How to Mix Purple Paint

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This article was co-written by Renée Plevy. Renée Plevy is an internationally recognized portrait artist from New York/Palm Beach who has painted The Grand Dames of Palm Beach and portraits of numerous celebrities and community leaders. With over 50 years of experience, Renée specializes in realistic oil painting. She studied with world-renowned portrait painters such as John Howard Sanden, David Leffel, Robert Beverly Hale, Clyde Smith, and Leonid Gervits. Renée’s work has been shown in more than 68 performances and exhibitions, including a performance at the Paterson Museum. She has received numerous awards, including the Bloomfield Art League’s “Artist of the Year” award and the Boca Raton Museum Artist’s Guild First Prize. Even Renée once painted portraits of Vanilla Ice. She teaches at the Boca Raton Museum of Art School – formerly taught at SVA in Manhattan.

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Many people think that mixing purple is simply mixing red with blue, but if you’ve ever tried doing so, you know that the results are not always the same. To get the right purple, a bright, pure color that doesn’t hide other pigments, you need to choose reds and blues that don’t contain shades of yellow or green – these pigments will make the purple look more obvious. very beautiful will turn dull brown or gray. Once you know how to mix a standard purple, you can adjust the shades by adding red, blue, white, or even black to the mix.

Table of Contents

Standard purple blend

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Read the labels of color bottles to find colors with less pigments. When you’re going to blend purple, yellow and green pigments can lead to disaster. For example, if a red contains a yellow pigment, it will be more yellow, meaning that yellow will affect any color mixed with that red. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Think of it like this: yellow mixed with purple makes brown or gray. If yellow is present in the red or blue you choose to mix with purple, the result will be the same.

Test red and blue to find their color bias when mixed with white. When pure red (without yellow pigment) is mixed with white, it turns pink (instead of peach). Pure blue (no green pigment) mixed with white turns sky blue. ^{[2] X Research Source}

You don’t have to use large amounts of color to try it out. Just a little bit of each color is enough for you to mix colors together and see the results.

Tip: Use a paper towel to wipe the mixing knife clean after each color mixing to avoid mixing blue with red or vice versa.

Choose colors that do not contain yellow or green pigments. Red with blue pigment or blue with red pigment is perfectly fine to mix with purple. Conversely, whenever and however yellow appears in blue or red, the result will be a purple to brown tint. Similarly, your inclination to green will give your purple a gray tint. Read the label and try mixing colors with white to make sure you choose the right color. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

If you use blue with a green bias to mix with pure red, you will get purple with a darker shade and closer to gray than purple.

Use permanent rose and ultramarine blue for pure purple. Mix these two colors in equal proportions. These are two colors that, when mixed together, create what art experts call the “standard purple”. It will be almost the same color as the pre-mixed color in the tube you bought at the store. Permanent rose does not contain any yellow pigment, and ultramarine blue does not contain any green pigment. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Quinacridone magenta and primary magenta are also effective alternatives to permanent rose.

Mix different shades of purple

Blend the desired shade by mixing the colors little by little. The general rule of thumb is to add small amounts of alternate shades to purple when you want to create a new shade. You can easily add color, but it’s almost impossible to go back to the original shade if you’ve mixed something in too much. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

For example, if you want to add white to a purple shade to make it brighter, don’t use the same amount of white as purple. Start with a little color – enough to cover the tip of the mixer – and add more as needed.

Mix more blue than red for a darker purple. If your goal is to blend in a darker, darker and deeper purple, you can simply blend in more ultramarine blue than permanent rose. Add the blue color little by little – it’s easy to add, but it’s impossible to remove once it’s mixed. ^{[6] X Research Source}

You can also add a little black to the mix to deepen the color even further. But be careful – too much added black can overwhelm purple.

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Create warmer shades of purple by adding red to the mix. Once you have mixed a standard batch of purple, you can slowly add more red to create a purple that has warmer and brighter shades. Mix carefully until the color is completely mixed and there are no red or blue patches left. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

Try adding a small amount of white to the mix if you want an even more subdued purple.

Mix permanent rose and cerulean blue for a deep purple color. You need to use pure red without yellow pigment. Cerulean blue has a slight green tint, but when added to permanent rose it results in a darker shade of purple with gray undertones. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

The more cerulean blue is added, the darker the purple shade will be.

Combine cyan and magenta to create electric purple. If you’re looking for vibrant and explosive purple, go for cyan, which has a hint of green, and magenta, which has a reddish purple tint. ^{[9] X Research Source}

The larger the magenta color ratio, the more pink the purple will be.

Add white to purple to create a brighter shade of purple. This is a very simple way to get purple with lovely soft purple shades like amethyst, lavender and light purple. Take a little bit of white on the tip of a brush or color palette knife and blend well with the purple. ^{[10] X Research Source}

If you have a lot of purple-tinted colors, it might be interesting to see how each purple changes and what color you get when you add white to the mix.

Add black little by little to create darker shades of purple. You can create Spanish purple, tyrian purple, pd heliotrope and other shades by adding very small amounts of black to different purple tones. Black can quickly drown out another color, so you should only add a little at a time and keep adding until you get the color you want. ^{[11] X Research Source}

Try this: Create a gradient that shows the different shades you get when you mix colors – you can use this palette when you need to blend a certain tone.

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Adjust the pre-blended purple with white to create different shades of purple. If you don’t have pure blue and pure red to mix purple with the base shade, you can use premixed purple and white to create a range of purple shades. Take some purple on the tinting tray and add white little by little for a lighter shade. ^{[12] X Research Source}

Don’t hesitate to play with other colors too! While yellow will turn purple into brown, you may have other colors to try mixing in. There’s nothing to lose, but you might even learn something.

Advice

Mix as much color as you need for the work you’re working on. Mixing two identical batches of colors is extremely difficult, so it’s better to mix in excess than lack.
Learn how to mix all other colors to create different colors and shades of your work.

Things you need

Standard purple blend

Paintbrush
Color mixing tray
Cup or jar of water
Tissue
Color

Mix different shades of purple

Paintbrush
Color mixing tray
Cup or jar of water
Tissue
Color

Steps

Standard purple blend

Mix different shades of purple

Advice

Things you need

Standard purple blend

Mix different shades of purple

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