1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor: Achieve precise color when painting landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and more

by William F. Powell

Overview

The definitive color-mixing resource for oil, acrylic, and watercolor artists.

No more guessing at colors only to end up with a muddy mess and wasted paint! 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor takes the mystery and stress out of color mixing with just the right formula for just about any color.

Designed for use in the studio, this durable book features:

• A lay-flat spiral binding
• Easily wipeable glossy cardstock pages
• Two removable plastic color-mixing grids—one for oil or acrylic, and one for watercolor

Follow these four simple steps to mix more than 1,500 color combinations:

1. Look in the Color Guidance Index for the subject you want to paint—for example, “Broccoli.”
2. Find the Color Recipe with the subject’s recipe number (“81”) and a photo of the actual paint mixture.
3. Use the Color Mixing Grid to measure each paint color.
4. Mix the color.

It’s that easy! This comprehensive reference also includes foundational instruction on color theory and mixing, covering:

• Color theory
• Color value mixing
• Graying color naturally
• Mixing flesh and portrait colors
• Rendering skies and clouds

Whether you are a beginning or experienced artist, 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor is an essential tool for your workspace.

Walter Foster’s best-selling Color Mixing Recipes series also includes Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits, Color Mixing Recipes for Landscapes, and Color Mixing Recipes for Oil & Acrylic. These books contain hundreds of precise color mixing combinations for realistic results, as well as acetate grids for measuring paint units.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781600582837
Publisher:	Walter Foster Publishing
Publication date:	08/01/2012
Series:	Color Mixing Recipes Series
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

William F. Powell was an internationally recognized artist and one of America’s foremost colorists. A native of Huntington, West Virginia, Bill studied at the Art Student’s Career School in New York; Harrow Technical College in Harrow, England; and the Louvre Free School of Art in Paris, France. He was professionally involved in fine art, commercial art, and technical illustrations for more than 45 years. His experience as an art instructor included oil, watercolor, acrylic, colored pencil, and pastel—with subjects ranging from landscapes to portraits and wildlife. He also authored a number of art instruction books, including several popular Walter Foster titles. As a renowned master of color, Bill conducted numerous “Color Mixing and Theory” workshops throughout the U.S. His expertise in color theory also led him to author and illustrate several articles and an educational series of 11 articles entitled “Color in Perspective” for a national art magazine. Additionally, he performed as an art consultant for national space programs and for several artist’s paint manufacturers. Bill’s work included the creation of background sets for films, model making, animated cartoons and films for computer mockup programs. He produced instructional painting, color mixing, and drawing art videos.

Read an Excerpt

USING THE COLOR INDEXES

At the end of this book you will find three separate indexes. The Color Guidance Index includes all recipes for the Oil & Acrylic and Watercolor sections. Unless otherwise noted, the recipe number is the same in both the Oil & Acrylic and Watercolor sections. To find the recipe you need, simply look in the indexes for the subject you want to paint (e.g., “Tomato, Red”). Find the subject’s recipe number in the appropriate section. Note that some index entries list page numbers instead of, or in addition to, recipe numbers.

Table of Contents

How to Use This Book
Instructions
Color Theory
General Color Mixing for Oil & Acrylic
General Color Mixing for Watercolor
Color Mixing for Portraits
Color Mixing for Landscapes
Color Guidance Index
Color Guidance Index—Portraits
Color Guidance Index—Landscapes
Oil/Acrylic Conversion Chart
About the Author