Day #5: Practice Mixing and Matching Colors
I love reconnecting with the natural world by taking my watercolor set out in the field. If you’ve dreamed of doing the same, but the idea is daunting to you, I suggest starting at the beginning by learning to mix the hues in your palette to match the colors of the subjects you want to paint outdoors.
In the video below, I’ll demonstrate methods of mixing your watercolors in order to accurately match the colors you see in the subjects you want to paint. So, gather your art materials and some small subjects for inspiration and follow along! You’ll also need a hole punch and some scissors for this exercise.
Getting to know your watercolors is like getting to know a new friend – it takes time, trust and a playful attitude. Taking the friend analogy a bit further, after a little while, you’ll be able to recognize them across a crowded room, just by their laugh, or on a trail ahead of you, just by their stride. And when you plan a dinner party, you’ll know which combination of friends will get along best, and which you might want to invite for a solo dinner date instead! The same can be said of the paints in your palette.
Can you recall an awkward first date? Perhaps you felt all stiff and controlled, afraid you might say something silly? That’s how many folks feel when first starting out drawing or painting – stiff and controlled…and that’s no fun! And like dating, the only way to get out of that phase and truly express who you are is to loosen up and play.
If you desire to paint on the go, as I often do; in a café, museum or at a picnic table, then getting to know your colors intimately is even more important…for you don’t have all day to capture the colors of say, a robin’s rusty breast before he takes wing or the pink of a torch ginger at a botanical garden before a downpour. You will feel so much more confident in painting, and doing it quickly, when you instantly know that the robin’s breast is burnt sienna, or a torch ginger is a quinacridone pink, for example.
You’ll find that as you practice mixing colors and observing those you see, your vocabulary around describing color will increase and your observation powers will also improve. You may have heard the saying ‘Eskimos have a 100 words for snow”. Similarly, you will gain a larger vocabulary and a ‘search image’ for colors once you start working with them and noticing their wide variety in nature.
Check out these samples for inspiration!
Your Assignment
- Gather some small objects from nature and color swatches from magazines. Practice mixing watercolors to match their hues. Fill some pages of your notebook with these painted swatches. Do this exercise often and keep these pages as a reference for future paintings.
- Share photos from these exercises on the Nature Sketching Challenge Facebook Group.
- Watch your email inbox for the next activity in your watercolor journey!
