Mixing a Basic Oil Palette

One of the biggest misconceptions about oil painting is that you need a large collection of colours to mix successfully.

In this practical workshop, we’ll explore how much can actually be achieved with a small, carefully chosen oil palette — and how understanding a few simple principles can give you far greater control over your colour mixing.

Rather than working from complicated colour charts or memorising endless mixing recipes, you’ll learn a straightforward approach to mixing colour that can be applied to your own paintings.

We’ll look at how individual colours behave when mixed, how to recognise the subtle differences between warm and cool colours, and how to adjust a mixture to achieve the colour you actually want.

During the workshop we’ll explore:

• Choosing a versatile basic oil palette

• Understanding the role of each colour

• Mixing a wide range of colours from a limited selection

• Creating convincing greens, oranges, violets and neutrals

• Controlling colour temperature

• Lightening and darkening colours without losing their character

• Avoiding dull or muddy mixtures

• Learning to adjust a colour rather than simply starting again

• Developing a more intuitive understanding of colour mixing

You’ll spend much of the workshop actually mixing and experimenting, building your own understanding of how the colours interact.

The aim is not to give you a collection of colour recipes to memorise, but to give you the confidence to look at a colour and work out how to mix it for yourself.

A simple palette. More possibilities. Greater control.

Suitable for beginners as well as artists who already have experience with oils but would like to simplify and improve their approach to colour mixing.