My observations from mixing the blue color swatch sets
February 18, 2019
As I continue working on my in-depth study of color, I’m selecting swatches that will be most useful in the paintings I plan to paint next. As I was planning to do a blue painting, I worked on Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue and French Ultramarine color mixing swatch sets.
You might notice the Cerulean Blue is not part of my original 12 base colors that I’m using for the color study. I decided to add it in as I have the color and wanted to see how it mixes. I’m delighted to have added it, as it turned out beautifully with a wonderful range of aquas.
Cerulean Blue
Cerulean Blue is quickly overwhelmed by yellows and crimsons.
Cerulean Blue is not very buttery from the tube. It’s kind of stiff.
Cerulean Blue is quickly overwhelmed by Titanium White. A tiny touch quickly makes it a medium tint.
Emerald Green also changes Cerulean Blue with very little paint.
I needed a lot of Viridian to affect Cerulean Blue, which is extremely different from many of the other colors. Many of the others required a lot more of the mixing color to affect Cerulean Blue as the base color.
Phthalo Green Yellow Shade overwhelmed Cerulean Blue quickly, too.
Cobalt Blue
It took a lot less Cadmium Lemon than I expected. The mixed color quickly became green rather than a hue of blue with just a touch of Cadmium Lemon.
French Ultramarine
Not much to note on French Ultramarine, however, when I study this swatch set as compared to Cobalt Blue, it’s obvious that mixing with French Ultramarine as a base produces grayer tones throughout the entire swatch set. Cobalt Blue as a base makes for more vivid colors. Now I understand why Cobalt Blue was used by the Impressionists.
If you want to learn more about this color mixing project that I’m working on, you can read more details starting with this post on color, my research and how I decided to embark on Richard Schmid’s recommended color mixing project from Alla Prima. Continue reading subsequent posts for additional details and finding.