How To Mix Sky Blue Oil Paint

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March 25, 2010 at 2:36 pm #988531

Hi! I have a question:
Let's say I want to paint a bright blue sky of a clear sunny day – which blues do I choose? Cerulean, Cobalt, Ultramarine blue or else?
In one painting I've done it with cerulean blue and white but somehow it doesn't look natural…
What do you recommend?

March 25, 2010 at 2:45 pm #1137453

I have typically used a mix of ultramarine and cobalt for the sky overhead, blending to a thalo blue (and brightening it with white, and making it more neutral with an orange) as I approach the horizon.

March 25, 2010 at 2:46 pm #1137464

I don't think Cerulean Blue would be my choice for startig a sky…more Ultra or Pthalo would be my choice.

But then I scrumble my skys on the canvas which gives a nice brushless and seamless blend into any clouds I would put in.

March 25, 2010 at 3:55 pm #1137468

Prussian Blue is also a good choice. Which is what i would use,

March 25, 2010 at 4:28 pm #1137451

Near the horizon: Thalo Blue
Middle sky area: Manganese Blue
Top of the painting, near the zenith: Fr. Ultramarine Blue

Each with a ton of white .

I would softly blend these areas of color into each other, so as to eliminate any visible "bands".

Cobalt Blue isn't a bad Blue to use for the center part of the sky, but some time, just for an exercise, mix just enough white with your Fr. Ultramarine Blue to approximate the value of Cobalt Blue freshly-squeezed from its tube, and you may gain some insight regarding the exaggerated reverence for Cobalt Blue.

wfmartin. My Blog "Creative Realism"... http://www.wfmartin.com/

March 25, 2010 at 6:59 pm #1137467

That is the way I do my skies, Bill! Except, right at the horizon line, I very seldom find any blue at all. I've mixed pale lemon into white for some horizons, and grays and red dust colors are sometimes apparent there. Sky temperatures vary with locale and season. In New Mexico, I go for more Manganese and less Pthalo. Here it's somewhere between Cerulean and Cobalt except when the dust's up, then there's orange and red. In Massachusetts when I've been there, the skies need much more white, I suppose because of the moisture in the air.

The best advice I would offer, now that it's spring, is to take your paints outside and study, analytically, the colors of the sky where you are at different times of the day. The deepest thing to be learned is the variation of colors from horizon to zenith, and what Bill said, "Each with a ton of white ."

I've used Prussian blue, Titanium white, and yellow ochre for one sky on a limited palette last November during a plein air session. It worked very well, too.

March 25, 2010 at 7:49 pm #1137452

That is the way I do my skies, Bill! Except, right at the horizon line, I very seldom find any blue at all. I've mixed pale lemon into white for some horizons, and grays and red dust colors are sometimes apparent there. Sky temperatures vary with locale and season. In New Mexico, I go for more Manganese and less Pthalo. Here it's somewhere between Cerulean and Cobalt except when the dust's up, then there's orange and red. In Massachusetts when I've been there, the skies need [B]much[/B] more white, I suppose because of the moisture in the air.

The best advice I would offer, now that it's spring, is to take your paints outside and study, analytically, the colors of the sky where you are at different times of the day. The deepest thing to be learned is the variation of colors from horizon to zenith, and what Bill said, "Each with a [I][B]ton[/B][/I] of [B][I]white[/I][/B]."

I've used Prussian blue, Titanium white, and yellow ochre for one sky on a limited palette last November during a plein air session. It worked very well, too.

Nancy,

Yep, I usually mix in a bit of a "pink" (magenta, or red), mixed with a bunch of white, right near the horizon. I seldom use an addition of yellow. If I use red, it contributes sufficient yellow to the mix, I have found.

wfmartin. My Blog "Creative Realism"... http://www.wfmartin.com/

March 28, 2010 at 1:50 pm #1137458

Ok, so if I were choosing colors from this palette, which blues should I choose?
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I already have cobalt and cerulean blues.
I'm thinking about ultramarine blue??

March 28, 2010 at 2:20 pm #1137454

If you have paints from this list, they aren't genuine cobalt or cerulean — they are mixes with some genuine pigment, but mostly not. You need to get into a better brand of paint! Even the cheaper student paints like Winton will clearly state if it is a "hue" or imiation color, and give you lots of choices. The imitations are not the same when it comes to mixing, so it is hard to give advice.

You should be able to do almost all your sky blue areas with Ultramarine Blue (or Cobalt, almost the same Hue, but more expensive) and Phthalo Blue, adding a touch of grey, earth yellow, or earth red colors as needed, along with white — as Bill said, the major component.

March 28, 2010 at 2:38 pm #1137459

No, I have cobalt and cerulean blues that ARE NOT HUES. They're made from actual heavy metal pigments. I bought them from a brand that have a different price (they're called "Master Class" (Russian)), depending on the color, the blues being the most expensive (and some greens).
This brand "Sonnet" has paints that all cost the same and they're less expensive, than the others I mentioned. And in this brand, as you can see, "Ultramarine" is not a hue
And I'm not doing any very "high quality work", all I do is reproductions, and I'm only 16.

March 28, 2010 at 5:16 pm #1137455

That's good to know! I'd stick with the single pigments you have, and perhaps add the Prussian Blue shown here. Those blues along with either earth colors or cadmiums should give you everything you need when combined with white to make realistic skies.

March 29, 2010 at 12:25 am #1137466

I was reading Carlsons Guide to Landscape painting. He recomends prussian blue, thined with white. He suggests lead white to be the best, or lead white mixed with a little zinc white. Thats what I read so far. What have you done so far post some pics.

Ive been using cereulean blue, cobalt, and french ultramarine blues. Of course thats all the blues I have, lol. There Winsor and Newton artist grade. You can take a gander at what I have done with them on my blog under oil paintings. Since I'm new to oil painting I don't know a lot about it but I know some basic stuff. Post some pics love to see your work!!

~Kirby:thumbsup:

March 29, 2010 at 6:41 am #1137460

I bought the ultramarine (it actually says "Ultramarine Light") and prussian blue today. So now I have these blues: "cobalt blue spectral", "ceruleum blue", "ultramarine light" and "prussian blue".
So right now my paint "collection" looks like this:
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And only two HUES in there.

Post some pics love to see your work!!

Yeah, I'd better not do that, cos as I've said I only do reproductions and if I post something I may get in trouble if someone sees their work plagiarized…
But now I'm working on Giorgio de Chirico's painting so I might post it, as it's a famous painting and hopefully no one will get mad.

March 29, 2010 at 7:58 am #1137470

I bought the ultramarine (it actually says "Ultramarine Light") and prussian blue today. So now I have these blues: "cobalt blue spectral", "ceruleum blue", "ultramarine light" and "prussian blue".
So right now my paint "collection" looks like this:
[URL=http://img256.imageshack.us/i/img2555r.jpg/][IMG]http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/5485/img2555r.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://img267.imageshack.us/i/img2556j.jpg/][IMG]http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/7681/img2556j.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
And only two HUES in there.

Yeah, I'd better not do that, cos as I've said I only do reproductions and if I post something I may get in trouble if someone sees their work plagiarized…
But now I'm working on Giorgio de Chirico's painting so I might post it, as it's a famous painting and hopefully no one will get mad.

My understanding is that as long as you acknowledge that it's a reproduction and mention original artist's name you won't get in trouble.

[FONT=Book Antiqua]Monika[/COLOR]
[FONT=Book Antiqua]"I do not literally paint that table but the emotion it produces upon me" - Henri Mattise

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March 29, 2010 at 9:54 am #1137456

Evaldas5211 — That's a nice looking set of paints, covering a good color range. The tubes look like good quality too. Can you tell me what pigment is listed for the Cobalt Green Deep Hue and the Cadmium Red Deep Hue?

As Monika says, I don't think there is any problem copying as long as you attribute the source images.
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