By Tissa Hewavitarane

Colour mixing in watercolour

Fig.2: This flower painting shows a simple drawing with basic colours.

There is an infinite number of colours but all of them include three basic colours. The primary colours, yellow, magenta and cyan (blue) are obtained by mixing two primary colours. As beginners, mainly children should understand how these colours blend when mixed together.

Any beginner can obtain a good idea in colour mixing and ensure the correct application of colours in one's painting. The three primary colours, yellow, magenta and cyan can obtain all the other colours.

You can paint with three primary colours without having to mix colours. The pure colours are treated as if they were independent washes of three colours But this is not entirely true since the wash can only be made with one colour or with a mixture of two.

Fig.1: These three colours help you to obtain a wide range of colours.

It is some what difficult, since wet tones, mix and change into other colours. You need to plan carefully before applying your first colour so that the colours may not run all over on a wet background.

Notice the colours I have used, mainly two and the green used for stem in a mixture of yellow and magenta (blue).

If you do not plan things carefully, you may lose control of the painting. Light is one of the most important parts of a painting.

The main focus is on light and how it effects the painting in colour. I have used yellow as background to bring more light to the picture.

The simple painting of a flower is only the basic use of colours for any beginner, I have not gone into any details.

I have used Nos. 6 soft sable hair brush, while for stems Nos. 2 and 3 brushes for the background. The paper used for colouring is Kent paper with a slight grain 150 grams.