How to Mix Watercolors (AVOID these 3 colors!)

When I first started watercolors my instructor included thalo green as a starter color. I live where there's an abundance of fir trees. Thalo green and alizarin crimson were used for all the different colors of the firs. I switched to viridian because it's non-staining and can be lifted whereas thalo green stains and is impossible to lift. Some viridian hues contain thalo green which will stain.

Paint in your hair is the making of joy in progress… what is there not to celebrate ❤

Thanks for sharing your talent. Blessings.

This might help me a lot.thanks

Thank you for this tutorial because I wondered why the put that viridian blue in my first set of tubes. I had not found a use for it. The explanations you gave were so educational. Thank you!

Thank you, very informative for this beginner!

There is only 1 use for that bright green … traffic light in a painting 1 dot😂

Thank you Michelle! I need all the help I can get especially with mixing blues and greens as I unfortunately have tritonopia. I mostly rely on other people's advice on what works. I'll check your other videos to see your advice on other greens and blues. It's very helpful!

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 let's paint something from your china cabinet ☕️🫖🍵☕️💙💜💙

For African skies we often paint a pink undercoat. African skies are very different to European skies.

I live in the tropics and viridian is perfect for creating the bluish emerald water. I’ve tried a lot of other ways, but viridian really captures it.

The green colours are interesting to know about. Luckily our art instructor got us colour pans, no black or white in my paint box, basic colours to be mixed. Grateful to him & thanks for reminder.

My entire pallets is Alizarine Crimson, Lemon Yellow, Cerulean (cools) and Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Yellow Medium, French Ultramarine (warms). That’s it. You can mix what you need from there. My travel palette is only 3 inches with six half pans.

I agree that black is a colour to stay away from in watercolours. I mix my own blacks and greys, which are usually neutralized colours. For instance pg7 with pv19 neutralizes into a beautiful range of moody colours from turquoise to purple, I usually lean more towards purple for my blacks.

Thanks

Thanks!

Payne's Gray, it could be noted, has some black in it. I seem to have good results with indanthrene and black which isn't as blue as Payne's Gray.

Ultramarine is a little hard to use after you realize it's the Virgin Mary color.

Excellent info !

Thanks Michelle! 🎨🖼️🥰

Thanks so much, Michele! I have a question: Are there any colors that one is best off purchasing ready made than trying to mix with the primaries? Like most beginners, I acquired a large selection of colors, but over time, realized I was generally mixing the primaries rather than using a specific tube color. However, I finally used the Potter's Pink in my set, and I like how it works with a brown color to create beaches, sand, etc. I understand this color is a bit tricky to mix and wonder now if there are other colors one is probably best off buying pre-mixed. I'm thinking of Payne's Grey, turquoise, burnt umber and some others. Could I get your thoughts on this? Thanks! PS: getting a raise in salary finally, so probably will join you on Patreon before long! 😁 Take care now, Michael

PS: Thanks for covering Viridian! I watched another video you put up about it. I was using it for quite a while and it sure has helped knowing not to use it as is.

Great video. Just found your channel. Hope to start painting soon. Thank you. Ron Highland,Indiana

Very useful! Thank you so much❤ I subbed too.

It helped to see how these colours.

Viridian is one of the few single pigment greens available. Mixing single pigment colours gives you cleaner colours than mixing colours that contain multiple pigments.

Metallic gold. It tarnishes easily. If you don’t buy the good stuff it still looks brown at different angles and it looks fugly!😂

Perfect! Thank you

This is terrific. Thank you Michele.

96% of the black things in my house are ……………….
.. BLACK. Many great watercolor artist have black in their standard palette.

Phtalo green is a great mixing color and so is viridian, which is one of the only tube greens I use..

Must be something wrong with my glasses - the black and Paynes grey look the same to me. Maybe when they dry...

As beginner, I ask how do you best create a blue turquoise by mixing, if not with veridian? Cerulean and...? Thanks.

I am amazed how people are different. I’ve never met or even heard of trying to paint sky with ultramarine, it just doesn’t compute. For me it’s an only paint I need to rebuy frequently in sets, it’s absolutely essential. I use it in mixing and in washes of dramatic shadows, it’s a night colour for me.

Again like to use Windsor green in grey mixes

Viridian and phthalo green are great in sea-scapes and fantasy pictures. They are my favourite greens.

Thank you. Useful advise

Black and white ARE NOT colours?

That cat is from my favourite: the black panther I’ve got a print on my wall.There coat has a tint of red? My cats coat had a beautiful
Black
deep, like boot polish
I recon the shine would have given him away as far as mice were concerned.

Paint a Chicago street at night after rain? Without black?

Just finished watching a presentation on 3-color art - so... I use black 4 negative art; ; crimson was recommended in 3 color art =? Cobalt blur?

Black, white and green!!

No sound

the first beginner set I bought was a Winsor-Newton Cotman, and one of the colours included was Viridian -- and I thought it was ghastly right off, and really have never seen any good uses for even while several of the other colours they had have turned out to be surprisingly helpful. The second set I bought was a Daniel Smith beginner's set and the only green it included was Phthalo Green Blue Shade, also rather not helpful. Your tips about mixing with the different blues was very useful information! I appreciated knowing this!

I feel very insecure about categorise the nuances in cold or warm. Is there a way to find out? I have some faint memory about adding white but which kind, don’t remember maybe just dreamt it. Looking forward to your video on how you sort your colours 😊 and thank you for everything you are sharing, it’s very helpful ❤️

I call it "Pains in the Arse Gray" Bwahahhaha!

To make primary colors, I heard mix a warm primary color with a same primary color. is this true?

You have helped so much! Thank you for your clarity.

Let me know if any of these colors have caused you problems in the past?