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Colours of the landscape ACRYLICS Understand your colour choices and how to create depth in your landscapes before following a step-by-step mountain scene, by David Hyde 8 Start Art FEBRUARY 2020 Y ou can paint a picture with just three primary colours, because from these you can mix a version of all others. The only addition is white to control the tones. Most artists use a palette based on three or more of each of the primaries to give themselves a greater range when mixing. A useful, basic palette is listed below. www.painters-online.co.uk Yellows Lemon yellow A bright, sunshine yellow. It adds warmth to whites and freshness to greens. Naples yellow A non-insistent yellow that can lighten tones and add softness to many mixes. Raw sienna A ‘must-have’ colour. The dull yellow is useful for grass greens, brickwork and so on. Reds Cadmium red A useful bright red. Warms up mixes wonderfully. Cadmium orange A versatile colour – good for sunsets, sunny brickwork, toning greens and much else. Burnt sienna Another vital colour, a dull red or warm orange brown with many uses. Burnt umber Use sparingly. Mix with phthalocyanine blue to make a lovely deep green. Blues French ultramarine A most versatile, warm blue, useful for making greys and distant greens. Phthalocyanine blue (phthalo blue) A strong, cool blue which is good for skies but most useful in making greens. Cerulean blue A good soft, sky blue. Useful for distant shadows and for mixing soft greens. Useful secondaries Chromium oxide green A useful base for many green mixes and a good unifying colour to use all over a picture. Dioxazine purple Great for underpainting shadow areas. Good in shadows and grey mixes. Whites Titanium white You will need plenty of this white for mixing with and toning in all colours.