How to mix yellows so they keep their glow
Have you ever struggled to mix yellows so they keep their glow?
Yellow subjects are notoriously difficult to paint because it’s really tricky to judge what colours you need to use.
If we add the wrong colours, it can make our yellow look green or ‘muddy’ and it can lose its vibrancy.
And it can feel really disheartening when your painting doesn’t have the sunny glow you want it to.
So why do we find yellows so hard to work witth?
In this mini class, I delve into the scientific explanation, and share a technique you can use for judging which colours to mix with your yellows.
I really hope this mini class has shown you how to mix yellow paint with confidence and that it helps you to bring more sunshine to your paintings.
For help with painting shadow areas on pale yellow subjects, check out this mini class.
Have you struggled with painting yellows in the past? Are you going to try this method? How did it work for you? And are there any other colours you struggle to paint? I’d love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment below.
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brilliant!
Thank you! Very interesting.
Very interesting and well explained , I will surely remember this knowledge of bright yellows each time I work with yellows !! Thank You .
Pls do share more such videos .
Thankyou for this interesting short tutorial Anna.
Well done. Thank you so much
Thank you! I struggle with yellow.
It also couldn’t be more well timed as I just started painting hot pokers, Kniphofia which has been on my to do list after I saw yours. Managed to click a beautiful picture now that we live in Africa. Hopefully I survive the painting with these tips of yellow mixed. I would have never imagine using opera pink and the red. Thanks for the lovely and timely tutorial.
Ahh good luck with the Kniphofia Rashmi! And lovely that you’re where they are native. Beautiful!
Thank you Anna. I have struggled with the shadow areas in my yellow roses and now I know how to proceed…. wonderful.
B Thank you. Very helpful.
Invaluable, thank you!
thanks for commenting, I’m glad it was helpful Kerry!
very useful. Thankyou.
I enjoyed your mini class. I think that the tip on the grey scales really helps to see the variate! Love your mini classes!
Anna, I so enjoy your classes!! Your voice is perfect for explaining and guiding us through the difficult parts of painting. I could sit and watch you paint for hours. I didn’t do badly on a course of yours that I took, but I could immediately see my errors when it dried. I am heading to YouTube to sign up for more!! You are such an amazing inspiration!!
Thank you! I hope you’ll consider joining my membership Cheryl as there’s 150+ tutorials there you could take 🙂
Thank you Anna – great tip for the yellows.
thanks Jackie
Thankyou Anna. Your demonstration was easy and clear.
Oh good. I worried it was too much detail but I always think it is better to try to really understand what you’re doing with colour mixing.
Enlightening, thank you;
I’m glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much!!!
You’re so welcome Laura, thanks for commenting.
I was just wondering about the reds you chose. They are both quite cold and contain blue. Why not use a pure orange or something like a sinober or cadmium red.?
Hmm, I don’t think they would have got the colour as dark as I’d have liked. The amount of blue in Perm Carmine and Opera is relatively small so it didn’t negatively affect the colour – and crucially both those paints are beautifully vibrant. Scarlet Lake is my other one and looks similar to Cadmium Red but is much more transparent so better for layering and keeping ‘glow’ coming through from the white paper.
Thank you! I’ve been struggling with Daffodils and shadows and have been very frustrated. My shadows were dull greenish-yellow.
Thank you Anna. Yellow is a very difficult colour to do shadows so this is much appreciated.????
I’ve been teaching watercolor for 18 years and have read at least 100 watercolor instruction books… This is the first time anyone explained why using rose colors are so effective for darkening yellows. Well done!
I get a little mixed up as to the yellow you use. Sometimes I hear it referred to as lemon yellow, transparent yellow, or winsor yellow. Are they all the same or different? Love your tuutorials!
Thanks very helpful