Colour Mixing in Watercolour | Online Watercolour Course

Learn to understand, mix, and use colour with greater confidence in this comprehensive recorded watercolour course.

Colour Mixing in Watercolour combines practical demonstrations, colour theory, pigment knowledge, and essential watercolour techniques to help you create harmonious, expressive paintings.

Whether you are new to watercolour or looking to strengthen your understanding of colour, this course will give you a clear foundation for making confident colour decisions.

You will learn to:

• Understand the colour wheel and colour relationships.

• Explore primary, secondary, and tertiary colours.

• Mix oranges, greens, purples, browns, greys, and earth colours.

• Understand warm and cool pigments.

• Create bright, subdued, neutral, and harmonious colour mixtures.

• Use complementary colours to add contrast and luminosity.

• Practise flat washes, graded washes, blending, and layering.

• Develop a practical limited palette.

• Avoid muddy mixtures, excessive black, dirty water, and overworked washes.

• Record your colour experiments and develop your own colour vocabulary.

• Apply colour theory in a complete landscape demonstration.

Colour Mixing in Watercolour – Course structure

Module 1: Introduction to Colour Mixing in Watercolour

• Explore colour as artistic expression, light, and pigment.

• Understand primary, secondary, and tertiary colours.

• Discover how the colour wheel supports colour-mixing decisions.

• Learn why experimentation is essential to developing colour knowledge.

• Understand how a limited palette can create harmony and individuality.

Module 2: Materials and Essential Watercolour Techniques

• Choose suitable paper, brushes, palettes, pigments, and other materials.

• Learn about transparent watercolour, gouache, and line and wash.

• Practise flat washes, graded washes, blending, and layering.

• Develop clean and effective working habits.

• Explore affordable solutions for paints, paper, palettes, and brushes.

• Discover useful household alternatives to more expensive products.

• Assemble a practical beginner’s painting kit, while avoiding unnecessary expense.

Module 3: Understanding the Primary Colours

• Explore red, blue, and yellow.

• Understand warm and cool pigment variations.

• Discover how much can be achieved with a limited palette.

• Learn how to preserve the white of the paper.

Module 4: Mixing the Secondary Colours

• Mix orange, green, and purple, as well as their numerous variations.;

• Explore bright, rich, warm, and subdued mixtures.

• Understand how proportions influence colour.

• Experiment with semi-mixing and layering.

Module 5: Tertiary Colours and Colour Variety

• Explore brown, olive green, neutral grey, and other tertiary colours.

• Mix tertiary colours using primaries, secondaries, and complementaries.

• Create personal colour charts.

• Use layering to produce subtle and individual colour effects.

Module 6: Understanding Warm and Cool Colours

• Explore warm and cool areas of the colour wheel.

• Compare warm and cool versions of red, yellow, and blue.

• Use colour temperature to create mood, atmosphere, depth, and light.

• Apply warm and cool colours to landscapes, foliage, and shadows.

Module 7: Bright and Subdued Colours

• Understand colour intensity.

• Learn to control bright, rich, and subdued colours.

• Use related colours to create fresh, vibrant mixtures.

• Use complements, black, and layering to soften and deepen colour.

Module 8: Neutral Colours and Earth Tones

• Explore black, grey, brown, and earth pigments.

• Mix subtle greys and browns.

• Use neutrals to balance bright colours.

• Layer neutral tints and earth colours to create richness and depth.

Module 9: Complementary Colours

• Understand direct and relative complementary relationships.

• Use complementaries to create contrast, luminosity, and vibrancy.

• Learn how to balance complementary colours within a composition.

• Explore traditional and expressive approaches to complementary colour.

Module 10: Colour Harmony and Composition

• Work with monochrome, two-colour, and three-colour palettes.

• Create harmonious colour schemes.

• Use colour transitions to unite different hues.

• Balance colours throughout a composition.

• Study the use of colour harmony in the work of important watercolourists.

Module 11: Common Beginner Errors

• Identify the causes of muddy colour.

• Avoid using too many pigments or too much black.

• Learn the importance of clean water and suitable paper.

• Understand when to allow washes to dry.

• Avoid overworking, excessive correction, and careless colour choices.

Module 12: Practical Demonstration — A Landscape in Watercolour

• Plan and develop a complete landscape painting.

• Establish the mood by beginning with the sky.

• Mix colours for hills, fields, trees, water, foreground objects, and flowers.

• Use warm and cool colours to create aerial perspective.

• Apply layering, colour repetition, and complementary colour.

• Complete a painting using the principles covered throughout the course.

Appendix: Recommended Watercolour Pigments

• Review a versatile personal palette.

• Explore additional pigments and possible substitutions.

• Understand the different qualities of lamp black, ivory black, and Payne’s grey.

• Select colours according to your experience and personal preferences.

A personal approach to colour

This course goes beyond colour mixing in watercolour. You will be encouraged to experiment, observe, and record your results, gradually developing a confident and individual understanding of colour.

A limited palette is central to the course. Working with fewer colours encourages harmony, control, and thoughtful decision-making, while leaving space for personal expression.

Course duration: 3 hrs 30 minutes

By the end of the course, you will:

• Mix colours with greater confidence and control.

• Understand how pigments behave and interact.

• Use colour to suggest mood, atmosphere, depth, and light.

• Create balanced and harmonious watercolour compositions.

• Apply colour theory to practical painting situations.

• Choose and use a suitable watercolour palette.

• Avoid common beginner mistakes.

• Complete a landscape painting using the principles explored throughout the course.

Begin your exploration of colour mixing in watercolour and discover how thoughtful experimentation can transform your paintings.