Watercolour mixing guide - julie collins

Colour Mixing Guide
Watercolour
Julie Collins
ISBN 978-1-78221-054-2
Published by Search Press
www.searchpress.com
Price £6.99
 
There are many books available on Colour Theory (some of which we have reviewed in WOW, such as Ruth Issett’s Passion for Colour, or Joen Wolfrom’s Color Play), and some people make it their life’s work exploring colour theory.
 
However, I particularly like Julie Collins’s book, because it takes you right back to the beginning and takes a very simple approach.  It deals with watercolour paints, but actually, it doesn’t really matter about the medium when you are getting started with learning about the colour wheel and what you can do with the basics.
 
I took this book on holiday.  It is small, light, and doesn’t take up too much room.  I didn’t use the paints and colours that were set out here, but instead took some Koh-i-noor Dye paints and the Koh-i-Noor Watercolour Wheel.  I felt that I could find basic colours on which to start my education in these sets.  
 
The colours used in the book are of a limited palette, taking the viewpoint that if you have red, blue and yellow, you can make an infinite number of colours.  There are 4-5 of each colour, and these are used to demonstrate different colour combinations.  You cover primary, secondary, tertiary and complementary colours, and then look at colour mixes of different combinations of colour amount.  Using the book, with the specific colours listed, you have around 400 variations.  The swatches are immensely useful for a particular colour you like, as you have a vast visual library for finding and creating a similar colour with the materials you have.  I felt that it gave me a great practical grounding for moving onto more adventures in colour, and I think that it would be a good book for anyone to have if you are looking at dyeing fabric or paper and don’t know where to start for combining colours.

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