Mixing oil paint colors can be a difficult process for beginners, but using a color recipe makes it easier to accomplish consistency.
Professional painters often use a limited palette, allowing them the ability to mix colors to their specifications as they paint. One popular mixed color is burgundy. This version of the warm, deep hue uses two rosy, reddish colors plus some white to get a rich tone. For beginners, this can be a difficult process as it takes some time and experience to know successfully mix colors together, but by using a special measuring grid and color recipe, painters can achieve a consistent burgundy color any time they need it.
Instructions
1. Create a 12x3 grid on a piece of gridded, drawing paper by creating three rows of 12 squares each, one on top of the other. Each square of the grid is equally spaced and sized. Make the size of the grid relative to the amount of paint you want mixed; for more paint mixture, create a larger-sized grid. Don't make this grid too large to begin with. You can recreate this color exactly any time by using this grid measurement process.
2. Find a clear, transparent plastic sheet. The thickness of the plastic should be just firm enough so that it doesn't wiggle around when you put your paint on it. You can reuse this same sheet for additional color mixing effort by cleaning with a rag after each use.
3. Place the plastic sheet over the paper with the grid drawing showing through underneath. Be sure you place this on a sturdy table or counter top.
4. Gather three tubes of oil paint: titanium or flake white, alizarin crimson and phthalo red rose.
5. Squeeze the titanium or flake white tube out in a uniform width across the length of the first row of the grid. Each square is considered one "part"; squeeze out 12 parts, covering the entire first row of the grid.
6. Squeeze the alizarin crimson paint across the second row, just under the white. Use 10 parts of this color.
7. Squeeze out one part of the phthalo red rose tube across the third row of the grid.
8. Use a palette knife to transfer the paint from the plastic sheet to your mixing surface. Mix the paint thoroughly. Do not use a brush to mix your paint, unless you are using an old paintbrush. Mixing with a brush will squash the bristles and makes the brush lose its shape.
9. Add more white paint to the mixture to create a lighter burgundy. For a darker burgundy, experiment with more alizarin crimson with just a touch of phthalo red rose.
