Let's Mix Some Violet

Let's Mix Some Violet

Oh, how I love the color violet (I am often surprised how many students don’t like it). Violet is one of the colors that you’ll use in many different color combinations, so knowing how to mix it is important.

Violet is a mixture of blue and red, but choosing the correct blue and red is important. Not just any blue and any red will mix a good violet.

The best mixture for a wonderful, vibrant violet is Warm Blue mixed with Cool Red.

Ultramarine Blue is warm blue. While there are many cool blues, Ultramarine Blue is the only true warm blue. It’s warm because it contains red. In contrast, cool blue contains green, which cools it.

Cool red comes in many varieties, but my favorite by far is Quinacridone Magenta. Others you may know are Alizarin Crimson, Permanent Magenta or Rose Madder. Cool red is cool because it contains blue. The blue cools the red.

Warm blue contains red and cool red contains blue, so both colors contain the colors required to mix the best violet.

If we look at the opposite mixture to the one described above, which is cool blue and warm red, we get a rosy gray color as the resultant mixture. The colors that are contained within each of those colors (blue with green and red with orange) are complementary colors and thus cancel each other out, resulting in the grayish mixture.

You can also mix a good violet with Cobalt Violet, which is neither warm or cool. The key to remember is this: Don’t use Warm Red when trying to mix violet. The orange contained within is too strong and will cancel out the blue in the violet mix.

Take time to experiment with mixing violet on your own to see how the various mixtures respond.

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As always, thanks for your support!

David

Simple Color System Colorwheel

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