Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share:

Color Mixing Charts (or grids) are terrific reference tools for learning more about colors and how they can be mixed.  For our example, we’re making a color mixing chart with the 6 colors from the DANIEL SMITH Colors of Inspiration Watercolor Half Pan Set.

By making a color mixing chart (click here to download a template), you learn what additional colors can be created with any given range. It might seem like a chore whenever you add new paints to your palette, but it’s your first opportunity to explore and discover some gorgeous blends! You can make glazing color charts, mix colors wet into wet right on your chart, or mix them on a plate or palette first. It’s color swatching with a purpose!  We generally try to vary how the watercolors are painted for each box in the chart – for example, a little heavier application on the lower right, compared to lighter at the upper left. This way you can see some of the colors’ properties more clearly, like transparency and granulation.

The colors of this mixing chart are laid out chromatically in both the horizontal rows and vertical columns:

After transferring the chart lines to a sheet of watercolor paper, label your colors and paint out in the order shown above, with deeper colors on vertical columns, mid tones on the horizontal rows and light washes on the diagonal. Using different ratios of water allows you to see a range of each main color – deep, mid and light.

Now the color mixing begins! By painting down the column and across the row,  you can mix your first color in column 1, Wisteria. Mix Wisteria with Lavender (more Wisteria than Lavender) and paint that mix in the box below the light Wisteria wash (that is the Wisteria column) next to the Lavender box on the left.

Add more Lavender to that same mix  and paint it in the second column, just below the Lavender box (that is the Lavender column) in the Wisteria row. Repeat these steps for the remaining colors as shown in the following photos.

When you buy new colors, it’s a good idea to mix them with your existing palette of colors like the example below, which shows mixing Gray Titanium with our 6 color Essentials Watercolor Set.  We used our 6 color mixing chart template and added a 7th row and 7th column to accommodate Gray Titanium as the 7th color.

We also wanted to see how other colors mixed with the Essentials Set colors look – for example, New Gamboge mixed with Quinacridone Rose, an orange, looks when mixed with Gray Titanium:

  • New Gamboge mixed with Quinacridone Rose – 4th box down in the Quinacridone Rose column.
  • New Gamboge mixed with Quinacridone Rose then mixed with Gray Titanium – 5th box down in the New Gamboge column.
  • Note, all the colors below the diagonal wash colors are mixed with Gray Titanium.
  • Those boxes with the 3rd color, Gray Titanium, mixed into the 2-color mix are noted with (plus GT) in the boxes

6 color template and 7 color diagram, adding in Gray Titanium

Color Mixing Chart for the 15 color Ultimate Mixing Watercolor Half Pan Set.

Your color mixing chart becomes a wonderful color guide to reference when needed. Painting charts like these are also great exercises when inspiration is low and can help stir your creative juices when you discover beautiful new colors.