Painting on Location
with the Real Color Wheel
Color Oppositions

Cobalt Blue Deep shades to a neutral shadow color by adding it's opposite color Orange plus more medium. Cadmium Orange and Cobalt Blue Light and Deep are opaque. Deep will make a darker neutral gray.


Here is a painting by Winslow Homer. He is using the oppositions Cobalt Blue Deep and Sienna orange. Burnt Sienna is a dark orange, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber will also make a very dark neutral. Cobalt Blue Light and Cadmium Orange also mix to a neutral but it's a lighter neutral gray because both colors are lighter opaques.

It takes two transparent oppositions to mix a neutral dark, or one transparent and one translucent, two translucent colors or one transparent and one opaque. Two opaque colors just won't make a full dark even though it will be neutral.

 Mass-tone Cobalt Blue Opaque
Combine to a Neutral Dark
Burnt Umber mass-tone
Burnt Sienna mass-tone
Cad Orange mass-tone Opaque

True Cobalt Blue is a rare pigment today.
    The artificial colors are in this Opaque Azure range,
there are no Transparent Azure Cobalt's available. :(
The Cobalt Blue color has a little less Magenta in it than the color of Ult. Blue has.

Cobalt Blue Light Opaque.

Mass-tone tube color
Tint
Tint
Cobalt Blue

Mixed with this opposite color.

Cadmium Orange is a dye on a white base.
As so it is opaque and can't be mixed real dark, but it does make a beautiful neutral gray.
Cadmium Orange Opaque
Cadmium Orange Opaque

Mix Burnt Sienna with Cobalt or Ult. Blue together to make a Burnt Umber color
Burnt Sienna Translucent
Mussini Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber Translucent
Mussini Burnt Umber
 

Here is a crystal in nature that matches the color path I am talking about.

VESUVIANITE, Ca10Mg2Al4[SiO4]5[Si207]2[OH]4, H7, SG-3.3,

MAGNESIUM as an element in this crystal will go dark and opaque or dark and transparent,
either way it does it with flair.

ALUMINUM will make yellow standard, 12RCW#1 (YYYY), and blue standard, 12RCW#7 (MMCC], centering to a dark neutral.
These crystals are in the tetragonal system and have some masses in the orange or azure range.
The three analogous colors of this gem, yellow-green, yellow and orange all go to brown.
On the other side of this analogous range is blue,
Ultramarine Vesuvianite Blue crystals were found in Norway. Nature is perfect.
 

Dioxine Purple Ultramarine Blue Cobalt Blue Thalo Cyan Blue Turquoise transparent Green Opaque Thalo Green
Burnt Umber Real Color Wheel in Pigments Permanent Green Light
Burnt Sienna
Venetian Red Yellow Green Opaque
Yellow Oxide
Naples Yellow Light Green Gold Transparent
Magenta Rembrandt Rose Cadmium Red Medium Cadmium Orange Indian Yellow Gold transparent Cadmium Yellow Medium Cadmium Yellow Pale

NEXT Cadmium Red and Thalo Cyan painting, rcwA7cyan.htm
PREVIOUS Yellow & Blue painting, rcwA1ultblue.htm
 

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