Mixing & Matching Colors

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro

Sometimes when I am tired or my time is limited I grab a scrap of watercolor paper and simply try to match a color I see out in nature or in a photograph. This forces me to broaden my horizons and mix pigments I would not normally try. I find there is world of subtle variations within one color range from another which offers tremendous opportunities when explored.

For example, there is a huge range of greens which one can draw upon. Many of the muted greens similarly function as a range of gray whether warm or cool in temperature. While these colors or values may bore some people, if used to their advantage it can make the focal point in a picture truly shine.

In the above photograph taken many years ago, I tried to match the color of the early spring growth after hiking a local mountain. There is something reassuring about identifying with the local color as it is associated with our experience in the natural world. Many of the colors I came up with were a combination of either cobalt blue/ raw sienna and or winsor blue.