Watercolor Techniques - Dominance - Colors

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Watercolor Techniques - Dominance - Colors

Dominance

Pay extra attention to this most often over looked color peculiarity. Color dominance needs to be considered when more than one color is mixed into a wash. The same color combination may result in an almost infinite variety of colors depending on the proportions of the mix. Whichever pigment is the most dominant in the mix will impose its characteristics on the wash, not only in the hue but in all other aspects of its nature as well, such as staining or nonstaining, opaque or transparent.

If the dominant color is Manganese Blue (a sedimentary pigment) and the secondary color is Burnt Sienna (a transparent color), the mixed color will not only be a bluer hue but will also be a grainy-textured color and will lift off better than Burnt Sienna would lift by itself. This is because Manganese Blue is the dominant color and not only its hue but also its other natural characteristics impose their dominance over the other color.

If you intend to dominate a wash with a gentle color (Permanent Rose) and use a basically strong color (Phthalo Green) as a weaker complement, as in the example (Bellow), you must increase the amount of the dominant color (Permanent Rose) in the mix and substantially reduce the quantity of the secondary pigment (Phthalo Green). When the dominant color is strong (Phthalo Green) and the secondary is moderate (Permanent Rose), naturally the quantity of the colors in the mix reverses.