Any time you select a set of paints, you are choosing a gamut or a range of colors that you can mix. There is no magical combination of paint that will enable you to mix every color. For example, you can mix orange from a combination of red and yellow, but the orange mixed with the two paints will not be nearly as saturated as an pure orange paint.

Your choice of paints should depend on your style and subject matter. Figure painters need to be able to mix a range of flesh tones, and landscape painters need to mix greens easily.

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There are two rules for mixing darks in watercolor. First, use plenty of paint and water, and, second, pick the right combination of paints.

If I have to paint a large dark passage, I will often set out my paints in mixing cups instead of grabbing paint from a palette well. I will use one cup for each single pigment and then let the colors combine on the page.

I squeeze out lots of paint, roughly the same amount I would use if I were squeezing out toothpaste to go on a toothbrush. Then, I add enough water to bring the paint to the consistency of heavy cream. As I am painting the darks, I try never to rinse my brush until I finish the passage.

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Brands I use:

M. Graham, Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, daVinci

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If you are going to paint a background, then you need to start working on your background early. Don’t wait until until you finish the foreground to start worrying about background.

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Just about any combination of red, yellow, and blue will produce a flesh tone in watercolor. Each situation is different and no formula substitutes for your own observation. I will share what works for me.

For average caucasian skin, I use Winsor & Newton Raw Sienna or Yellow Ochre (they’re quite similar), M. Graham Cadmium Red Light, and a blue, violet, or (rarely) green, The blue depends on the subject, the lighting, and the pigments I am using in the rest of the painting. Cerulean blue is probably the easiest to work with and works best for light-skinned subjects. Sometimes I use Winsor & Newton Cobalt Blue and sometimes I use Holbein Mineral Violet.

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I very often hear admonitions about the importance of value in painting. What I hear less frequently, except for advice that preliminary value sketches are helpful, is practical advice on how to go about choosing values. Although I don’t have a specific formula for deciding on values, I have accumulated several rules of thumb that are helpful to me.

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I had noticed for several months ago that the light and shadow on an object can change very suddenly and dramatically. This phenomenon was especially noticeable around 1:30 in the afternoon. I figured that the sun must shift from the east side of the sky to the west side of the sky around 1:30. My solution was simply to plan for a lunch break around 1:30. Everything worked fine until yesterday, when I was working in the morning and experienced the same sudden shift in lighting. I decided it was time to learn more about exactly how the sun tracks across the sky.

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Some days the paintings work, and some days they don’t. Yesterday’s was a real stinker, and I’m trying to figure out why. (Maybe I’ll post a picture of it later.) The scene was a group of backlit trees and a tombstone painted late in the afternoon. The foreground was in complete shadow.

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I was very happy with the latest lion that I painted last Thursday (June 2006).

The ninety-plus degree heat and a code red smog alert made the working conditions less than pleasant. The actual sky was light and hazy; I darkened it considerably after I got home.

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I did another watercolor outside this morning. Although I wasn’t entirely happy with the results, I did manage to take pictures after each wash. Here’s what I did:

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