Primary and secondary colour mixing

For this exercise I was required to identify my primary colours and to lay down small amounts of pigment of my yellows, blues and reds on a palette, and lay strips of them next to each other on a neutral grey background.

I have a small collection of WM Oils of different brands and qualities, though I don’t have the same colours in all the brands or qualities, so I couldn’t compare the intensity of colour across the brands. There was also some variation in the colour names, and some are probably not primaries, but I was curious to see how they differed so I included them also.

Yellows

I used Cadmium Yellow Light and Lemon Yellow as my primaries, and also laid down Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow and Red Naples Yellow, and noticed that -

• Cadmium Yellow is quite transparent and has a tint of orange, a warm colour and darker tone

• Lemon Yellow has a tint of green with a chalky and cooler appearance

• Yellow Ochre is a warm chalky colour which I think has a tint of orange as well as a tint of blue, making it brownish

• Naples Yellow is a chalky warm colour which seems to me to be made up of Yellow Ochre, White and Orange.

• Red Naples Yellow is a chalky reddish cooler Naples Yellow.

When I put them in strips next to each other it was noticeable that some of them cancelled each other out somewhat, especially Yellow Ochre beside Red Naples Yellow, and Lemon Yellow beside Naples Yellow. By contrast Cadmium Yellow became more vibrant next to Red Naples Yellow.

Reds

I only have two reds, Cadmium Red, which has a tint of orange and is a warm colour, and Alizarin Crimson which has a tint of blue, and so has a cooler appearance

I laid the reds next to my Cadmium Yellow Light and Lemon Yellow primaries, and noticed that some became more vibrant, such as the Lemon Yellow beside Cadmium Red - more so than Cadmium Yellow with Alizarin Crimson. And similarly Cadmium Yellow is more vibrant beside Cadmium Red, than Cadmium Yellow with Alizarin Crimson.

Blues

I have Ultramarine, Cerulean, Prussian, Cobalt and Pthalo Blue.

1.3.a Secondary Colours

For this I used -

1. Yellow to Red - a mixture of Cadmium Yellow and Lemon Yellow, and Cadmium Red and Alizarin Crimson

2. Blue to Yellow – a mixture of Prussian Blue with a little White, and Cadmium Yellow and Lemon Yellow

3. Red to Blue – a mixture of Cadmium Red and Alizarin Crimson, and Prussian Blue with a little White.