Understanding Hue, Tone, and Intensity: Helen Van Wyk’s Guide to Color Mixing.

In this insightful painting session, Helen Van Wyk offers her expert guidance on color mixing, focusing on achieving the right mass tone colors for a still-life painting. Learn from Helen's wealth of knowledge and apply her techniques to bring your artwork to life. Below are the key segments covered in this video:

00:00 Music and Intro Graphics

00:41 Helen's Color Palette

Helen begins by introducing her palette and the rationale behind its arrangement. She explains the importance of having a range of warm and cool colors and how to use white, black, and gray to modify them.

02:47 Choosing a Background Color

Helen discusses selecting a background color, using the example of rust. She emphasizes understanding that colors in nature vary in tone and intensity and demonstrates how to mix a dull orange suitable for the painting.

03:51 Color Graphic: Hue, Tone, Intensity

The nine panel image visually showing the meaning of hue, tone and intensity. Memorize this image for a better understand of the three properties of color.

05:57 Mixing Colors for Lettuce and Lemons

Next, Helen focuses on mixing shades for lettuce, using different greens and yellows to achieve realistic variations in light and shadow. She also tackles the challenge of mixing the right yellow for lemon flesh versus lemon skin, showing how to adjust tone and intensity.

08:46 Understanding Shadows and Mass Tone Colors

Helen shifts the focus to the importance of mass tone colors and how they interact with shadows. She discusses using gray as a base for shadows and how to incorporate complementary colors to enhance depth and dimension.

09:22 Mixing Colors for Onions and Green Peppers

Moving on to other elements in the composition, Helen shares tips for mixing the right shades of violet and red for onions and demonstrates adjusting green hues for peppers. She highlights the significance of understanding the underlying hue and adjusting its brightness or dullness accordingly.

11:20 Four Questions to Ask Yourself

Helen talks about the four color questions to ask yourself before starting a colo mix. Begin the mix after you've answered these questions.

12:12 Mixing Colors for the Lemon

Using the four questions, Helen chooses the colors for the lemon demonstrating the power of the four questions.

13:15 Four Questions to Ask Yourself

14:09 Compare Colors Adjacent Objects

Comparing the color of an object to the other elements in a painting help determine the objects color. Helen demonstrates this using the tablecloth and the lettuce.

14:51 Highlights and Shadows: Adding Dimension

She explains how to apply shadow colors using complementary hues, ensuring the painting retains balance and realism.

16:55 How to Prevent Muddy Colors

20:30 Using Pure White

Helen talks about adding highlights using pure white sparingly and judiciously.

21:40 Highlight on Red Onion

Determining the highlight requires answering the same four questions. Helen uses her make-it, break-it, make-it-again technique on the highlight.

22:20 Shadow on the Red Onion

Helen explains how to mix the color for the onion's shadow.

22:44 Highlight and Shadow on Green Pepper

24:00 Top-Down Correction

Helen corrects an oversight. She failed to use the Top-Down method when creating the lemon and makes a correction here.

25:06 Final Thoughts and Painting Philosophy

In her closing remarks, Helen reflects on the importance of dedication, determination, and desire in painting. She encourages artists to practice patience and explore the art of color mixing to find joy and satisfaction in their work. Helen hints at her next lesson, —or perhaps teaching viewers how to make soup!

Subscribe now and join Helen Van Wyk on a journey to refine your artistic techniques and discover the satisfaction of understanding and using the basic principles in your paintings, ensuring you experience the fulfillment that comes from applying Helen's teachings.


Helen took the time to teach us the principles and reasons behind painting each element in the progression of a work. Her sensibility in basic natural fundamentals taught us we can paint anything by employing these basics. Subject matter was a minor consequence to Helen. Using the basics, thousands of artists received the confidence to paint any type of subject.



White

Thalo Yellow Green
Cadmium Yellow Light
Cadmium Yellow Medium

Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Red Light
Grumbacher Red
Thalo Red Rose

Yellow Ochre
Raw Sienna
Light Red (English Red Light)

Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna
Indian Red

Alizarin Crimson
Manganese Violet

Thalo Blue

Sap Green
Thalo Green

Ivory Black