we’ll cover the essentials of color theory, explain common color terms, and share numerous tips and tricks for mixing acrylic paint.

If you want to learn how to mix acrylic colors, your first stop is the color wheel. A color wheel is a circular chart that arranges colors based on their relationships to one another. It’s generally divided into 12 colors which are grouped into three categories: primary colors, secondary colors, and tertiary colors. Let’s break down these color wheel terms as well as some others you’ll need to know:

Using a color wheel is a quick and easy way to understand which paint colors will probably mix well together, pop next to one another, darken or lighten one another, and more.

Acrylic paints are great for beginners and experienced painters alike because they’re fairly easy to use and affordable, which also makes them perfect for trying out new paint combinations. (This isn’t always the case when mixing oil paints or watercolor paints.)

Now that you’re familiar with the basics of color theory and the color wheel, you’re ready to start experimenting. You can try out the techniques and tips below on a piece of paper or color palette, or use them in your next art piece.

We mentioned earlier that adding white paint to a color makes it lighter, which probably didn’t surprise you. But white can also make a color more opaque, or solid, and it’s a great way to give the colors in your original artwork more depth.

When choosing a white paint for mixing, titanium white will be your best option. It’s especially helpful if you’re going for higher opacity since titanium white is the most opaque white available. It also has a high viscosity, which makes it easier to fully cover your painting surface.

Be mindful of how much white you’re adding to your colors though, because adding too much will turn your base color into a pastel. The number one rule of mixing is to add color gradually.

If you want to achieve a darker color, your first thought may be to add black, but that’s not the best idea. Black paint has the most pigment of all colors, and a small amount of black can darken your color very quickly, muddying it or ruining the color you’re trying to create entirely. Instead, consider mixing your color with dark blue or brown paint and add the darker color little by little.

Let’s say you’re working with cadmium red paint, which is extremely bright and has more orange undertones, and want to turn it into more of an alizarin crimson, which has a bit more purple than orange as an undertone. You can add a touch of dark blue to your cadmium to tone down the orange (blue’s complementary color).

This is where color mixing skills really come in handy. Nobody’s skin is a single color in every area, whether you’re painting faces, hands, or other body parts. If you’re painting people, the best way to create realistic skin is to create a family of tones around each person's base skin color.

You can start by combining equal parts primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) to create a brown color. Then, depending on skin tone, start adding in more of one color, as well as some dark blue, black, or white as needed. (Remember to use black paint sparingly, as a little goes a very long way.)

Once you have your base skin tone, create different areas on your palette with slightly different hues by adding more blue, more red, and more yellow to various sections of paint on your palette. Do the same with your white and black paint to create lighter and darker tones. Creating a variety of tones is especially important if the person you’re painting has shadows or sunlight on part of their body.

Every skin tone has touches of blue, red, or yellow in them, so don’t be intimidated using those colors for skin tones. This technique for skin tones is often used in fine art but is a simple technique anyone can master.

Once you start mixing your paint colors, you’ll see how quickly the colors you’re creating look like real skin tones. Utilizing this technique will ensure skin tones in your paintings look realistic and multidimensional.

If you’re working on a painting that has a lot of blue variations, like a deep ocean or a night sky, you may want a wide variety of blue hues so the overall effect is more detailed and true to life. Some of these colors will probably need to be fairly dark. Instead of reaching for the brown or black paint, try mixing in red.

For example, if you’re working with a solid blue color like phthalo blue and want a deeper blue color like ultramarine blue, adding red can do the trick. There may be some cases where you’ll want to add a bit of brown or black, but use that as the last step so you don’t deepen your blue further than you would like.

Remember you can always darken your color more, but going back and trying to undo a deeper hue is much harder.

We mentioned earlier that these color pairings cancel each other out, making dark colors like black and gray when mixed together, and this isn’t always a bad thing!  Combining complementary colors can create more unique, realistic blacks or dark shades of paint.

Try making the warm or cool black you’re aiming for by mixing yellow and violet, orange and blue, or red and green. You can use secondary colors out of the tube, like phthalo green, or start from scratch with primary colors and mix them to make the complementary colors you want to use.

In some scenarios you may prefer a flat black color, but a black with some depth and richness can tie the colors in the painting together and make your overall piece more engaging.

When mixing acrylic paints, one thing to keep in mind is that they will dry darker than they appear while they’re still wet. This is because acrylic paint has a high viscosity. So, if you’re hoping for a lighter hue, you should mix it a little lighter than you think to account for the drying and darkening process. (This is a key difference between acrylic and watercolor paints, as watercolor paints will dry lighter than they look while wet.)

You can check what your colors will actually look like when they’re dry before you embark on a full-blown painting. Create a paint swatch or color chart. All you need to do is mix your color(s), dab a little on a surface (paper, canvas, etc), label it, and let it dry.

Now, you’ll have a sample of the color you’ve mixed and what it ultimately looks like. For the most accuracy, paint your swatch on the surface you’ll paint on. So if you’re painting on canvas, make sure to create your swatches on a canvas as well.

We also suggest keeping all of your swatches and noting how you mixed them (two parts titanium white, one part crimson red). This way, you can refer back to them as needed in the future.

If you’re feeling stuck or uninspired, one strategy is to revisit the color wheel. The wheel can help you identify different colors and new combinations you haven’t thought of or tried yet, and can help you create a harmonious color scheme for a particular painting.

Find more inspiration in our list of 27 acrylic painting ideas.