Mixing Colors with Da Vinci Summer Watercolor Set
At Da Vinci Paints, we carefully test and curate each paint set to give artists a fully creative experience. Our recently released Da Vinci Summer Watercolor Set is a complete palette that was used to paint every example in the illustrations provided. To showcase the broad application of these 6 colors, we used very little mixing and no additional colors.
However, naturally we love color! As you can see from the examples below, the colors of the summer set can be mixed to produce a palette-full of additional colors. Although the Da Vinci Summer Watercolor Set is an excellent standalone palette, this 6-color set is extremely versatile and effortlessly combines with other colors outside the set. We created this set to enhance an existing palette or be used as a foundational palette that can easily grow.
We thought that it would be fun to share mixes of additional Da Vinci colors with our Summer Watercolor Set to showcase how these beautiful colors can be used all year long. Also, we hope that this gives you ideas for incorporating these amazing colors into your own palette!
The Colors of Summer
If you’re not familiar with the Da Vinci Summer Watercolor Set, visit the product page to discover more about this custom curated 6-color palette. We’ve also listed the complete set of colors below. To learn more about each individual color in this set and view additional mixes, simply click on the links in the color list.
The Da Vinci Summer Set includes 6 professional colors in 15mL tubes:
Titan Buff (PW6 - Opaque)
Soulshine (PO62/PY97 - Semi-transparent)
Seaglass (PB15:4/PG7 - Transparent)
Rose Dore (PV19/PR188 - Transparent)
Ultramarine Violet (PV15 - Transparent)
Raw Umber Natural (PBr7 - Transparent)
Summer Set Mixes with Primary Colors
To explore and expand upon the mixing options in the Da Vinci Summer Set, a good place to begin is with the basics and add primary colors.
The yellow included in the summer set, Soulshine, is a semi-transparent yellow with red undertones that reminds one of the warmth of sunshine. Mixing with Soulshine will often create colors with a lot of depth and warmth like rich turquoises, olive greens, and burnt oranges. To add brighter, cooler mixes to the palette, try adding a cool or neutral primary yellow like Hansa Yellow Light, Da Vinci Yellow, or for a more opaque choice, Cadmium Yellow Lemon.
The blue included in the summer set, Seaglass, is already a solid choice for a primary palette blue and can produce an excellent range of colors and mixes. However, it’s extremely useful to have both a cool and a warm blue in a palette to add contrast, variety, and mixing options. Since Seaglass has green undertones, try adding a blue with red undertones like French Ultramarine or Phthalo Blue Red Shade. Another excellent primary blue is Cobalt Blue, a neutral blue that can add a non-staining, granulating option to a palette.
The summer set palette red, Rose Dore, is a soft, transparent, warm red that also acts well as a primary red in a palette. However, just as we did by adding a red-based blue to contrast Seaglass’ green undertones, try adding a cool red or magenta to the summer palette. Da Vinci Paints has a wide range of cool or neutral reds to choose from like Alizarin Crimson, Red Rose Deep, Da Vinci Red, or Cadmium Red Deep, so it may be fun to add more than one!
Summer Set Mixes with Secondary & Earth Colors
This is where mixing can really become fun, and when it comes to expanding an existing palette and exploring color mixes, the sky’s the limit! A basic start would be to begin by exploring mixes with one-pigment secondary and earth colors like Phthalo Green, Green Gold, Burnt Umber, and Da Vinci Orange, or even try mixing with black like Ivory or Lamp.
However, feel free to explore Da Vinci Summer Watercolor Set mixes with exciting multi-pigment convenience colors like Artemis, Leaf Green, Sea & Sky, or Vermilion. Our best advice is to enjoy the process and don’t worry about the results. Mixing is oftentimes nothing more than a learning experience, but it’s the best way to discover surprisingly new colors that may become among your favorites!
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