Color bias – Lee Muir-Haman Watercolor Painting

February 11, 2020February 7, 2020

Color Choices For a Circular Palette.

I recently wrote about the advantages of arranging your watercolor pigments in a color wheel format. ( See my blog post published January 28, 2020, entitled Have You Seen The Painting Palettes From Robax?, https://leemuirhaman.com/2020/01/28/have-you-seen-the-painting-palettes-from-robax/). In today’s post, I will help you choose which colors to fill your circular palette.

UNDERSTAND THE COLOR WHEEL.

The basic color wheel contains the three ‘primary’ colors (red, yellow, and blue) and various intermediate colors which can be mixed from those primaries. ‘Warm’ colors (yellow-green through red to red-violet) are on one side of the color wheel, while ‘cool’ colors (yellow-green through blue to red-violet) are on the other side. For a quick review, read the July 2, 2019 blog post The Color Wheel, Color Bias, And Color Mixing In Watercolor., https://leemuirhaman.com/2019/07/02/the-color-wheel-color-bias-and-color-mixing-in-watercolor/.

The color wheel enables painters to recognize ‘complementary’ colors, direct opposites on the color wheel, more easily. Such complements are red and green, orange and blue, yellow-green and red-violet. If you add a bit of a color’s complement (e.g., a bit of red to a green wash), the color will be grayed and start to lose its intensity. When mixed together, complementary colors produce grays and browns. The three primaries mixed together will also create grays.

COLOR TEMPERATURE AND BIAS.

Few paint colors can be described as a pure, neutral color. This is ‘color bias’ – that is, most paint pigments are not perfect spectrum hues or colors, but contain some amount of another color. A warm red contains some yellow – it ‘leans’ toward and is biased toward yellow, whereas a cooler red would have more blue and would lean toward blue, or have a blue bias. In general, all (grayed) dulled COOL colors are warmer than their original hue, and dulled WARM colors are cooler than their original hue. For example, a grayed Blue-green (as described by Bruce MacEvoy on the “Color Theory: Color Temperature” (c. 2015) page of the handprint.com website) is warmer than a saturated Blue-green, because some Red-orange has been mixed in with the Blue-green in order to gray it. Also, Burnt Sienna is cooler than Cadmium Scarlet, because it is less saturated (closer to gray). Similarly, Ultramarine Blue becomes grayer (and warmer) when Burnt Sienna is added, while Burnt Sienna is made cooler by adding some Cobalt Blue.

WHY DOES COLOR BIAS MATTER?

Why does color bias matter in painting? Color bias affects how a pigment mixes with other paint colors!!!

Arranging your paints ACCURATELY in the color wheel format will suggest whether a specific color ‘borrows’ or is ‘biased toward’ any yellow, red, or blue from the neighboring primaries. This color characteristic (color bias) starts to tell you what to expect during color mixing. See the related blog post Adjust Your Color Thermostat!, November 12, 2018, https://leemuirhaman.com/2018/12/11/adjust-your-color-thermostat/.

You CAN’T pick any yellow to mix with any blue and expect to get a desired green. A cool yellow (with a blue bias) will behave very differently in a color mix than a warm (red bias) yellow.

You will need both a warm and a cool of each primary color to mix color effectively!

WHERE DO THE COMMON WATERCOLOR PIGMENTS FIT ON THE COLOR WHEEL?

Colors are arranged on the color wheel according to their relationship to each other and their temperature. The three primary colors are spaced evenly on the wheel. When the primary colors are mixed, they create secondary colors; these are placed between the two colors that they were mixed from because they contain some of both colors. Continue mixing, for instance, a secondary with the neighboring primary, and that color, a tertiary, is placed between the two colors used to mix that particular color. And so on.

Now, let’s look for the pigments to place in our circular palette. We should choose our warm and cool primary colors. Keep in mind that the options are many. To begin, however, choose just ONE in each category below. Possibilities include:

COOL YELLOW: Winsor Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Hansa Yellow Light, or Aureolin.

WARM YELLOW: Hansa Yellow Deep, New Gamboge, Nickel Azo Yellow, or Indian Yellow.

COOL RED: Quinacridone Rose, Permanent Rose, or Permanent Alizarin Crimson.

WARM RED: Cadmium Red, Permanent Red, Pyrrol Red, Light Red.

COOL BLUE: Phthalo Blue, Winsor Blue, Prussian Blue, Antwerp Blue.

WARM BLUE: Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Indanthrone Blue.

Next, we need to fit in secondaries between the primary colors.

COOL ORANGE: Cadmium Orange, Brilliant Orange.

WARM ORANGE: Pyrrol Orange, Permanent Orange, Burnt Sienna.

COOL PURPLE: Mineral Violet, Permanent Mauve, Quinacridone Violet.

WARM PURPLE: Quinacridone Violet, Cobalt Violet.

COOL GREEN: Phthalo Green, Winsor Green, Viridian, Cobalt Green.

WARM GREEN: Sap Green, Green Gold, Olive Green.

This will give you TWELVE colors to space around your color wheel palette. Depending on the number of wells available in your palette, you can add or adjust your colors. Try to remember, however, that your goal is to approximate a color wheel on the palette. In other words, don’t stick a new color wherever there is an open space; instead, try to place it along the continuum of color temperature, close to similar colors. For instance, Quinacridone Gold is a WARM YELLOW and should be placed alongside Indian Yellow and Raw Sienna.

POSSIBLE PALETTE ARRANGEMENTS:

HOW TO MIX? SOME COLOR MIXING SUGGESTIONS.

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To mix a BRILLIANT, clear color, you must choose your primary colors carefully! Use two colors that are AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE to each other on the color wheel. To mix a pure purple, choose a blue pigment with some red in it (Ultramarine) to mix with a red that leans toward blue (Permanent Alizarin Crimson). Because the blue contains red and the red contains blue, your mix will be bright.

On the other hand, if you combine Winsor Blue (which contains some yellow) with Cadmium Red (which also contains yellow), a DULL purple will result. Both the blue and the red, in this case, contain some of the complement of purple (yellow), thus graying the final mixture.

Similarly, you could mix Hansa Yellow Light (or Winsor Yellow) with Phthalo Blue (or Winsor Blue) to create a bright, spring green. Or combine Quinacridone Gold with Ultramarine Blue to achieve a warm, olive green. Try some of your own combinations! What red and yellow would you try mixing together to create a bright, clear orange?

(For more specifics, see my related blog published 11/27/2018, entitled “Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter Palettes.”, https://leemuirhaman.com/2018/11/27/spring-summer-autumn-and-winter-palettes/).

To avoid mixing ‘muddy’ color use transparent pigments; they will NOT produce mud IF mixed with other transparent colors. By adding one (or more) opaque colors to a paint mixture or layering with an opaque pigment, however, you will be making ‘muddy’ color more likely. Try to combine opaque paints only with a transparent color or colors, if possible.

See the blog post Why Does It Matter If My Paint Is Transparent Or Opaque As Long As I Like The Color?, published November 26, 2019, https://leemuirhaman.com/2019/11/26/why-does-it-matter-if-my-paint-is-transparent-or-opaque-as-long-as-i-like-the-color/ to learn more about opaque pigments and how they behave.

IN SUMMARY.

Depending on the specific choices of paint, a whole range of possibilities exist for creating color. Change one ingredient in a mixture to achieve different results. Remember, to create a brighter mixed color, use two colors biased TOWARD each other on the color wheel (e.g., a yellow situated closer to the blues mixed with a blue situated closer to the yellows) to avoid adding any of the third (red) primary color (which would gray the mixture). Knowing the color wheel doesn’t necessarily allow you to predict exactly what each paint or mixture will do. Although it gives you a step ahead, you will still need to experiment and learn from experience! Color mixing is fun, yet not an exact science.

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July 2, 2019May 20, 2022

The Color Wheel, Color Bias, and Color Mixing in Watercolor.

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Artists often concentrate far too much on replicating the exact colors they see. You don’t have to use the same color specified in a lesson or on a mixing chart. Usually you can mix a very similar color using a paint from your palette with a similar ‘color bias.’ (Or even pick a color of your own choosing.) Substitute one cool red (with a blue bias) for another. For instance, use Permanent Rose or Quinacridone Rose for Permanent Alizarin Crimson. Try not to worry about exact colors or matching particular brands. Good tonal (light/dark) value is far more important than finding the perfect color match!

The basic color wheel contains the three ‘primary’ colors (red, yellow, and blue) and various intermediate colors which can be mixed from the primaries. ‘Warm’ colors (yellow-green through red to red-violet) are on one side of the color wheel, while ‘cool’ colors (yellow-green through blue to red-violet) are on the other side.

By placing complementary colors next to each other in a painting, artists can achieve maximum color contrast. Complements sometimes create a kind of color vibration, or dancing, that tends to attract the viewer’s eye. A color will make its complement appear more intense. Therefore, this maximum color contrast can be quite effective around the center of interest in a painting.

However, almost all paint colors are ‘biased’ in that they lean toward (or contain some of) another primary color. Few paint colors can be described as a pure, neutral color. This is ‘color bias’ – that is, most paint pigments are not perfect spectrum hues or colors, but contain some amount of another color. A warm red contains some yellow – it ‘leans’ toward and is biased toward yellow, whereas a cooler red would have more blue and would lean toward blue, or have a blue bias. In general, all (grayed) dulled COOL colors are warmer than their original hue, and dulled WARM colors are cooler than their original hue. For example, a grayed Blue-green (as described by Bruce MacEvoy on the “Color Theory: Color Temperature” (c. 2015) page of the handprint.com website) is warmer than a saturated Blue-green, because some Red-orange has been mixed in with the Blue-green in order to gray it. Also, Burnt Sienna is cooler than Cadmium Scarlet, because it is less saturated (closer to gray). Similarly, Ultramarine Blue becomes grayer (and warmer) when Burnt Sienna is added, while Burnt Sienna is made cooler by adding some Cobalt Blue.

Each ‘color’ of paint, then, will have a warmer and a cooler version. (See my related blog published here 12/11/2018, entitled “Adjust Your Color Thermostat.”, https://leemuirhaman.com/2018/12/11/adjust-your-color-thermostat/.)

Examples of relative warm and cool colors follow.

COOL COLOR: WARM COLOR:

Quinacridone Red (PR209) vs. Napthol Scarlet (PR188)

Hansa Yellow Light (PY3) vs. Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65)

Viridian (PG 18) vs. Chromium Oxide (PG 17)

Cobalt Teal Blue (PB 50) vs. Cobalt Blue (PB 29)

Ultramarine Violet (PV 15) vs. Cobalt Violet (PV 14)

Why does color bias matter in painting? Color bias affects how a pigment mixes with other paint colors!!!

You can’t pick any yellow to mix with any blue and expect to get a desired green. A cool yellow (with a blue bias) will behave very differently in a color mix than a warm (red bias) yellow. Mix Hansa Yellow Light (or Winsor Yellow) with Phthalo Blue (or Winsor Blue) to create a bright, spring green. Or combine Quinacridone Gold with Ultramarine Blue to achieve a warm, olive green. (Also see my related blog published 11/27/2018, entitled “Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter Palettes.”, https://leemuirhaman.com/2018/11/27/spring-summer-autumn-and-winter-palettes/). Another hint to help you create a brighter mixed color is to use two colors biased TOWARD each other on the color wheel (e.g., a yellow situated closer to the blues mixed with a blue situated closer to the yellows) to avoid adding any of the third (red) primary color (which would gray the mixture).

The most important information for the person mixing color to know is the actual paint pigment used in the manufacture of the paint that is to be used for mixing (NOT the name of the color on the paint tube). Each pigment has been assigned its own letter and number to distinguish it from other pigments. (See my related blog published on 8/28/2018, entitled “The Paint Colors and Brands On My Watercolor Palette.”, https://leemuirhaman.com/2018/08/28/the-paint-colors-and-brands-on-my-palette/). For example, Cadmium Red is made from PR108 (Pigment Red #108), while Pyrrol Red and Winsor Red are made from PR254 (Pigment Red #254). Each paint pigment has an individual personality and IS NOT interchangeable with or an EXACT match to other similar-looking pigments. Since each paint is unique, different mixtures will vary in their characteristics, even though they are mixed to represent a ‘certain’ color. Color appearance is affected by pigment used, as well as by the quantity of pigment and added filler, and by how the pigment was milled. Further, pigment used will also determine whether the paint is lightfast or permanent, whether it is transparent or opaque, and whether the paint is staining or not.

Depending on the specific choices of paint, a whole range of possibilities exist for creating color. Change one ingredient in a mixture to achieve different results. Knowing the color wheel doesn’t necessarily allow you to predict what each paint or mixture will do. You will need to experiment and learn from experience!

While understanding how the color wheel works can certainly help you with the mixing of paint colors, color mixing is not an exact science. In fact, to complicate color mixing further, you need to understand that color is a function of human perception. Color is in the mind and can vary depending as much on the individual viewing the color as on the specific pigments used in mixing. Further, perception of color is affected by the amount and direction of light on the color. Viewers always make a judgement about the color seen based on their expectations and understanding of the world around them. And, your eyes can play tricks on you! Thus, ‘color’ is an interpretation by each individual.

If you are looking for possible paint color substitutions to try because you don’t have a paint color recommended by someone for a color mix, the following chart might be a place to start searching. Just remember, however, that there are NO exact matches! Each color pigment has different characteristics, AND paints will vary by manufacturer even if the pigments used suggest they are similar. However, feel free to experiment with the warm/cool colors that you have on your palette now. Use what you have! There is often no need to rush out and buy a tube of a suggested color, unless, of course, you think it might be fun.

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APPENDIX A: WATERCOLOR PAINTS GROUPED BY COLOR BIAS/TEMPERATURE

***COOL (Blue Bias) REDS***:

Quinacridone Red (PR 209)

Perylene Maroon (PR 179)

Permanent Alizarin Crimson (PR 206)

Quinacridone Rose (PV 19)

Quinacridone Pink (PV 42)

Permanent Rose (PV 19)

Red Rose Deep (PV 19)

Quinacridone Magenta (PR 122 or 202)

Carmine (use Daniel Smith only – PR 176)

Crimson Lake or Scarlet Lake

Pyrrol Crimson (Use Daniel Smith – PR 264)

Opera Rose (PR 122)

Potter’s Pink (Winsor Newton – PR 233)

***WARM (Yellow Bias) REDS***:

Cadmium Red (PR 108)

Pyrrol Red, Winsor Red, or DaVinci Red (PR254)

Permanent Red (PR 254)

Venetian Red or Indian Red (PR 101)

Light Red (PR 102)

Vermillion (Holbein or Schmincke – PR 108 or PR 255)

English Oxide Red (PR 101)

Perylene Red (PR 149 or 178)

Pyrrol Scarlet (PR 255)

Transparent Pyrrol Orange (PO 71)

Cadmium Scarlet (PR 108)

***COOL (Blue Bias) YELLOWS***:

Hansa Yellow Light (PY 3)

Winsor or DaVinci Yellow (PY 154)

Nickel Azo Yellow (Daniel Smith – PY 150)

Cadmium Yellow Pale (PY 35)

Cadmium Yellow Lemon (PY 35)

Benzimida Yellow (PY 154)

Lemon Yellow (PY 3)

Aureolin (PY 40)

Primary Yellow (Maimeri – PY 97)

Flanders Yellow (L&B – PY 3)

Transparent Yellow (Winsor Newton – PY 97)

Hansa Yellow Medium or Deep (PY 97)

***WARM (Red Bias) YELLOWS***:

Gamboge Hue (PY 153/PY 3)

Cadmium Yellow Medium or Deep (PY 35)

Indian Yellow (PY 153)

Permanent Yellow (DalerRowney – PY 138)

Mars Yellow (Daniel Smith – PY 42)

Nickel Dioxine Yellow

Golden Yellow (Grumbacher – PY 3/PY 65)

Yellow Lake (Sennelier – PO 49/PY 153)

Brilliant Yellow (Schmincke – PW 6/PY 3)

Quinacridone Gold (Daniel Smith – PO 49)

Naples Yellow (PBr 24/PW 6)

New Gamboge or Gamboge (PY 150/PR 209)

***WARM (Red Bias) BLUES***:

Ultramarine Blue (PB 29)

Cobalt Blue (PB 28)

Indigo (Daniel Smith – PB 60/PBk 6)

Verditer (Holbein – PB 28/PW 6)

Mountain Blue (Schmincke – PW 5/PB 29/PG 7)

Permanent Blue (PB 29)

Indanthrene or Indanthrone (PB 60)

Cobalt Teal Blue (Daniel Smith – PG 50)

Cyanine (Winsor Newton – PB 28/PB 27)

***COOL (Yellow Bias) BLUES***:

Phthalo or Winsor Blue (PB 15)

Monestial Blue (Daler Rowney – PB 15)

Prussian Blue (PB 27)

Antwerp Blue (PB 27)

Compose Blue (Holbein – PB 6/PB 15)

Cerulean (PB 35)

Intense Blue (Winsor Newton – PB 15)

Paris Blue (Lukas – PB 27)

Peacock Blue (Holbein – PB 17)

Touareg Blue (L&B – PG 7/PB 15)

Cobalt Turquoise (DaVinci – PB 36)

Manganese Blue Hue (Daler Rowney – PB 15:3/PW 5)

***ORANGES***:

Burnt Sienna (PBr 7)

Light Red (Winsor Newton – PR 102)

Quinacridone Burnt Orange (Daniel Smith – PO 48)

Burnt Umber (DaVinci or Daniel Smith – PBr 7)

Quinacridone Brown Madder (PV 19/PR 101)

Permanent or Benzimida Brown (Daniel Smith – PBr 25)

Transparent Red Oxide (PR 101)

Quinacridone Orange (PO 48)

Brilliant Orange (Holbein – PO 62/PO 73)

Brown Madder (Schmincke – PR 206)

***COOL GREENS***:

Phthalo or Winsor Green (PG 7)

Viridian (PG 18)

Shadow or Perylene Green (PBk 31)

Jadeite (Daniel Smith Primatek Jadeite Genuine)

***WARM GREENS***:

Sap Green (DaVinci- PG 7/PY 42)

Green Gold (Winsor Newton – PY 129)

Rich Green Gold (Daniel Smith – PY 129)

Copper Azo Green (PY 129)

Olive Green (varies)

***PURPLES***:

Mineral Violet (PV 15)

Mauve (DaVinci – PV 19/PB 29)

Quinacridone Violet (PV 19)

Permanent Mauve (Winsor Newton – PV 16)

Permanent Violet (Daniel Smith – PR 88)

Ultramarine Violet (PV 15)

***YELLOW EARTH COLORS***:

Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (Daniel Smith – PBr 7)

Raw Sienna (PBr 7)

Yellow Ochre (PY 43)

Gold Ochre (PY 42)

Transparent Yellow Oxide (PY 42)

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December 11, 2018May 13, 2020

Adjust Your Color Thermostat!

As artists gain experience in watercolor painting, they become aware that different colors have more or less “warmth” or “coolness.” Colors on the color wheel can be grouped into two families: warm (reds, oranges, yellows) and cool (violets, blues, greens). Furthermore, each color has a warm or cool bias (whether it is cool or warm itself) depending on the amount of its neighboring color that it contains. Adding red or yellow to an existing color will warm it up; adding blue will cool it. When you are comparing two hues, the hue closer to yellow on the color wheel will be the warmer of the two (for instance, Cadmium Red is warmer than Permanent Alizarin Crimson). The color closer to blue on the color wheel will be the cooler (for instance, Aureolin or Lemon Yellow is cooler than Cadmium Yellow). When a cool color and a warm color are placed near or next to one another in a picture, they can also BIAS or INTENSIFY each other. Thus, a cool blue feels even cooler next to a warm color, or a warm yellow feels even warmer near a cool color. If you want a feature of your painting to stand out, paint cool colors surrounded by warm colors or warm colors in a cool area.

This temperature relationship allows colors, including grays, to be PUSHED or PULLED to add visual interest or depth to a painting (Making Color Sing by Jeanne Dobie, p. 30). “Pushed or pulled” refers to the use of RECEDING cool or ADVANCING warm colors. Pushing color into a cooler version of itself causes it to recede while pulling a nearby color into a warmer color makes this nearby color advance. Armed with this knowledge, painters can create distance in a painting: the receding color and advancing color can be made to appear on different planes. For example, to describe distance in a landscape painting, artists can “push” the background back by using cooler tones as features of the landscape disappear over the horizon. Thus, far hills often look more blue or purple instead of green. Also, the foreground can be “pulled” forward with warmer colors.

Difficulty can arise, however, if artists assume that all yellows, for instance, are warm or all blues are cool. The temperature of a color is always relative, because it depends on nearby colors. You must judge color temperature by surrounding colors. Ultramarine Blue viewed next to Cadmium Red appears cool indeed, yet the same Ultramarine Blue next to Lemon Yellow or Permanent Rose will seem warm.

Another complication in using color well involves observing how light and atmosphere change local color (the actual, basic or local color of an object). Artists should consider how conditions in the scene affect local color. Snow shadows are not always blue and may even be golden or rosy at sunset. A gray road drenched by rain may take on a purplish cast. At sunrise a brown tree trunk may have a golden glow. Try to use warm and cool colors to intensify the atmosphere in your picture.

Artists often use shading or modeling layers of color to create the effect of three-dimensional shape on painted objects. In deepening a shadow by adding darker layers, however, you may dull or deaden color; instead, use the warm-cool interaction to achieve similar results while keeping colors luminous. With an understanding of the “push-pull” of warm and cool colors, you can begin to form volume through color alone, creating the illusion of three-dimensional space in a painting.

Paint your object the local color first. Then find your light source to determine what is in shadow. One side of your object will be away from the source of light and in shadow. If the local color of your object is warm, you can use cool values like blue to shadow. The object will seem to TURN AWAY from the light and have two sides. If the local color of your object is cool, then use a warm color on the side away from the source of light. (When glazing on the second [shadow] color, make sure the first color is dry before adding the second layer.)

To be effective with warm-cool interactions, artists must be aware of the light source and whether this light itself is warm or cool. A warm light source affects a subject differently than a cool light source. To create volume through color alone, you will need to handle each lighting condition somewhat differently.

On bright, sunny days, the sun bathes objects in warm light while casting cool shadows. Paint a pine tree on a sunny day with predominantly warm colors such as Sap Green mixed with Cadmium Yellow, with a touch of Cadmium Red. The cool, shadowed side of the tree could be Sap Green cooled with Ultramarine Blue or Permanent Alizarin Crimson. On an overcast day, the light areas of the pine might be a cool mixture of Viridian and Permanent Rose plus Cobalt Blue. The warm shadow could be mixtures of Sap Green plus Transparent Red Oxide with small amounts of Cadmium Red or even Permanent Alizarin Crimson. Artificial indoor lighting is usually warmer than outdoor light which is often affected by cool reflections from the sky.

When colors are in close proximity, they tend to exaggerate each other’s differences. Complementary colors have contrasting temperatures. Using the “push-pull” of warms and cools can help to create depth in a painting by moving objects forward or backward in space, as well as creating the illusion of three dimensions.