Watercolor paints offer a vibrant world of creative possibilities. Color theory, the colors and the way they behave with each other is an essential tool for any watercolor artist. When you purchase your first color palette, you will see the names of colors and wonder how they will all work together. Understanding the basics of color and where they started from is important and we will dive right into the world of color and all of its beauty.
Let’s talk about it.
What Is Color Theory
Imagine yourself standing in an art store, surrounded by countless racks of watercolor paints. Each color has its potential, but how do you choose which ones will work together on your canvas?
That’s where color theory steps in. It’s your key to the world of color, unlocking the beauty of colors and their interactions. By understanding how colors mix, create contrast, and just look good together, you’ll transform your watercolors from a palette of colors to a beautiful masterpiece.
Color theory helps you to make choices, understand how colors will work on paper, and ultimately, create paintings that you will love and cherish. Plus, it is so much fun to play with color!
My goal is to help you learn the basics of color itself and give some insight into what watercolor shades in your color palettes will work with those basic colors.
The Color Wheel
The color wheel tells a whole color theory story. Starting with your primary colors. Red, yellow, and blue. These three colors are the base for all other colors on the spectrum.
What are secondary colors? They are the results of mixing two primary colors. Those are green, purple, and orange. What happens when you mix a primary color with a secondary color?
You get a tertiary color. In the image above, those are the colors in the center of that wheel. Mix those colors and you can create a myriad of hues, but be careful, too many mixed at once and you will create brown or black. That’s the beauty of starting with one color and adding more to understand how they work.
Now let’s take a quick look at complimentary colors. These are colors directly across from each other on the color wheel. These colors are like energetic opposites, creating a sharp contrast. Too much of both of them on your painting could be overwhelming, but as accent colors, will do nicely.
For example, red and green. When I see red and green together I think of Christmas colors. If I were doing a watercolor with a Christmas theme, I may consider using more of those two colors together than I would any other type of painting.
If I were painting a landscape with a barn in the background, adding a red roof on the barn with the surrounding green trees and grass would be more of an accent color, just to bring out the vibrant color of the grass, but yet having that focal point of the barn.
This is where you will need to experiment with your color palette before you begin to paint. Practice mixing your colors and keeping notes of which ones you love.
Speaking of color palettes, analogous colors are those that sit side-by-side on the wheel, sharing a common hue. Think of a warm yellow nestled between a vibrant orange and a cooler yellow-green.
These color families create a sense of harmony and unity in your artwork, like a peaceful sunset transitioning from fiery orange to gentle lavender. Analogous colors are perfect for creating landscapes, portraits, or still lifes with a sense of calmness. While they may lack the vivid, vibrancy of complementary colors, they offer a subtle beauty and allow for smooth transitions and natural variations within your watercolor.
When choosing your color palette for your theme, look to its neighbors and you will find the perfect colors for you to get started.
Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions
Pablo Picasso
Primary Colors
Let’s dig deeper into color theory with primary colors. Red, yellow, and blue. The colors you choose for your palette will tell a story within your painting.
Red
Red has so many emotions from one end to the other. It can represent fire or violence, yet it can be associated with love and passion. It is also a power color. A woman dressed in red is not to be reckoned with!
In the world of watercolors, red possesses a captivating presence.
Its vibrancy instantly draws attention, making it ideal for subjects like flowers or sunsets, or adding a touch of intensity to your watercolor.
A strategic placement of red can instantly become the focal point of your artwork. Its contrasting nature against cooler colors like blues and greens further enhances its visual impact. As mentioned earlier, think of that red barn or red roof against the green grasses and trees.
From crimson to deep, earthy reds, the spectrum offers many possibilities. Lighter shades add pops of energy, while darker tones exude a sense of sophistication and richness, perfect for creating depth and shadows in landscapes or still lifes.
However, using red requires a delicate touch. Its intensity can easily overpower other elements of your painting if used excessively.
The list below is an example of reds you might find in your paint palette and their uses:
- Quinacridone Red: A bright, transparent red that is relatively lightfast. Good for washes and glazes
- Cadmium Red: A strong, opaque red that is very lightfast. Good for bold accents and mixing other colors
- Alizarin Crimson: A cool red that is somewhat transparent. Good for creating shadows and adding depth
- Winsor Red: A warm red that is very transparent. Good for washes and glazes
- Indian Red: An earthy red that is opaque. Good for realistic skin tones and adding depth to other colors
- Crimson: A deep, rich red color that inclines slightly towards purple. Good for focal points or just to add intensity
Yellow
Ah, the color of the sun and sunflowers! Such a happy color, they use it for smiley faces. Again, as a primary color, it is vivid and bright. Too much yellow could take over and it can be difficult to tone it down. Even if painting the sun, you need to soften it with water or white.
If I were painting sunflowers, I would tone it down with a bit of orange, while still making yellow the dominant of the two. With that said, if I were painting a field of colorful flowers, I may accent those colors with yellow.
Yellow, the sunshine amongst all of the colors, plays a multifaceted role.
Symbols of light and joy and their inherent brightness instantly uplift the mood of a painting, giving feelings of happiness and warmth. Think of sunlit meadows, golden sunflowers, or playful lemons.
A splash of yellow can add a spark of energy and draw the viewer’s eye. It’s perfect for highlighting focal points, adding vibrancy to flowers, or creating a sense of movement in a landscape.
From pale lemon to rich ochre, yellow offers a spectrum of possibilities. Lighter shades create a sense of airiness and light, while deeper tones add warmth and richness. Experimenting with different yellows allows you to create depth and dimension within your artwork.
Yellow acts as a foundation for creating a variety of greens and oranges. When mixed with blues, it creates unique and interesting variations of green, while combining it with reds produces a range of vibrant oranges.
However, using yellow requires a touch of finesse. Its brightness can overpower other colors if used excessively. Use it strategically to add pops of color, create sunlit effects, or establish a warm and inviting atmosphere in your watercolor paintings.
Here are a few yellows you may find in your palette:
- Cadmium Yellow Hue: A vibrant, lightfast yellow, often used for bold applications and mixing other colors
- Transparent Yellow: A strong, staining yellow, excellent for creating luminous glazes and adding vibrancy to mixes
- Quinacridone Gold: A warm yellow, known for its rich golden hue, transparency, and ability to create clear, rich darks when mixed
- Yellow Ochre: A warm yellow pigment made from iron oxide, known for its natural earth tones and good transparency. It can be used for a variety of purposes, including creating landscapes, portraits, and still lifes
Blue
My favorite color is blue! My ideal color of blue is the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. We recently returned from a cruise, and the waters were such a beautiful color of blue.
Lighter blues, like cerulean and sky blue, create a sense of serenity and calmness, perfect for depicting peaceful landscapes, serene waters, or soft summer skies. I often use cerulean blue for my skies. It’s my color of choice.
Deeper blues, like Prussian and cobalt, add richness and depth to your paintings. They can be used to create dramatic shadows, establish a sense of distance in landscapes, or add a touch of mystery to your artwork. Also using ultramarine blue is my go-to for shadows. When painting snow, I also add that and sometimes Prussian blue to create a snowy landscape. A swipe here and there gives it a whole new look.
Blue acts as a key player in creating a multitude of other colors. Mixing it with yellows produces a spectrum of greens, from soft greens for foliage to deep, verdant tones for forests. Combining it with reds creates a range of purples, from lavender to violet.
I love to mix variations of blue with my greens when making the darker areas of trees and landscape in general. I also prefer to mix my blue with red to create a true purple instead of the purples that come in my big palette. Especially if I am using blues in my painting.
Beyond its visual impact, blue carries some symbolism. It can represent trust, loyalty, and wisdom, making it a powerful tool for conveying specific emotions or narratives in your artwork.
Check out these blues you may find in your color palette:
- Ultramarine Blue: A classic and versatile blue pigment known for its rich color, good transparency, and great for shadows in a wintry scene
- Phthalo Blue: An intense and powerful blue pigment, available in various shades, known for its strong tinting power
- Cerulean Blue: A bright and clean blue pigment, known for its good transparency, and great for creating blue skies
- Prussian Blue: A deep and dramatic blue pigment, known for its strong tinting power
- Cobalt Blue: A vibrant and intense blue pigment, available in various shades, known for its good transparency
- Winsor Blue: A clean and transparent blue pigment, known for its good mixing ability
- Manganese Blue: A cool and grayish blue pigment, known for its ability to create subtle atmospheric effects.
- Payne’s Gray: A cool and neutral blue-gray pigment, often used for creating shadows
- Indigo: A deep and rich blue pigment, known for its historical significance
Secondary Colors
Beyond the primaries lies a world of color possibilities waiting to be explored. Enter the color theory of secondary colors, made from the mixing of their primary counterparts. These hues, like the verdant green crafted from blue and yellow or the fiery orange created from red and yellow, offer a new dimension to your palette.
Understanding how secondary colors interact, complement, and contrast becomes the key to creating ey- catching color combinations.
Let’s journey into the colorful world of secondary colors and discover how they can take your watercolor palette to new heights.
Orange
Orange, the vibrant blend of bold red and sunny yellow, creates a burst of warmth and energy in your palette.
Orange gives a cheerful look, perfect for capturing the boldness of autumn leaves, playful sunsets, or exotic fruits. Its stimulating nature can add a touch of excitement and draw your eye to specific elements within your painting.
The spectrum of orange ranges from soft peaches to bold tangerines, offering many possibilities. Lighter shades create a sense of warmth and playfulness, while deeper tones add richness and sophistication.
Experimenting with different variations allows you to create depth and dimension within your artwork.
Orange acts as a foundation for creating various fiery hues. Combining it with reds produces even deeper and richer oranges while mixing it with yellows creates a broader color combination of warm tones.
However, because of its boldness, it is not always a favorite color of many people. For some, it can be too bright for their eyes, so like the other bold, bright colors, be careful about your usage or the brightness of the orange within your painting.
Check these variations of oranges you may find on your paint palette:
- Cadmium Orange Hue: Bright and vibrant, often used for accents and creating other oranges
- Gamboge Hue: Yellow-orange with good transparency, suitable for warm washes and landscapes
- Burnt Sienna: Orange-brown earth tone, versatile for creating warm tones, shadows, and landscapes.
Green
Green, which can be the symbol of growth and renewal, has a special place in your palette. Its versatility and richness make it a basis for creating colorful eye-catching artwork.
Green gives a sense of tranquility, harmony, and a connection with nature. It’s perfect for creating landscapes, foliage, or gardens. It brings a freshness to your painting.
The world of green is vast, ranging from the soft hues of spring leaves to the deep, earthy tones of forests. This wide spectrum of green allows you to create a sense of depth and dimension within your artwork, portraying the subtle variations of this color found in nature. I love painting landscapes and experimenting with all the different versions of green.
Green, though technically a secondary color, can be achieved through various combinations. Mixing blue and yellow offers a vibrant, grassy green, while adding touches of black or brown, creates deeper, earthier tones. I like to mix ultramarine blue with my forest trees to create depth and shadow.
Let’s look at variations of green you may find in your palette:
- Phthalo Green: Excellent for mixing various greens and creating deep shadows
- Viridian: Ideal for creating realistic foliage and textured effects
- Sap Green: Useful for various foliage tones and landscapes
- Hooker’s Green: Can be used for creating grassy hues and natural landscapes
Tertiary Colors
As we dig even deeper into the world of color, we go beyond the primary and secondary hues to explore the world of tertiary colors.
The mixing of a primary and a secondary color offers a more sophisticated palette that gives you many more colors to play with. Blending yellow and green creates a soft lime green, or the mixture of red and orange resulting in a beautiful coral.
These tertiary colors bridge the gap between the boldness of primaries and the tranquility of secondaries, creating a whole new world of possibilities for you.
Orange Red
I love the look of these two colors mixed. It gives the look of coral from the beautiful waters of the ocean. If you notice on the color wheel, the coral look of this tertiary color opposite the turquoise look from the blue-green combo, complements each other. Since they aren’t so bold of a color, they work beautifully together.
The coral-like color, mixed into the sunset, or the waters as the reflection, creates a nice contrast, yet it does not overpower if the two colors are mixed just right.
This color is also perfect for creating florals. It gives warmth to the flowers, yet is still vibrant enough to stand out in a bouquet. Try mixing Cadmium Red Hue and Winsor Orange on your palette. You won’t regret it!
Yellow Orange
This combination creates such a happy color. There are so many possibilities for use of this color.
This is the perfect color for creating autumn leaves nestled among the deep reds and dark browns. It stands out. It can also be the perfect color to add to your sunset with your corals and reds.
I love to mix this color in with my yellow sunflowers to take away the brightness of the yellow. I layer my yellow first, then add this color for more depth and richer color to make it more inviting.
You can create a beautiful yellow-orange by mixing Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna.
Yellow Green
My second favorite color in the world of watercolor. It reminds me of spring and renewal. This is always the foundation of my grassy areas, before Iayer a darker version here and there.
This is also a wonderful color for you to use for foliage on florals as on the color wheel, it sits next to the coral color of red-orange and makes it an analogous color theme. Perfect pairing if you ask me!
If you love to create landscapes, this color will be in your color palette! To get this look with your watercolor paints, mix Cadmium Yellow Hue and Viridian.
Blue Green
How gorgeous is this color! As stated earlier, it is my favored version of blue. This is a beautiful accent color. It gives a sense of peace and tranquility, like the gentle flow of water or even on forest floors mixed in with the greens of yellow-green grasses. It is such a calming color and I can’t get enough of it.
You will want to add this color to your landscape/seascape palette. There is so much you can do with it! To create this gorgeous color on your palette mix Prussian Blue and Yellow Ochre.
Blue Purple
This color mix is very sophisticated if you ask me. It takes the color purple to a whole new level. Very regal, but also mysterious.
It adds depth and richness to your paintings. In an upcoming painting tutorial, I will use this color to create a watercolor galaxy. Paired with deep blues and black with the white splashes of stars, will be so intense! I hope you paint along with me when I create this.
If you create mysterious, Halloween-type paintings, this is your go-to color. I do love the mix of this color with black. Like a witch’s hat and her regal-type dress. There are so many ways to add this color to your art color palette if you love mystery.
With that said, blue-purple can be an elegant color. Imagine wearing a shimmery jacket of this color with a black pantsuit. I will say, I do love this color with black! It’s the mysterious side of me. I’m not elegant. But I digress.
Use this color to make transitions, depth, or points of interest. It is very versatile. A great mix on your watercolor palette would be Phthalo Blue and Cadmium Red and you can make this sophisticated color.
Red Purple
Like a fine wine, this reminds me of the grapes used to make this tasty beverage. It also has passion and mystery mixed. So romantic!
Using this tertiary color is great when used for accenting areas where you have the two colors either together or separately. Pops of it will bring out the color you are using it with. For example: if you are creating a floral bouquet with purple florals, a pop of this color mixed in here and there will intensify the purple in the floral you are creating. Or if you are painting red ruby lips, a pop of this color will deepen the shade in areas where you need a darker hue.
A great red-purple is Crimson!
Now that you understand primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, let’s move on to a couple of colors we haven’t talked much about.
Achromatic Colors
Achromatic colors are neutral colors that lack hues, like white, grey, or black. In this color theory step, you will learn about how black and white fit into the whole color scheme.
Black
Often associated with death and darkness, it also represents wealth and power.
If you take darker hues and mix them, you will create black. This is my favorite way to make black instead of using it from my pan paint color palette.
I do this because, when I use the colors in my palette of hues I used in my painting, it brings out the vibrancy of the other colors. That is because the colors in the painting are together mixed to make the black, so if I need to have a lighter version of black, to make it grey, like for shadows, you can see the reflection of a few of the colors in that grey.
Speaking of grey, as another achromatic color, grey is a combination of black and white, or black, watered down to create grey. Imagine a gradient technique of using black and the more water added, the lighter it becomes until you get to no color at all or white!
White
White. Is it even a real color? In traditional color theory, white is not a color as it is not any part of the color wheel or made from any of the original primary colors. It has no hue. Like black is a variation of darkness, white is a variation of light.
The best part of white is that it does give the illusion of light, plus it mixes well with colors, like red to make a milky pink or blue to make a lighter blue. It also makes great stars as well as creates glare on objects like eyes, lips, and anywhere you want it to look shiny or wet.
When I layer on some paintings, I try to leave a little white from the watercolor paper to show through to create the look of lightness. You can do this for a lot of paintings, like landscape skies (think clouds) or florals, fruits (to give shine), eyes (for that watery glare), clear vases or glass (again, shine and water illusion)… I can go on and on.
If you need to use white to create any of the above, you can also use no-bleed white, white gel pen, or white gauche. If there are areas you want to stay white while you paint, you can also use masking fluid in areas you don’t want any watercolor to give the illusion of white as well.
Colors That Go Well Together
If you are stuck on a color palette, look to analogous colors. These are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel and look good together due to their similarities.
The above are only a few examples of analogous colors. All you need to do is look at your color wheel and you will find beautiful color schemes to use in your watercolors. You can find warm tones like yellows and oranges and cool tones like greens and blues. Or mix it up depending on your composition.
Understanding color theory and how different colors work together, you will be able to mix or use your specialty colors, like yellow ochre with sap green in a vibrant landscape painting. Or use cerulean blue and phthalo green to make turquoise highlights in your ocean waters.
With that said, there are no strict rules in art. It is what is pleasing to your eye and what you like. It also depends on your style of painting and the story you want to tell with your watercolors.
Now that you learned about color theory and colors in general, what is your favorite color?
For more reading on watercolor paints and how to choose them plus a few techniques, below is a list of articles I wrote on the very subjects:
- Unleash Your Creativity With These 5 Types Of Watercolor Paints
- 5 Essential Watercolor Techniques For Beginners
- 5 Basic Watercolor Brush Strokes Exercises For Beginners
- Watercolor For Beginners: Your Guide To Getting Started
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Stay Colorful, Stay Creative, and HAVE FUN!
~Laurie
