Mixing colour

Visit a paint shop, like your local Resene ColorShop, and you will see thousands and thousands of colours.

All of these colours are made by mixing the pigment primary colours of red, yellow and blue in different amounts. Every variation in the colours gives you a different paint colour. If you add a little more yellow, the colour will appear yellower. Add more blue and it will become bluer.

Try this!

Get three testpots of paint such as Resene Bright Spark (yellow), Resene Rocket (red) and Resene Splish Splash (blue). Pour a little of the Resene Bright Spark (yellow) onto two saucers. Mix a little of the Resene Rocket (red) with the Resene Bright Spark (yellow). What colour does this make?

Wash your brush out. In the second saucer mix a small amount of Resene Splish Splash (blue) with the Resene Bright Spark (yellow). What colour does this make?

Wash your brush out. In the third saucer pour a little Resene Rocket (red) and add a little of the Resene Splish Splash (blue) and mix together with the brush. What colour does this make?

When you mix two primary colours together, they make a secondary colour. Orange, purple and green are all secondary colours.

When you mix all three primary colours together, they make a tertiary colour. You can change the colour of a tertiary colour by adding more or less of each of the primary colours.

Try mixing Resene Rocket (red) and Resene Splish Splash (blue) together and then add just a little Resene Bright Spark (yellow). Stir with a brush and record the colour you get. Now try mixing in more yellow. What colour do you get now? How has it changed?

You can also make a colour lighter or darker. What colour would you add to make the Resene Splish Splash lighter? What colour would you add to make it darker?

Try it yourself...

Get a piece of cardboard, a clean brush, a testpot of Resene Splish Splash (blue) or similar and a testpot of white. Cut the cardboard into five strips and label each on the back from 1 to 5.

On piece 1 paint the Resene Splish Splash straight from the testpot. Leave to dry.

Add a little white into the Resene Splish Splash testpot and stir with the brush. Once it is evenly mixed paint the new colour onto the piece of cardboard labelled 2. Leave to dry.

Add a little more white into the Resene Splish Splash testpot and stir with the brush. Once it is evenly mixed paint the new colour onto the piece of cardboard labelled 3. Leave to dry.

Add a little more white into the Resene Splish Splash testpot and stir with the brush. Once it is evenly mixed paint the new colour onto the piece of cardboard labelled 4. Leave to dry.

Add a little more white into the Resene Splish Splash testpot and stir with the brush. Once it is evenly mixed paint the new colour onto the piece of cardboard labelled 5. Leave to dry.

Mix the cards up and then try and sort them into order from darkest to lightest. Put the darkest colour on the left and the lightest colour on the right. Once you have sorted them into the right order turn them over. If you have sorted them correctly the numbers will read 1 on the left then 2, 3, 4 and 5 on the right.

You have now learnt that to make a colour lighter you just need to add white.

To make a colour lighter = add white

Colours that are made by mixing a pure colour with white are called pastels. Pastels are often used in nurseries and baby clothes. Different coloured pastels look good together.

To make a pastel = pure colour + white

Try this!

To make a colour darker you can add black. Try the same experiment as you did with the Resene Splish Splash and white but this time mix Resene Rocket (red) or similar with black paint from a Resene testpot. As you add more and more black the colour will get darker and darker.

You can also change the way a colour looks by adding grey. You can try this for yourself. Get a fresh saucer and mix some of the white and black paint together. This will make grey. Paint a piece of cardboard with the Resene Bright Spark (yellow) and leave to dry. Mix some of the grey into the Resene Bright Spark (yellow) and paint onto a second piece of card. Leave to dry. Compare the two colours when they are dry. What is the difference?

The colour mixed with grey will look duller than the Resene Bright Spark (yellow) that you painted direct from the testpot.

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