annieb123's Review of 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor (Color Mixing Recipes)

by William F Powell

1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor is the definitive color-mixing resource for oil, acrylic, and watercolor artists. This user-friendly compendium is color coded for quick-and-easy reference and includes two removable color-mixing grids—one for oil or acrylic, and one for watercolor.

Follow these four simple steps to mix more than 1,500 color combinations:

Look in the Color Index for the subject you want to paint—for example, “Broccoli.”
Find the Color Recipe with the subject's recipe number (“81”) and a photo of the actual paint mixture.
Use the Color Mixing Grid to measure each paint color.
Mix the color.

It’s that easy! You’ll also learn about color theory, mixing values, complementary colors, graying color naturally, mixing portrait colors, rendering skies and clouds, and more.

Also available from Walter Foster's best-selling Color Mixing Recipes series: Color Mixing Recipes for Oil & Acrylic, Color Mixing Recipes for Watercolor, Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits, and Color Mixing Recipes for Landscapes.

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor is a tutorial guide with recipes for palette mixing by William F. Powell. Originally released in 2012 this reformat and re-release is due out 15th June 2021 from Quarto on their Walter Foster imprint. It's 176 pages and will be available in paperback format.

This is a no-nonsense bare bones mixing guide for oil, acrylic, and watercolor media. The mixing diagrams are specific and useful. The charts are arranged according to medium and color and contain specific values and ranges for 1500 colors from the base colors for each medium (Burnt sienna, Burnt umber, Cadmium orange, Cadmium red light, Cadmium yellow, etc). They are grouped together in their own chapters and aren't confusing to keep separate. The color blends are -not- specified by brand of pigment.

The author has also included an overall tutorial on watercolor mixing specifically for portraiture with a good overview over values and tones for skin colors across a wide range of skins.There is also a tutorial on color theory, an appendix. with a legend/index for typical mixes for things such as trees, sunset sky, stormy sky, etc.

This is a very useful book. It would make a good reference for maker's spaces, studios, library acquisition, or the home studio. It's worth noting however that the content for the -other- re-releases in the same series from the same publisher contains a large overlap with the content here. If only one volume is to be purchased, it should be this one.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor (Color Mixing Recipes)

by William F Powell

Reviewed by annieb123 on May 24, 2021

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