An Easy Way to Mix Beautiful Colours

If you get daunted by colour, this video is for you. Colour mixing really can be fun and in this video, I show you how I explore colours and generate ideas that I can bring into my paintings.
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[@zoemax63]

Louise, you have such a gift and you are very generous to share with us. Thank you

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Aww that means so much. Thank you!

[@rachelharris8587]

OMG Louise! You are such a tremendous inspiration for me!! I am mesmerized by your work and can watch you work for hours. Thank you for doing what you do!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

You are so welcome and thank you for being here. ♥

[@deborahwolff5651]

You are a great inspiration. Love your abstract paintings. Thanks so much for sharing

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Aww thank you so much for your kind words Deborah!

[@AnneGoggansQHHT]

I use a ruler and use the width of the ruler to make a grid. I get a big 11x14 book of cheap watercolor paper to make color charts. Then I have a stack of charts that I can hole punch and binder ring together. I keep a couple to correspond with certain watercolor sets hung up

[@ThisPaintingLife]

That sounds very organised! Great job :)

[@velvetbees]

That is brilliant.

[@SusanGregory-zo7bn]

Thanks, I'm not getting much actual painting done - (chronic pain, elderly,) I've got a brain full of pictures which aren't getting onto paper....so frustrating..but, reading your news thread, watching your own process, is reminding me of mine. It gives me a connection to other artists I don't get in daily life, the joy of insight into other artist's minds. So, though I'm yearning to get ideas on paper, a positive change in me is slowly happening . I'm coming to accept that it is my internal process, using my brain to create, is more important than me having a pile of 'successful ' completed pics. It's the process which matters to me most..... All the ideas might only exist in MY brain, but at least they have a kind of existence as creative thought forms....that is better than fruitlessly beating myself up cos my body won't work well. My brain has created many pics and I see my own work, insights, challenges, in the work of others too. Somehow, in a mysterious way, my pics are all here and present, intertwined with a multitude of art created by others, so long as I have visualised them in the first place. It's not easy to express this in words.....Susan.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thank you so much for sharing Susan. We all have a different internal process. The key is to accepting it. ☺

[@sjmillercreates]

The teal blue & primary yellow mixed with white... are some my favorite color mixes...

[@pennyschneider5278]

Always a true pleasure of the mind-freedom- expression and great endings--------thank you so much.

[@mabird9]

I have such difficulty mixing greens - this was a great lesson! So many more choices to try. Thank you!

[@heathersmith-gearns6336]

So epic! Love your color language! Thank you!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@juliehooper1360]

Oh you are just fabulous and I so appreciate what you share . The way you present is as though you are just talking to me. I get sooo excited when I do colour mixing exercises and discover new colours. I’ve learned that this year with CVP and I never thought that would float my boat. But it does. I used to look at others art and wonder how on earth they got a colour. Now I have much more of a chance of finding what I want or not even knowing what I want but by chance discovering a really amazing colour. Thanks again Louise. Your paintings look beautiful.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

I'm so pleased you discovered that you can mix colours xx

[@kphillips2929]

I like how the green turned out. Lovely painting❤️

[@ingeniousdesignuk]

Gorgeous shades!

[@pennyschneider5278]

Louise, It is my pleasure to see your work and how you paint while thinking and talking-wonderful.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thanks Penny x

[@MichelleWalkerArt]

Love this. Thank you, Louise

[@ThisPaintingLife]

You are so welcome!

[@KatesartstudioCoUk]

Thank you! I'm not new to art, however, I failed to fully develop my skills after choosing a different career path and only started painting again with purpose in my early fifties (10 years ago). Frustratingly, I feel like I've backed myself into a 'realism' corner. I desperately want to find the freedom and looseness that felt so natural as a teenager, but I'm finding it hard. Much of what you say resonates with me and your videos are the first to have inspired me to keep watching. Can't wait to see/learn more. 😄

[@leetravathan]

Love seeing your process!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thanks Lee x

[@terrylavis4792]

This was very helpful and encouraging, thanks Louise

[@eileencallahan3691]

Thank you for sharing! It is encouraging!!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

You are so welcome!

[@danaschilling6002]

Love your words of wisdom, and that you follow your heart!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

always!

[@tracyj2886]

Thank you for sharing this. I appreciate your generosity!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

My pleasure!

[@patnewhauser7814]

Thank you for sharing!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

No worries!

[@tjtinaj83]

My only suggestion is also mix in red and oranges. Going on the opposite of the colour wheel deepens the greens, instead of using black, then add white to those mixes. I always used to add black, before I learnt proper colour mixing and the colour wheel.

[@debtempleton9424]

Oh goodness! Ive just stumbled onto you today and I love love love your art - it's stunning. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and showing us stuff - you are a lovely teacher. Cheers, Deb (NZ)

[@leonormartinez6378]

Loved this session Louise. I truly enjoy your style. Thank you.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thank you so much!

[@marywiseman2045]

Love every lesson. You have really given me a real understanding for me to loosen up my paintings. Love the color in these projects.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@maidracreswell529]

So grateful to you for sharing yourself and providing inspiration. Thank you so very much.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

You are so welcome!

[@vincefenton]

I’m so glad I found your site Louise, thank you for a renewed inspiration. I’ve signed up for this year’s course 😊

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Wonderful! Welcome aboard!

[@maxinenobbe3660]

You are so inspiring. Thank you for sharing. I am still struggling with identifying warm vs. cool, so this was helpful.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sheilalittlejohns2851]

I so love listen to you and also your Art ,

[@ThisPaintingLife]

thank you!

[@CasparisHelena]

So nice Louise taking your tips for granted. They are like learning how to finish a painting with care and commitment with what you already had done before in order of not losing the composition. Thank you.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Glad you found it helpful!

[@Ingrid-ll3jw]

Thank you so much for such a great video on your process. I’m really trying to develop my color and this makes the process seem less daunting. Thank you!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@joyceford9805]

Louise really helps explain how to mix the colors for her pallet choice whilst doing the mixing the colors. So very helpful!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@suzelongley1706]

Absolutely fascinating to see your progress with this project, Louise. So glad to catch this upload 😊 Great to see you using green!! What a surprise, lol 😁 Thanks so much for sharing, have a great weekend x

[@ThisPaintingLife]

You are so welcome x

[@paintingzoneart4026]

It’s great to create and use greens in the way you’ve shown me, thanks Louise

[@ThisPaintingLife]

You’re welcome 😊

[@tannaorr4133]

Very interesting and helpful! Greens have been difficult. This is great

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@CherylK.333]

This was so helpful and inspiring. Thank you! I'm going to try this exercise of mixing different greens. I like the warmer tones, too. The tip about adding black was so helpful!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Glad it was helpful xx

[@juliajanssens8432]

Very good colour combinations and exciting results in your works of art: the 'green experiment' produced some very lovely greens indeed. A good source of creative inspiration.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@annrubino6252]

This was such a great, comprehensive demo, Louise. Really helpful to me to see how you evaluate and resolve paintings. I also really appreciate seeing the pieces you are just beginning. Thank you as always.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@inspiringaction5758]

Really interesting, thanks!🙌🏻

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Glad you liked it!

[@sandylee1717]

I received the book and it is simply magical‼️

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Awww so glad to hear that!

[@najmaarif9800]

This video was an excellent tutorial both in mixing greens and how a painting develops. Thank you.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@SoulscapeFineArt]

Absolutely bautiful artwork. It was gret to wacth. I've followed your lovely channel and leraning more about abstract art. Thanks for sharing your talent n see u again.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thank you very much!

[@junebloye1487]

I really love those dashes of peach!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thank you June!

[@desertportal353]

Nice inspiring work. !!!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@patsypureheart3294]

Thank you for reminding me how much fun it is to create complex colour..... maybe 30 levels down, from mixing two colours and black and white. It means I’m going to get a lot more subtleties and variations. Play play play! Medicine for the hesitant....thank you

[@jenniFaux1]

I loved watching this (and hearing this). We all have struggles, and remembering to stop, think, and experiment a bit, is so smart! Thank you for the reminder!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

You are so welcome!

[@monicastella9149]

Thank you for sharing.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

My pleasure!

[@vmc7773]

Really cool video with solid explanations.thank u again vm 👏👩‍🎨💖

[@ThisPaintingLife]

My pleasure 😊

[@georginahulme9216]

Thanks Louise, this was such an interesting video. I love greens, but it is so difficult to mix good greens and they can ruin a painting if they’re wrong. I hadn’t realised how useful black can be when mixing greens, either. I’m also loving your discussions about your Ted Hughes book. Especially on Art Juice. He’s always been one of my favourite poets and you’ve got me reading him again. I’ve even downloaded him reading some on Audible, so I can listen whilst I’m painting. Very atmospheric because he had a wonderful voice. Thank you so much. It’s great to have these sanity preserving outlets in these weird times. Georgina xx

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Yes his voice is the best isn't it? x

[@Trissa.33]

Omg Louise, when you spun the camera to the crazy canvases I was like "Whoa! WhaT!!".. they are INCREDIBLE> I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! It's a style that is trying to push it's way out of me, which is why there's such recognition in me. Fabulous.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

I think I'd like to do more like that too!

[@Mariana-ym6zf]

This episode is a lightbulb event for me: how to test if a blue is cold or warm. Thank you Louise!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Glad it was helpful!

[@SantieAmery]

Interesting mixing the colours with black...I never used black, just added a bit of the complimentory colour to make the colour less bright...

[@boxerdogmum583]

I did this exercise after watching the video. I found I loved yellow ochre with phthalo blue.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

So glad you enjoyed the video and that shade of yellow can be so beautiful!

[@SetGozo]

Nice, thanks.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

No problem!

[@justsayin4017]

Hi Louise, stumbled across your channel last week, was doing a painting,second visit thought oh no! left it two weeks, thanks for video need to sort out the greens on my piece, little push i needed thank you : )

[@ThisPaintingLife]

You are welcome!

[@karenduffy1842]

How strange, i looked at The Wind painting before you said the title and thought it looked like a billowing storm brewing up❤

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Oh good!

[@63artemisia63]

One of my favorite of your videos. It’s fascinating to watch you mixing greens. I just know warm and cool colors. Just didn’t know much about warm and cool blues, greens, etc. So, this video is very helpful. The music is wonderful, too. Is the piano piece “Take 5”? It’s really familiar. What about guitar? Love that, too 😘 Thanks!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thank you so much!

[@63artemisia63]

Louise Fletcher Art Could you check into the music for me, pretty please? It’s just the kind I love listening to when I’m making a mess with paint 🎈🤸‍♂️🎈💕❤️💕 Thanks, love!

[@epoelker]

It's not Take 5. But it's so familiar. Sounds like something from one of Woody Allen's movies but I can't nail it down.

[@ita275]

Thank you for sharing all this, very inspiring! I’m wondering, would this work on canvas? If so, would applying a fixative in between layers be ok?

[@alrenefischer4481]

Big HUG sooo struggling with color ........... was a sculptor for 30 years , now I want to start standing paint only brass ans clay 😊🙏

[@emilylees5299]

I love the use of dots to look at the different colors. Greens have been difficult for me also, and they always appear somewhat hit or miss in my work. What black are you using? And what brand? Thanks.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

I use all sorts of blacks and all sorts of brands

[@viviannedelavega605]

Just Love the way you work And how sincere you are ❣️Thank you so much. Always valuable. ‼️ Funny how I paint very similarly. ☺️

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thank you so much!

[@mauricepowers3804]

Beautiful! Do you sand on canvas as well as wood? Thank you😍

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Yes I do!

[@shellyperera2010]

Hi Louise, I love your channel, v inspiring and confidence boosting. I enjoy doing colour charts but because the swatches are on a plain white background, when I mix and use the same colour on an actual painting, it never looks like the Swatch because the paint underneath shows through. It's disappointing because I created some beautiful colours when making swatches and I was excited to use them in a painting ☹️ but tbh they looked awful and I've kind of given up doing colour charts for this reason.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

That should only happen when you are using transparent colours - but I just see those times as another discovery ("Oh that's what happens when I put cad orange over cerulean blue") It's all good fun!

[@RanaDavidArt]

Hi Louise. Thank you for sharing. By the way, is this painted in canvas or paper?

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Canvas x

[@robfuzz]

What is your palette made of? Is that wax paper?

[@Danadane314]

How do you know how to recreate a color? Do you ever create and store your favorites? This was fun! Thank you for sharing your paid class with us on KZbin. ❤️

[@ThisPaintingLife]

The colour mixing sketchbook is how I know

[@1sunnydeb]

Please tell me what you have on your palette...is it parchment paper or ? are there layers of wet paper towel underneath?

[@ThisPaintingLife]

wet paper towel under baking paper - it makes a stay wet palette

[@1sunnydeb]

@@ThisPaintingLife thanks! I thought so, like Nicholas Wilton? We call it parchment paper in the US. I’m enjoying your insight.

[@maggiesurovell7860]

Are you using oil paints?

[@SingYourselfWell]

Dude, the turquoise with Indian Yellow makes a really nice, bright, and WARM green!! Where do you see that as being cool?!? I loved the exercise. Really helpful, even if my assessment of it differs (pretty much 100%) from yours, haha. Thank you Louise! Love your art!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

turquoise is a cool blue - indian yellow is a warm yellow. It's all relative :)

[@NicholeFraserSicNic]

What sketchbook brand is that? I'm going a little crazy looking for one ATM! Lol help? Please and thank you 💚🤗

[@ThisPaintingLife]

That's a Seawhite

[@betsyellis9883]

What is the damp paper/tissue layer under the paint? Thanks!

[@Trissa.33]

I think it's parchment paper over a wet cloth, I've noticed Louise uses this set up for her palette.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

yes :)

[@zk6676]

Wht does sanding do to paintings?

[@ThisPaintingLife]

I paint lots of layers and then sand back to create texture and find surprises

[@63artemisia63]

I think in the video she says sanding then glazing creates depth, too. But maybe it’s just glazing.

[@ElleCoyote]

What kind of paper lining do you have on your palette?

[@ThisPaintingLife]

wet shop towels with tracing paper on top

[@ElleCoyote]

@@ThisPaintingLife Thank you so much!

[@sallyguy871]

Are these oil paints?

[@ThisPaintingLife]

no

[@nursen2106]

it would be helpful, if at one visible point in the videos title or underneath or anywhere at the channel one could see, it this is about oil, acrylic or watercolour

[@ThisPaintingLife]

This is acrylics but it doesn't matter - it's about colour mixing and that stays the same no matter what

[@nursen2106]

@@ThisPaintingLife really? I often find, watercolour is a bit different. in details of course. the sort of trouble e.g. oil and acrylics have to mix phtalogreen to a natural green tone is not possible. and very easy in watercolour. at least this difference I have notived about mixing.

[@Anadiaz-br1jr]

More peach color

[@63artemisia63]

I vote for just enough peach, not more.

[@AliBaba-ke5jn]

Hi Louise. Why do you sand you artwork? Never heard of this before.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

to create interesting textures and build up history - it's key to what my work is about

[@1sunnydeb]

Green is the earth...rather than a color.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

sorry I don't understand what you mean ...?

[@1sunnydeb]

@@ThisPaintingLife someone said they hated green. I was responding to that...saying I consider it the (color) of earth..nature...rather than just color. It’s a natural neutral color for me.

[@velvetbees]

I love all the colors, but when you start working with them using these charts, it is probably normal to settle on certain combinations you like more than others.

[@ThisPaintingLife]

Thats when it's good to disrupt by using some of your least fave colours

[@jacobdrollinger4802]

Can't stand green! Never have, never will!

[@ThisPaintingLife]

No need to use it then :)

[@63artemisia63]

Better stay inside then🐉🌲🌳🐲🌵🎄🌿🌱🌴🌳🌲☘️🍀🍃