In this practical guide to color from one of America's best known artists, color mixing is explained clearly. Oil and acrylic painters will learn how to put color theory into action. This book is a tremendous help to the artist struggling with color composition. 230 color, 15 black-and white illustrations. | Burnt Umber Many people think Burnt Umber is a brown. In the language of the spectrum there is no such color for as you know the spectrum is made up of six colors yellow orange red violet blue green. Of those six Burnt Umber when tinted with white is plainly identified as a kind of yellow one that is dark and dull while it s true that nature needs only one version of each primary color painters need more than one to mix all tones and intensities of a color. Burnt Umber should never be used as a darkening agent for shadows even though its name is derived from the Latin umbra which means shade. Burnt Umber is a dark version of yellow and can be mixed with white for very light tones too when a yellow is described as a light dull yellow such as sand or the color of an old yellowed letter. Burnt Umber tinted with white. Burnt Umber and Thalo Blue lightened with more white. CHAPTER 11 - BURNT UMBER 59 Figure 1 FIGURE 1. Brass is a good texture to sing the praises of Burnt Umber. Yes brass is bright yellow but it is not the color of a lemon which is an example of bright yellow. Maybe the highlight is bright and light but the general tonality of brass is a darkened bright yellow. The brightness of brass requires bright Cadmium Yellow Light to be used but brass s dark lone requires the addition of Burnt Umber a dark yellow. STEP 1. The placement and composition. STEP 2. The basic lights and darks could be washed in with turpentine black and a little while for the darks and a thinned light gray for the light areas. I did this step with watered-down black and white acrylic paint. I m a great fan of starting a painting with what is called an underpainting. Dark colors look better painted on dark tones light colors enjoy being painted on light tones. It is also a way to concentrate on composition drawing and tone without the complication of thinking about color loo. STEP 3. After painting in a dark background color black and Venetian Red with maybe some Burnt Umber use the .
