Primary Color Mixing

One of the problems lies with the old conception of the Color wheel. When asked what the primary colors are, one will usually answer, “red, yellow and blue.” However, not any red yellow and blue is in fact a primary Color. Cadmium red, for instance, contains a lot of yellow and if mixed with blue, will make a dirty purple. Similarly, French ultramarine contains a lot of violet, and if mixed with yellow, would result in a muddy green.


In terms of printing ink, the primary colors are yellow, magenta and cyan. In terms of oil paint, these colors are not similarly labeled, but cadmium yellow (pale), permanent rose and phthalo blue are close. These colors are the closest approximation one can get to a true primary Color in oil paint, and will usually produce clean mixes.

Darkening a color might be a challenge for the beginner, and the automatic reaction might be to mix the color with black. In fact, the best way to darken a color is by the introduction of its complimentary. A complimentary color is the opposing color to a particular color on the color wheel.

Red, for instance, is the complimentary to green; violet, is the complimentary to yellow, and so forth. From this, one can avoid black altogether, for in fact, black will often deaden a color and it is best omitted from the artist’s palette if the intention is to create clean color mixes.