I wanted to share with you my recipe for this great tropical blue color I frequently use with my work. You can’t buy it in any store, so I thought it would be a perfect topic for the Sunday Vlog.
Watch the video and let me know what you think – do you use any colors that are particular to your practice?
In gratitude, Nicholas
PS I’ve put together a free assessment designed to help artists identify and solve their biggest art making challenge. You can take it by going to www.artlifenew.com. If you find it helpful, please feel free to pass it along to anyone who you think could benefit from it.
47 Comments
Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.
With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.
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Great little tip thank you. I do a lot of color mixing using compliments but don’t always think about those variations in shades such as cadmium light or medium. Very helpful!
Hey @janet@janetjaffke:disqus
VERY helpful information!! Thank you and it was also good to see you mixing a huge batch. You are all about freedom to paint and I appreciate that you share with us!! Thanks!
Great information, Nicholas! Your spirit of generosity never ceases to amaze me. Thank you for being so willing to share knowledge you spent time and effort discovering.
I love that color….which can be so illusive….nice recipe!….
What mediums do you use with your oils?
@cand@candaceloheed:disqus I use liquin and oderless mineral spiritis…
Thank you! I only paint with acrylics and now I know how to mix that beautiful color without buying it. I do use that color a lot too. I love your Sunday videos, always start my day with them.
I use acrylics, and getting that great perfect aqua color is tricky. I think I have neglected using cerulean, and will now integrate it into my color mixing more. Your videos always leave me with an “OK, I can do this!” feeling. Thanks!
Love color micing
Great Denise!
What is the white substance in the squirt bottle used for mixing the aqua oil?
Synchronicity! I stumbled onto mixing a tropical palette in a current grouping of 4- 24″ x 48″s (using up some old canvases) and discovered pthalo green, which is not a color I’ve used very often- and seem to be infatuated by the variations. I call them a quadtych but I’m not sure there is such a name, LOL. Thanks for another happy Sunday tip, Nick!
Sure thing @je@jeannerafferbeck:disqus
Stevenson oils (made in Canada) have two aqua colours. Loved this video. Never realized you painted in oils. And what fluid white are you using. That made the mixing look easy. This was so neat to see more of your “messy” studio and methods of storage. Thank you
I have used Bob Ross Liquid White oil paint. Just a happy little suggestion.
OH that is interesting I didn’t know he made paint..!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8b2d7b797c573571c1b56ea970e348d451efe769cec2f1ca6b6e1ad3e371f94e.jpg
Nicholas- What brand of oils do you use regularly?
Mira, I use Gamblin mostly…
Loved this colorology mixing demo!! Turquoisy blues are my favorite colors. I am always looking for the right combinations to get that ultimate turquois. I recently discovered Gamblin Radiant Oils.
I sometimes mix Radiant Turquoise with Radiant Green https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d5f2f7df41128a19da9dc81c243a7d649285ddb075c2ef5ec2776459370170b.jpg
Me too just found the radiant gamblin colours. Kama also Canadian Oil paints are recently discovered. Both Stevenson and Kama oils are juicy and lovely to use. Thank you for the flowing white. I’ll order some.
Hey I have not even seen radiant oils! Thanks for showing me–how are they radiant? @mari@mariettavannatta:disqus
The radiant oils look like they have mica in them. I’ll take a photo tomorrow. They are pretty.
I am curious still: What is the white substance in the squirt bottle used for mixing the aqua oil? is it titanium white with liquin? Or solvent? Or linseed oil? What is making it so liquid? (I’m sure it’s not solvent since it would break the bonding of the pigment and oil.)
Maybe they do. I haven’t really researched the ingredients or “radiant” properties. I was in a landscape oil painting class and I was using them for the sky along with a base coat of liquid white and people were asking how did I get “that fabulous sky and clouds”. So maybe they are “radiant”? Gamblin also makes a radiant white but I did’t buy it. Maybe I should!
That is the just fancy name Gamblin gave them I guess to catch your eye. For me they are handy because they already have a lot of white in them so I don’t have to keep adding a ton of white to UMB or Pthalo blue or CB to get a light tropical or sky tint. They are like “tinted whites” LOL and are fun to mix with other dark colors like BU or BS and get some interesting lighter colors.
And then there are your beautiful blue gloves! Thanks for these tips.
Thank you for this video. It is always so exciting to make colors. When I serigraphed in the 60’s, I had to mix so many colors to get better colors. The ink palettes were so limited. I did not realized you used oils. I thought you used only acrylics.
I thought you used acrylics! Are all your works in oil?
I use both…
How appropriate to have the ad for the Haramara (tropical) Workshop in the sidebar of your web site as you’re mixing the very color in the ad. 🙂
That is funny–but I love that tropical color cause I like going to those places…
Thank you for sharing. I like using the lemon yellow for my aqua color.
Yes it is surprising how cool that yellow light is!
Thanks for posting this Nicholas. I like to mix cerulean (my favorite blue) and cadmium yellow light for highlights and warm reflections to water even though it’s much bluer here in SoCal. I like the temperature contrast.
Thank you. Very helpful
Very helpful to hear how the colors react to each other too!
Love color theory!!!!!
Thank you for this share! What is the white liquid you used with the oil paint?
Besides the obvious thanks for your colour mixing advice…..I just am in awe of your art space! Sigh!!!
You are so generous – thank you!
Your videos and posts always make my day! I wanted to reiterate the question posted by C Forester. What is in your squirt bottle with the white paint? Do you pre-add different mediums to your white paint? If so, this is an ingenious time saver!
Thank You, I have tried this color and the Cad Yellow lt. is the best idea. I have been using the darker one and you are right , it muddies the whole thing.
Thanks for sharing…cheers
Thanks for this tip. I’ve used aquas a lot in the past, but have been having trouble getting the color I want lately. I’ll try this.
Woke up this morning thinking, ok, that blog of Nicholas’s where he makes the aqua, THAT’s the color I need. Saved by St. Nick yet again.