Water Colors and Mixing Colors

Some teachers induce the belief that painting in oils or water color can be achieved without first having to learn to draw. This is about as absurd as if one were to study electrical engineering without first knowing the difference between a volt and an ampere. Painting cannot be separated from drawing.

Painting is simply the art of drawing in color. Without understanding the elementary principles of drawing, color work will always show errors to the educated eye, if not to that of the untrained pupil. The study of color is a branch of drawing by itself and should not be considered separately.

Nature is a great teacher, but many of her rules are concealed and not readily found. To know some of her laws in advance will make instruction very much easier. Certain fixed rules, once memorized, will enable both teacher and pupil to see nature with eyes of intelligence. Few errors of an artistic nature are greater than those made by the ambitious, but untrained, student of art, who goes to nature direct to solve the mysteries of her color scheme. It requires more than superficial observation to enable one to grasp the problem of harmonious color combinations and contrasts. Color intuition and perception often is innate, but it must be cultivated before one can approach an imitation of the subtleties of the tints and gradations that nature’s pallette shows.

“If I only knew how to mix colors, I know I could paint,” wails the Tyro.

Yet mixing the colors is the easiest part after all. The great thing is the application. However, the “knowing how to mix them” should be learned first. Nature may inspire artistic feeling which is the impetus of true genius, but she cannot instill within the mind of the untutored that which is in itself a science almost separate and distinct. A knowledge of the rudiments of this science is needed even in the simplest work; without it, the time taken up in the exercise of painting is utterly lost.

The A, B, C of Color may be memorized readily, but it must be borne in mind that regular formulas for mixing pigments cannot be given as one would name the exact quantities in a medical prescription or the proportions in a recipe for making a salad. Only by practical operation of the brief instructions that are given in these pages will the student gain an understanding of the rules of color, contrast and harmony.

The Colors are divided into primaries (or elementaries), secondaries and tertiaries. In other words, first, second and third colors.

A primary color is one that cannot be produced by an admixture of others.

Yellow is a primary color, and stands first, for it is the
nearest approach in color to light.

Red comes next, and is the intermediary between yellow
and blue, which is the third and remaining primary color.

In theory, from these three colors alone, all other colors may be had.

Next to white, in color, we may class yellow, a primary intimately related to white as between light and color. Yellow, like white, is an advancing color, some form of it appears in nearly every palette.

From the primaries are formed the secondaries, orange (a mixture of yellow and red), green (a mixture of yellow and blue), and purple (a mixture of red and blue). The tertiary colors are:

- Citron, made of orange mixed with green.

- Russet (or brown), made of orange mixed with purple.

- Olive, made of purple mixed with green.

Beyond this extent innumerable combinations are obtained by mixing the various tints and colors of varying inherent qualities.