54 artistDecember 2019 http://www.painters-online.co.uk
A
s we head into the winter
months, the subtle greys, soft-
edged forms and wet surfaces
created by fog, mist and rain
can make compelling subjects to paint,
whatever your chosen medium. Through
a heavy veil of moisture, colours
become grey and muted, shapes blur
and quickly recede.
Colour mixes for greys
Grey is one of those colours that some
may find dull and uninspiring, but a
closer look reveals an endless variety
of subtle, warm and cool shades. Being
able to mix an effective range of greys
is essential for winter landscapes
and a lot more besides, and I find
this can be achieved with a relatively
limited palette of blues, browns and
complementary colours (right).
Cool greys recede and warmer greys
come forward, which is useful for
conveying space and distance in a
landscape or street scene. I suggest
The colours of winter
Paul Weaver finds the fluid nature of watercolour perfect for capturing the
subtle greys and soft atmosphere of fog, mist and rain as he demonstrates
here, with suggestions for mixing the perfect grey for your needs
starting with burnt umber or burnt
sienna and exploring the possibilities
when mixed with either ultramarine or
cobalt blue. Adding more brown turns
up the warmth, while more blue will
cool things down. These colours are also
naturally very dark when undiluted, so
provide a full range of tonal values as
well.
Heavily diluted, a delicate and subtle
grey can be achieved; increasing
the pigment and adding less water
produces a variety of mid-tones and
dark rich mixes when required. This
range of greys is useful for cloudy
skies, distant trees and buildings,
dark doorways, windows, figures and
reflections in wet roads.
Swapping the brown for an earth red
such as light red or Venetian creates
greys with a more purple hue, perfect
for shadows falling across snow, river
reflections under grey skies and distant
winter foliage. Although I don’t use
them myself, Prussian and Winsor blueare also worth trying as alternatives to
ultramarine. They create steely blue
greys when mixed with burnt umber or
burnt sienna but be warned, they are
dark, powerful, staining pigments.Complementaries
An infinite variety of greys can be
mixed with the complementary pairs
blue and orange, yellow and purple or
red and green. Things can get rather
complicated when trying to suggest
mixes, because there are so many
variables of the primary and pre-mixed
secondary colours available.
For example, I might mix an orange
with vermilion and Winsor yellow,
a purple with alizarin crimson and
ultramarine, or simply use a tube of
cadmium orange or dioxazine violet.
Each deliver the colour orange or
purple, each with their own respective
qualities. The key is to play and
experiment to find what you prefer.
Viridian is the only pre-mixed green