[Helen]

I have Lori Corbett's books and in the painting section she give recipes for different mixes. That's fine, but how does one determine what 50% is or 40% or 10% of paints is? I get started and by the time I'm finished mixing my palette is full. This may be an incredibly stupid question, but I haven't seen any reference to it. Are these percentages including mediums? How does one determine these mixes?
Thanks,
Helen

[Claude]

One way is by counting drops; for example, light grey could be 90% white and 10% black. That would translate to 9 drops of white and 1 drop of black.

Claude

[Helen]

Hi Claude,
Thanks for the suggestion. Oh, me. I used an eye dropper and tried to drop some acrylic paint. It was too thick. I had to take the dropper apart to clean it. Got another idea?
Thanks,
Helen

[Paul_Guraedy]

Helen, don't know if it will help or not; but, here is the way I go about it. First, I do most of my painting in watercolor and use the tubes. If I am trying to get a mix of 50:40:10 I lay out a strip of the 50, then a strip of 40 which is just a little less than the 50 and then approximate 10 percent of the other strips for the final color. I have been able to do this fairly well with any mix that does not get too specific. Most are 30:20:50 or 40:40:10 (and such round numbers) and if you look at a strip of the first number and the relationship of the second then the third seems to fall into place. All of this is done before I put in the water (medium). Remember for most of these colors you are only able to get close each time you do a new mix. That is why most folks recommend that you mix more than you need when you mix a color. Did I confuse you even more?

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

It might help you Helen, to picture that 100% is the pile of paint you want to end up with...

[Helen]

Hi guys,
Thanks for all your responses. I'm painting a very small bird, 7", and only need tiny amounts of paint. I'm using Jansen's Traditions acrylic matte paints. I guess I'll just have to keep trying.
Thanks loads,
Helen

[BobD]

Helen,
While it may seem wasteful...it may make sense to make up bigger batches until you get your percentages right.

Alternatively, one of our authors, Kenny Vermillion, uses a pallet knife to scrape off precisely-measured bits of paint...with practice, he says, you can get very accurate measurements that way...

Bob

[LCorbett]

Helen...Paul's is a pretty good way to measure. Actually, when I mix my colors I don't really keep track of "parts" or "percentages", but I had to quantify it for the book. I keep track of which colors I use in my mixes, but not necessarily the quantities....my mixing method is more "a bit of this, with a dab of that".

I don't get overly concerned with exact mixtures...close enough is OK...really. Do away with the eye dropper...squeeze some paint out, take you palette knife and start adding approximate quantities...when you get something close, then you can go back and mix up a bigger batch...remember close is OK...

HTH
Lori