To Use Black or Not
What is the deal with black? Let’s talk about it!
Black is something that you hear people don’t use because it will “kill the color” When I was going to art school, i had only painted watercolor when I was in art school, I hadn’t painted oil at all till my mid 20’. We were not allowed to use black in art school because it was a very easy value to reach rather than having to mix a darker value with a little bit more life. I can totally understand that! I was 18 years old and I didn’t know much about color mixing and all else. But, not too long ago I went back and dabbled with black oil paint. I learned that I really enjoy mixing warm greens with ivory black. If you take a cadmium lemon (yellow), and you mix ultramarine blue into that (maybe a tiny bit of white in it just to see the color a little better), you will see that it is a cool green. But if you mix that same yellow into black, then it becomes a warm green. It is a really good way of mixing a warm green.
I am hoping to keep using ivory black in my work and I encourage you to experiment with it, too. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with black. If you are in the learning stages right now, I would try to avoid using black and use ultramarine blue. If you have some experience with mixing color, try using Ivory black and see how it goes!
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