​This is the final video for ACRYLIC PAINTING 101: Basics for Beginners. I was asked  by SassyCat over on YouTube if I do Complementary mixing or added Black to create darker colours.  I don’t generally add Black to change the value of a paint because it is a low chroma Blue.  And though Black paint will darken the colour, I find it changes the colour in ways that are not always what I want. 
 
There are times that I do use complimentary mixing but generally that is with watercolour, not acrylic.
 
In this lesson we will explore complimentary colours of Cadmium Yellow Light to Dioxazine Purple in the form of a Chroma Chart.

​Gather your chart (which you can download HERE), your Value Scale, paper palette, palette knife, a brush, and the paint…let’s get going. 

​We will begin with placing the Cadmium Yellow Light (Value 9) on the far left and Dioxazine Purple  (Value 1) on the far right.   

​Using the Value Scale begin by adding a very small amount of the Purple to the Cadmium Yellow Light to bring to Value 8, then repeat until the mixture is at a Value 7 and so on until there are 9 paint mixtures. 

Below add the same values 9 to 1 of the Neutral Grey (from Lesson 8 HERE) on the bottom of the palette. 

​The focus on this chart is to create a Chroma version of the Complimentary Colour Chart.  Taking the Neutralized Grey Value 9 and start mixing it into the pure Cadmium Yellow Light as we are not changing the value just the chroma.

Work all the way across the 9 piles until the chart has been filled.
 
Now it is time to compare the Chroma Chart from this lesson with a Value Chart using the very same two colours - Cadmium Yellow Light and Dioxazine Purple. 

As always with the Chroma Chart the value is the same from the top to the bottom...all that happens is a Neutral Grey of the same value is added which changes the chroma only.  

The Value Chart there is white added to lighten each of the colours mixed from Yellow on the left to Purple on the right. 

Below is the Chroma Chart and Value Chart for Cadmium Yellow Medium and Dioxazine Purple.  

Here is the last Yellow that I played with - Yellow Ochre with both a Chroma Chart and Value Chart

I hope that this lesson was helpful.  Below is the link to the chart measurements and the Youtube video.  

In todays video we are bringing together all that we have learned in the previous videos that are part of the ACRYLIC PAINTING 101 series.  We will be painting our final lemon.  It took me about 3 1/2 hours to do this 13x18 cm (5x7in) painting.  

I used Cadmium Yellow Medium value string for this painting as I did in the colour study!  Check out how to make the value string in Lesson 9: VIDEO/ BLOG

Draw a grid on your board of 3cm (1 1/4in) very lightly with a pencil. Using a kneaded eraser to remove enough of the graphite to ensure that the lines are faint, so that you can barely see them.  There will be just enough graphite left to be able to see but not have the lines show through the yellow paint.

​Begin to draw the elements using a very loose raw umber.  I am using my favourite brush for this: Princeton Dakota Flat 2. I put registration marks where the lemon sections intersects with the grid. 

Now we are nearing the end of the drawing. Take a few minutes to let the raw umber dry and using the kneaded eraser remove all the lines as best you can.

On to the first pass of paint.  Remember this is where we just get the information down to the best of our ability.  This  will help us when we do the next layer of painting.   When you come for the second pass then decisions about value and so forth are easier to see what is correct and what needs tweaking.

​Building up the subtle shifts of value on the lemon slice.  As the light comes through the lemon slice there is a lovely glow

On to the second pass  on the lemon where we shift the values and correct the shapes that we put down during the initial pass. 

Tweaking the edges as the painting nears completion.  

 The final highlights. And the lemon is completed!  

"A taste of Lemon", 13x18cm (5x7in) Acrylic on Masonite Board.