ORANGE: 10 Things Every Watercolorist Should Know About This Color

"Orange is the happiest color."  - Frank Sinatra

It seems like the perfect time of year to concentrate on the color ORANGE -- when the greens in nature are turning to golds and oranges; when the farmers' markets are filled with pumpkins, orangey-red apples, and yellow-orange gourds and squashes; and, when the Denver Broncos, with their orange and blue uniforms, start their season. (Sorry -- I'm a football fan!)

Fun and flamboyant ORANGE radiates warmth and energy -- and is epitomized by the glow of the setting sun, the flames of a campfire, fall foliage, and it's namesake citrus fruit.

Here are 10 things that I think every watercolorist should know about this color, along with 10 "orange" paintings of mine, and 10 quotes about the color orange:

1.  ORANGE sparks more controversy than any other hue.  There is usually a strong positive or a strong negative association to this color.  But, certain tones of orange, like terra cotta, peach, coral, and rust, have a broader appeal than a true orange.  

"Everyone knows that Yellow, Orange, and Red suggest ideas of joy and plenty.  I can paint you the skin of Venus with mud, provided you let me surround it as I will."  - Eugene Delacroix

2.  ORANGE is a secondary color, made up of Red and Yellow.  And so, it is very vibrant and shares attributes of both Red and Yellow.  All three colors are very useful in autumn landscapes.

"Reds, Yellows, and Oranges conjure up sunlight and fire, while the Blues and Blue-Greens evoke snow and ice, sea, sky, and moonlight."  - Anonymous

3.  You don't need a tube ORANGE on your palette, since it is easy to mix an Orange with any Red and Yellow.  You can mix many different shades, between Red-Orange and Yellow-Orange.  And, many of the tube Oranges are not lightfast, so I always mix my oranges.  A really beautiful orange is made with New Gamboge and Quinacridone Rose.  I even use that mixture, watered down, for flesh color in my portraits.  You can try a color exercise grid, to see all the various Oranges that you can mix -- with your Reds across the top and Yellows down the side.

"I can see the orange haze on the horizon, as the morning exhales a yawn, 

and seems to be ready to rise".  - Jeb Dickerson

4.  An invaluable "ORANGE", that you should have on your palette, is Quinacridone Burnt Orange -- which is similar to Burnt Sienna, but is very transparent and mixes well.  It is more transparent and intensely-colored than the earth pigment, Burnt Sienna.  And, it's especially good to use when you need a brown, other than in a landscape.  

" . . . Frizzy Orange curls grow in her wild hair, like snapdragons pleading for water."  - Paul Gardner

5.  The shades of Burnt Sienna -- still a tried and true color -- vary considerably, from brand to brand.  This natural, unsaturated Orange "earth" color, is originally from Sienna in Italy.  It is great for landscapes, and the appropriate blue for the sky, when using Burnt Sienna, is Cerulean Blue.

"There is no Blue, without Yellow and without Orange."  - Vincent Van Gogh

6.  The complement of ORANGE is Blue.  When placed right next to each other, they really pop.  Mix them into each other to create Browns.  Orange and French Ultramarine, especially, make colorful neutrals.

"Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the orange tint begins?  

Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blindingly enter into the other?  So with sanity and insanity."  - Herman Melville

7.  A very versatile and effective complementary color combo is Quinacridone Burnt Orange and French Ultramarine.  This is a good 2-color scheme, especially for landscapes.  When mixed together, these two colors make a lovely gray (somewhat like Payne's Gray).  When your painting is mostly Orange, the French Ultramarine can be added to make a nice dark.

"Orange is Red brought nearer to humanity by Yellow."  - Wassily Kandinsky

8.  ORANGE is a warm color, that visually comes forward.  It can have an exciting effect in a painting.  Orange is one of those colors that really stands out, even in the distance, as if to shout, "Hey, look at me!"

"My mum taught me that redheads shouldn't wear Pink, Red, or Orange, but if you choose the right shade, such as a Bright Orange or a Cherry Red, it can look fabulous."  - Jane Asher

9.  One good use for a Cadmium ORANGE is to spatter it on top of a very dark wash.  Because it's heavy, it will just settle and add some interest to a big field of dark color.  But, never just glaze a Cadmium Orange wash over a dark wash.  

"The majority of painters, because they aren't colorists, do not see Yellow, Orange, or sulphur in the South of France, and they call a painter mad if he sees with eyes other than theirs." - V. Van Gogh

10.  ORANGE is the new Black.  I don't know what that means, but it's the name of a popular new TV show on Netflix.  I thought you should know that :)

GREEN: 10 Things Every Watercolorist Should Know About This Color

Absolute green is the most restful color, lacking any undertone of joy, grief, or passion.
                                                                                                              - Wassily Kandinsky

"Water Lilies on Lake Eileen", watercolor by Pat Howard

Green is the pervasive color in nature -- we see it everywhere.  The natural greens, from forest to lime, are seen as tranquil and refreshing.  Green is the color of peace and ecology -- in fact, it is synonymous with ecology.

Here are 10 things that I think every watercolorist should know about Green, along with some quotes by others and some "green" paintings of mine:

1.  The Greens in nature are extremely varied, ranging from yellowish green of a fresh Boston lettuce, to the khaki green of a late summer tree, to the blue-green of a Colorado Blue Spruce.

When you encounter a forest landscape, your first impression is that it is entirely green.  But, if you really look -- really see it -- you will find that it contains many other color jewels, hidden within.

The color harmonies of green mostly mark two of the seasons -- spring and summer.  Think of spring's bright greens and yellow-greens, and summer's lush deep greens and blue-greens.  The color of grass and leaves are constantly transformed by light and shadow, too. 

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Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.

                                                                                                   - Pedro Calderon de la Barca

"White Lilies", watercolor by Pat Howard

2 - Natural greens are predominantly warm, so yellows and reds need to be included in your green mixtures.  Greens are challenging, but they can be beautiful, can look natural, and can even be transparent.  

Don't be afraid to use greens, and don't use the same boring green everywhere.  Try to use a colorful blend of green mixtures and tube greens.  For colorful greens, mix yellow and green together first, then naturalize the mix with a small amount of rose.

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He had that curious love of green, which in individuals is always the sign of a subtle artistic temperament, and in nations, is said to denote a laxity, if not a decadence, of morals.

                                                                                                                              - Oscar Wilde

3 -  Use both tube Greens and mixed Greens, but always add another color to your tube greens. Many artists mix their greens instead of finding the correct color in a tube for convenience.  And, certain pigments, like Winsor (Phthalo) Green, is way too bright, overpowering, and unnatural to use alone.  You may be better off mingling yellows and blues to get the greens you want; however, you can also use tube greens, like Sap Green, and add other colors to it.  

A helpful exercise for you to do is a mixing exercise.  Make a grid on watercolor paper.  Label and put all your yellows across the top (including Quinacridone Gold and Raw Sienna).  Then, put all your blues and your tube greens down the side.  Paint the yellows first, and when those strips are dry, paint the blues and greens, keeping those strips transparent, so you can see what greens your paints will produce.

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There are colors that seem impossible.  The color of the grass that moves and the bottom of the water, for example."          - Claude Monet

4 -- Winsor Green (Phthalo/Thalo Green) is an unnatural color with a strange, blue tinge, but it can still be a useful color for your palette.  Phthalo Green is a cool, staining, transparent color, primarily used for mixing darks. Use Phthalo (Winsor) Green + Alizarin Crimson for your darkest greens.  If you add equal parts Winsor Green and Alizarin Crimson, it becomes a beautiful black.

For rich, dark greens, start with Phthalo Green, and add a yellow to it, to get a very transparent dark.  If this green mixture is too vibrant and unnatural, it can be tamed with a bit of Quinacridone Rose or Quinacridone Burnt Orange (either added to the mixture, or glazed on top).  So, a nice yellow-green can be made with Phthalo Green + Aureolin Yellow, and a touch of Quinacridone Rose, to make it more natural.  Mix the Phthalo Green and the Aureolin Yellow together first (you'll need more yellow than green in this mix); then, add the Rose.

Try creating different dark greens, starting with Winsor Green, and adding various yellows.  These mixed greens will be less harsh and more varied than using Winsor/Phthalo Green right out of the tube.

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The greens of these trees these leaves

The many shades of green.    

            - Shalom Freedman

"Butchart Gardens", watercolor by Pat Howard

5 -- Permanent Sap Green  -- warm and transparent, nongranulating and nonstaining -- is a good choice of green for your palette.  A basic transparent green mixture is Sap Green + Aureolin Yellow.  Then add a touch of Rose for a natural landscape green which stays transparent.  You can neutralize Sap Green with a Rose or a Red, for a bronzy green.  Sap Green + Quinacridone Rose makes a nice gray-green.

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Artificial green in the brain, but so green in ideas . . . . 

                                                                                    - Nyein Way

6 - Some suggestions for mixing Greens for landscapes:

     - Mingle Sap Green with Ultramarine Blue for middle value foliage or foliage in shadows.

     - Mingle Sap Green with Quinacridone Rose to gray down foliage a little.

     - Mingle Sap Green with Cobalt Blue and Quinacridone Gold for grass in sunlight.

     - Mingle Sap Green with Quin. Burnt Orange and Phthalo Blue for an intense dark green.

     - Mix Sap Green + Raw Sienna + Cobalt Blue for a gray-green.

     - Don't use Yellow Ochre in a green mixture -- too opaque, so it's not luminous.

     - Don't add a 4th pigment to any mixture -- that's when your greens will get muddy and opaque.

     - Whenever your green mixture is too vibrant or unnatural for a landscape, it can be tamed with a bit of Rose or Burnt Sienna, (either added to the mixture, or glazed on top).

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The first colors that made a strong impression on me were bright, juicy Green, White, Carmine Red, Black, and Yellow Ochre.  These memories go back to the third year of my life.

                                                                                                                   - Wassily Kandinsky

7 - Remember that your warm greens will come forward, visually.  Try making your distant greens slightly grayer and cooler (bluer). 

To make your foreground foliage brighter and warmer, mix some yellow and burnt orange into your greens.  Distant trees should be cooler and a little grayer, so add more blue into the mix.

 In fact, underpaint the foreground with a warm yellow and the background with a light blue, before painting any greens.

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Green, Green, you are so glorious green.

An abundance of beautiful green,

not coloured, but just natural and kind.

Makes me wonder how your creation

of green came to life . . . 

- Premila Patel

8 - Green and Red are the warmest of the complements, and so, the most cheerful!  Evenly matched partners (since they are both warm and both of a middle value) -- setting up a vibration when they touch, like optical glitter.  

In even the most abstract art, Green reminds us of nature's greenery, and Red reminds us of its flowers.  

If your green is overly bright, use a transparent glaze of Quinacridone Rose over it, to cut the intensity.

If you have a bright red in the background that needs to be calmed down -- use a very, very light glaze of Winsor Green over it.

Make your tree trunks reddish brown to make the leaves of the trees look brighter.

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Of Greens seen in the country, that of trees and shrubs will appear darker than the Green of the fields or meadows.                - Leonardo Da Vinci

"The Three Graces", watercolor by Pat Howard

9 - Using an analogous color scheme in a nature painting breaks up the monotony of green and creates excitement in your painting.  Start with the main object's local color (green) and build an analogous color scheme around that.  (Remember that analogous colors are next to each other on the color wheel.  

Since the local color of leaves is green, use more yellow in the areas closest to the light source and more blues in the shadows.

Use analogous greens and yellows to dominate in a nature painting, with a touch of reddish brown added for contrast.  (That is a foolproof color combo!)

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Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of Green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.               - Ansel Adams

10 - Try some "Optical Mixing", with yellow and blue -- where juxtaposed colors are blended by the viewer's eye.  This is called Pointillism, and was used by Georges Seurat, a Post-Impressionist artist.  To paint a large grassy area, he painted an undertone of green, and then built up areas of light and shadow, using dots of yellow, orange, violet, and blue.  This would be a good way to add some variety to a big area of green in your painting.

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PURPLE/VIOLET: At Least 10 Things Every Watercolorist Should Know About This Color

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color Purple in a field somewhere, and don't notice it."

                                                                                                              -- Alice Walker

watercolor by Pat Howard

1 -- Violet is one of the secondary colors, along with Orange and Green.  A secondary color is created by mixing together two of the primaries, (in this case, Blue and Red).

"But, luckily, he kept his wits and his Purple crayon." 

 - Crockett Johnson, from Harold and the Purple Crayon

watercolor on Aquabord, by Pat Howard

2 -- In its darkest values (like Eggplant), Purple is rich, dramatic, and sophisticated.  For a rich, dark Purple, start with Alizarin Crimson and add French Ultramarine.  This looks beautiful next to a golden glow.  

Lighter shades of Purple, like Lavender and Lilac, bring a more restful quality to a painting.

Purple embodies the balance of Red stimulation and Blue calm.

"Womanist is to Feminist

as Purple is to Lavender."

- Alice Walker

watercolor by Pat Howard

3 -- The complementary color of Violet is Yellow.  The Violet/Yellow harmony can be summed up in a single word -- exotic!  This Violet/Yellow chord has little connection with everyday experience -- except in irises and violets, rare butterflies, tropical birds, and amazing sunsets.

"Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the Violet tint ends and the Orange tint begins?  Distinctly, we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blindingly enter into the other?"          --  Herman Melville

watercolor by Pat Howard

4 -- The Secondary Triad -- Violet/Orange/Green -- is a wonderful, and very powerful, color scheme.  This is one of my favorites!





"Everything about Florence seems to be colored with a mild Violet, like diluted wine."
                                                                                                                    -- Henry James

watercolor by Pat Howard

5 -- I prefer to mix Purples from the Reds and Blues on my palette, rather than using tube Violets.  The results are Violets that are glowing, alive, and contain enormous strength.  

"Roses are red, That much is true;

But Violets are Purple, Not fucking Blue."

                     -- unknown

watercolor by Pat Howard

6 -- To mix high-intensity Violets -- Use cool Reds, like Quinacridone Rose, or Alizarin Crimson, or Quinacridone Magenta; and, mix with a warm Blue, like French Ultramarine.

"Deep Violets, you liken to the kindest eyes, That look on you without a thought disloyal."

                                                                                                     -- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

watercolor by Pat Howard

7 -- Use the Red-Violet hues for a warm color scheme and the Blue-Violets, for a more somber, cool scheme.  Lavender suggests the feminine, and dark Purple (Eggplant) can suggest the masculine.

In stained glass, the color Purple, or Violet, is seen as the uniting of the "wisdom" of Blue and the "love" of Red, and symbolizes justice and royalty.

"The Mediterranean has the color of mackerel, changeable, I mean.  You don't always know if it is Green or Violet.  You can't even say it's Blue."                    - Vincent Van Gogh

watercolor by Pat Howard

8 -- Purple is regal, wise, and spiritual.  As a complement to Yellow-Green, it's a good color for spring landscapes or still lives.  Try adding a few spots of Purple/Violet here and there.  

In fact, Purple is an ideal color to enhance or enliven almost any painting subject, including mountains and winter scenes.  These provide a great opportunity to use Violets.  Long shadows on snow have shades of Pinks and Blues in them.  And, a rainy day can have a Blue-Violet tinge -- even a sky can look Purple.





"Don't order any Black things.  Rejoice in his memory, and be radiant; leave grief to the children.  Wear Violet or Purple."                                                                             - George Bernard Shaw

watercolor by Pat Howard

9 -- Try doing a "Paint Shadows First" painting -- where you do a value painting, using Violet.  Then, after getting the values (the lights and darks) right, you glaze color over it.  Push the underpainting to Red-Violet for the warms and to Blue-Violet for the cools.





"Inside, the cathedral is a Gothic forest, dappled in Violet twilight and vast with quiet."
                                                                                                                    - Wendy Insinger

watercolor by Pat Howard

10 - Some perfect color combos for Purples/Violets/Lilacs/Lavenders --

            - French Ultramarine + Quinacridone Rose

            - Cobalt Blue + Quinacridone Rose

            - Alizarin Crimson + Cobalt Blue

            - French Ultramarine + Alizarin Crimson

            - Quinacridone Magenta + French Ultramarine

            - Quinacridone Magenta + Cobalt Blue

            - Phthalo Blue + Quinacridone Magenta

            - Phthalo Blue + Alizarin Crimson

            - Cobalt Blue + Quinacridone Rose + Quin. Burnt Orange

            - Quinacridone Rose + Phthalo Blue

If you feel you must have a tube Violet on your palette, there are many to choose from -- Winsor Violet, Cobalt Violet, Mineral Violet, Quinacridone Violet.  But, try to use some of the above combinations, as well -- for brilliance and variety.

Since February is the month associated with the color Purple, this is a great time to mix up some new shades and use them in your paintings.  

TOP TEN: 10 Things Every Watercolorist Should Know About BLUE

This week's theme is cool and calm BLUE, the overwhelming "favorite color".

 BLUE surrounds us -- it is the color of peace, order, strength, and the spirit -- symbolized by the blue sky and the vast blue ocean.  BLUE evokes serenity, innocence, truth, sadness.



Here are 10 important things about the color BLUE that I think everyone who paints in watercolor should know:  (I'm also including some "blue" paintings of mine, as well as quotes about blue from others.)



1)  BLUE IS THE COOLEST COLOR ON THE COLOR WHEEL, bringing a soothing element to any painting.  Of the three primary colors, it is the only cool one.

"Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the deity to be a source of delight." -- John Ruskin

2)  BLUE VISUALLY RECEDES.  Any color that we associate with the sky -- especially blues -- tend to be recessive, stubbornly recessive.  Another characteristic of BLUE is its POWER TO SUGGEST INFINITY or DEEP SPACE -- beyond that of any other color.  Because of this, blue is a good color to use for your background, and also as a glaze, in order to set something back in space.

" . . . introduce into our light vibrations, represented by the reds and yellows, a sufficient amount of blueness to give the feel of air."  -- Paul Cezanne

3)  BLUE'S COMPLEMENTARY COLOR IS ORANGE.  Side by side, these two colors create a vibrancy.  Interestingly though, if you put these two colors next to each other, at the same intensity and the same size, the cool blue will still recede, and the warm orange will still advance.

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange."  -- Vincent Van Gogh

4)  YOU SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST 3 BLUES ON YOUR PALETTE, since all blues are not considered equal.  Blues have what's called a "hue bias", which is the different mixing potential of each blue (whether the color leans towards green or red).  It's good to have a blue with a GREEN BIAS, like a Phthalo Blue; a blue with a RED BIAS, like French Ultramarine; and a good blue for glazing, like Cobalt Blue.  Having a green bias, means that this blue will mix with yellows to make beautiful greens.  Having a red bias, means that this blue will mix nicely with cool reds to make violets.

"Oh, suns and skies and clouds of June, and flowers of June together.  Ye cannot rival for one hour October's bright blue weather." -- Helen Hunt Jackson

5)  PHTHALO BLUE (also known as Winsor Blue or Rembrandt Blue) IS A BRIGHT AND INTENSE BLUE THAT CAN BE VERY DARK.  Used as a thin glaze, it is very transparent.  It is a staining pigment, which means it is hard to lift.  Phthalo Blue can easily overwhelm other colors, unless it is used sparingly.  But, this makes it excellent for mixing darks.

"Beyond the head, instead of painting the banal wall of the mean room, I paint infinity.  I make a plain background of the richest, intensest blue that I can continue, and by this simple combination of the bright head against the rich blue background, I get a mysterious effect . . . " -- Vincent Van Gogh

6)  COBALT BLUE IS AN ESSENTIAL BLUE FOR YOUR PALETTE -- GOOD FOR PAINTING SKIES & SHADOWS, BUT NOT GOOD FOR DARK MIXTURES.  I use it a lot for glazing and in portraits.  Cobalt blue is translucent and lifts easily.  It's also somewhat toxic, by the way.  This is a great all-round color for underpainting, layering, and mixing with other colors -- just not for darks.

" . . . cobalt blue, ultramarine blue . . . necessary for painting."  -- Pierre Auguste Renoir

(from the artist's notes, describing his palette)

7)  FRENCH ULTRAMARINE -- A SEDIMENTARY COLOR -- CAN BE VERY USEFUL, DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU'RE PAINTING.  Because of its granular quality, it's good for painting beach scenes, landscapes, barns -- but not portraits (at least not for the skin).  Use French Ultramarine, mixed with Quinacridone Burnt Orange, when painting rocks, trees, bark, and stone.

This color is attractive when applied wet-in-wet, because it settles and doesn't spread uncontrollably.

French Ultramarine is a very saturated royal blue, biased slightly toward red, so it makes a beautiful purple.  This color will dry lighter than you think, and it lifts easily.

The highest quality ultramarine blue is made with powdered lapis lazuli from Afghanistan.  (Not really important for you to know, I guess, but I thought it was interesting.)

"Of all the colors, blue and green have the greatest emotional range.  Sad reds and melancholy yellows are difficult to turn up." -- William H. Gass

8)  CERULEAN BLUE IS A BEAUTIFUL, LIGHT BLUE PIGMENT THAT CAN ACT AS A TRANSPARENT COLOR, WHEN MIXED WITH LOTS OF WATER AND APPLIED TO WHITE PAPER.  It is not a good color for mixing or glazing/layering, since it is opaque and can be rather chalky.  It also has a granular quality, and is a good pigment for spattering.

"If you see a tree as blue, then make it blue." -- Paul Gauguin

9)  BLUES MAKE BEAUTIFUL, "COLORFUL" GRAYS.  I know that seems like an oxymoron, but the grays you get when mixing blues and other colors, are so much more interesting than the tube grays.  You're able to "push" the gray towards blue or rose.  You can also apply a cobalt blue glaze over a busy or too-bright background, to gray it a little and calm it down.  Using a blue mixture for your shadows is much more effective and harmonious than just using a Payne's Gray wash, for example.

"Hold onto your divine blush, your innate rosy magic, or end up brown.  Once you're brown, you'll find out you're blue.  As blue as indigo.  And you know what that means.  Indigo.  Indigoing.  Indigone.  -- Tom Robbins, in "Jitterbug Perfume"

10)  BLUE HAS A BROAD VALUE RANGE, from tints to shades (unlike yellow, which never gets dark, without turning into brown).  Strong blue hues retain their color identity at the darkest value, and at the lightest value (unlike red, which becomes pink at its lightest value).  

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Pablo Picasso's "Blue Period" paintings, in which the color blue dominated, were a marvelous expression of poetic subtlety and personal melancholy, and contributed to the transition of his style, from classic to abstract.  These were painted between 1901 and 1904.

TOP TEN: Paintings & Quotes -- All About RED

The paintings are mine; the quotes are by others.  Most of those quoted are artists -- painters and designers . . .


1)  Red is the ultimate cure for sadness.   - Bill Blass

2)  It is not pure fantasy to say that the color red is like the sound of a trumpet.   - Joyce Carey

3)  Painters use red like spice.    - Derek Jarman

4)  I want a red to be sonorous, to sound like a bell.  If it doesn't turn out that way, I add more reds and other colors until I get it.    - Pierre-Auguste Renoir

5)  Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue.  Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are, or people might think we're stupid.    - Jules Feiffer

6)  My mother warned me to avoid things colored red.    - Claes Oldenburg

7)  You can't go wrong with the use of red; every painting should have red in it.  - George De Groat  

8)  A certain blue enters your soul.  A certain red has an effect on your blood pressure. . . and

A thimbleful of red is redder than a bucketful.    - Henri Matisse

9)  Of all the hues, reds have the most potency.  If there is one electric blue, a dozen reds are so charged.  Use them to punctuate white, burn into bronzes, or dynamite black.  -Jack Lenor Larsen

10)  Oh, yes!  He loved yellow, did good Vincent . . . when the two of us were together in Arles, both of us insane, and constantly at war over beautiful colors, I adored red; where could I find a perfect vermilion?    - Paul Gauguin