Painting

Black oil paint is usually made from dark, but lifeless, carbon or iron oxide pigments. When one of these standard black paints is mixed with white, it creates relatively flat, lifeless shades of gray. 😐 When it’s time to darken a color mixture, standard black paint is said to “kill” the color. 😮

Because of this, there are many painters who avoid standard black paints altogether and opt instead to MIX their own versions of black using COLOR. 🌈💥Then, when that freshly-mixed ‘black’ paint is put to work, the resulting mixtures have inherent energy and depth—and don’t fall flat.

[Of course, there have been some AMAZING painters who fully embraced classic black paints—Zorn, Sargent, and Sorolla, to name a few. 💫]

Black paint mixed from intense, beautiful colors is called “Chromatic Black.”

There are numerous approaches that lead to lovely black paint mixtures. Usually, a mixture will center on two dark complementary colors. 💙🍊 For instance, one common approach is to mix Ultramarine Blue with an earth color like Burnt Umber or Burnt Sienna. In such a case, if the mixture is too cool, a little more earth color is added. If it is too warm, a little more blue is added.

Also note that when a custom-mixed black is made from transparent paints, the resulting black will also have transparent qualities.💧This can come in handy for glazing or for when you want to darken a color while maintaining its transparency.

There’s no RULE that you must use black paint. 📜 And there’s no RULE that you must avoid black paint. 📜 Instead, there are preferences. Here are a few Chromatic Black paint combos to get your creative wheels spinning, and to start identifying your own preferences when it comes to black paint.

⚫ CHROMATIC BLACK ⚫

• Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber
• Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna
• Alizarin and Phthalo Green
• Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna
• Phthalo Blue, Quinacridone Magenta, and Hansa Yellow to neutralize
• Phthalo Green and Quinacridone Red
• Pyrrole Orange and Phthalo Blue
• Dioxazine Purple and Light Green Permanent
• Ultramarine Blue, Pyrrole Red, and Hansa Yellow Medium
• Ultramarine Blue, Pyrrole Red, and Cadmium Yellow Light

FYI‚ Gamblin sells a tube of pre-mixed Chromatic Black. I believe it’s made from Phthalo Green and Quinacridone Red.

Happy Painting. 🌈💥
xo—Heather 🙂