Why mix colours in paintings … August 2024

The Face of War … inspired by the faces of Ukraine

Red, yellow and blue are known as primary colours. They are fundamental colours - the foundation for creating other colours. Using the primary colours straight from your paint tube is fine but it does come across as repetitive and tends to look like children’s art. If you look at children’s toys they are usually in primary colours - bright red, blue, yellow, green (never brown, or skin colour). But if you look at nature, colours tend to be more earthy and softer in tone.

Mixing paints is an important part of the whole painting process.

The painting ‘The Face of War’ uses five acrylic paint tubes of various colours and brands (Graphit, Cadmium Yellow, Cobalt Green, Burnt Sienna, Pyrrole Red) and one sheet of gold leaf (on the nose and painted over). Initially in this painting, the face was created using pencil, and wax and oil crayons. For me, this set the tone for the feel of the painting and the paint created the emotion. No paint from the tubes was put straight onto the canvas, paint was mixed with other colours to create a different colour, tone or hue. I did introduce some white to assist the lighting (see left cheek). The colour mixes are put on layer by layer - revisiting the painting to build up the character of the face and the background.

I have noticed different brands of paint all mix differently and some interact well, giving a much richer and textured finish when blending. When I have completed a work and am happy with it, I seal the surface with varnish (at least 5 days after the acrylic paint has cured). This not only protects the painting but allows the owner to clean with a damp, soft cloth.

The result is a completely unique piece of art as it is impossible to accurately replicate the blended colours to get an exact copy - all done by hand and eye.