Tip of the month – mARCH 2009

Why does my painting look muddy? To discover the answer, I need to ask myself, WHAT IS MUDDY COLOR?

I describe muddy color as being neither bright nor pure. It appears to be dull and sedimentary. There is no light; there is no dark.

In both of these examples, I have painted color that has no light. The beautiful white of the paper has been sullied with colors that can only be described as dirty.

HOW IS MUDDY COLOR MADE? The usual reply is EASILY. But seriously, there are a few techniques that may result in mud.

By painting over and over an area of your painting, you can create mud. Each layer that is applied blocks out more light. If your color is sedimentary and you paint over it a number of times, you will lift the color and it will dull the color that you are applying to it. The result will be a muddy color. This is important to know when you are using the glazing technique.

Muddy color happens when you mix too many warm and cool colors together. Have you ever mixed a color and decided that it was not quite right? Did you then decide to add another to try and fix it? Was the result muddy color?

Sometimes, muddy color is the result of over mixing on the palette.

Watch the video

Now that you have discovered what muddy color is and how you may have made your muddy color, here are some points to consider when working with muddy color.

Create some highlights by moistening a small area and scrub gently with a stiff brush.

This small area of POPPY POETRY shows a flower bud that I lifted by scrubbing gently with a stiff brush.

Here, you can see where I have applied a more saturated color to the shape that I lifted in the first example. A bit of bright color in an area of dull color will change the whole appearance of the dull color.

In this small section of LATE AFTERNOON, I have added darker shapes to take the attention away from the muted background color.

If I will be working with too many colors in a mix, I plan ahead by masking random areas of light. If they are not correct, they can be painted later. The light is made more beautiful by the dark neutral color, as seen in INTO THE LIGHT.



Mud can be beautiful or it can make color more beautiful.

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