The New Color Mixing Companion: Explore and Create Fresh and Vibrant Color Palettes with Paint, Collage, and Mixed Media--With Templates for Painting Your Own Color Patterns

Antagonistic Complements: Two-Color Watercolor Hexagons

Skill Level: Medium

My husband and I spent 6 months in Germany after we got married. Because I never, ever quit painting, I spent gray Dusseldorf winter days painting tiny gradient stripes in acrylic paint. After seeing many completed paintings, one day my beloved was idly observing me paint while drinking his coffee and after a while he said, utterly disbelieving, 'You mean you mix all of those colors by hand?' Somehow, not being a painter, he imagined they all came out of hundreds of paint tubes, which, practically speaking, would not be the most space-efficient use of studio storage. Truth be told, I was using five or six colors plus white. You can get by with three in a pinch if you need to travel light, and I do recommend bringing paint with you everywhere. Obviously.

In this project, I walk you through mixing complementary colors. I don’t know why they call them complementary, because frankly I don’t think there’s much that’s complementary about them—in fact, they clash. The pairs are made of colors that are across the pie from each other on the color wheel. Red/green is one complementary pair; blue/orange and yellow/purple are others. Mostly, certain holidays notwithstanding, these are the combos your mom told you not to wear at the same time. I would much prefer to call them antagonistic colors.

So here’s the magic. If you mix two analogous colors together, like blue and purple, you get bluish purple. But if you mix a complementary set together, Bob is your freaking uncle. You have unlocked to door to beautiful neutrals and grays and toned-down primaries that will have you painting hexagons for years. Two complementary colors can be mixed in various amounts to create a bajillion different tones.

Choosing Colors

To make the sample above I used two of my favorite watercolor colors, Transparent Pyrrole Orange and Phthalo Blue (Green Shade), which is basically turquoise. These are secondary colors (a reddish orange and a greenish blue) that are across the wheel, never the twain to meet. Until we mix ’em, of course.

Test Your Colors

It’s usually impossible to gauge the exact color or intensity of a watercolor mix when it’s on your palette. High-quality watercolors straight out of the tube sometimes look almost black because the color is so concentrated. That’s why it’s nice to have a scrap page nearby to test your colors.

Materials