Peter Clenott

Learn to create any color from a basic palette of just 11 colors!

What if you could create any color you wanted, from a basic palette of just 11 colors? That is what the art of color mixing is all about. And once you master it, you will be able to create a broad range of all the colors you might need. Your options will be limited only by your imagination.

In this color mixing book, Isabelle Roelofs and Fabien Petillion first walk you step by step through the basics of watercolor pigments, paper, and color mixing techniques. Using just 11 colors, you’ll learn to bring more variety to your primary colors, create basic colors (such as Payne’s Gray and Van Dyke Brown), and create your own secondary colors. This approach works no matter what brand of paints you use, as each of the 11 colors is identified by its universal pigment color (such as PY154).

Once you’re underway color mixing, you’ll see how four artists interpret that basic palette to create thematic color palettes tailored to different subject matter, such as flowers, landscapes, portraits, and animals. Finally, you’ll solidify your understanding of color mixing by analyzing five watercolor paintings to see how the color was achieved and how the painting was developed, layer by layer, to achieve the final result.