Black, to use ir not to use

 Well, some say make your own black. Some say absolutely use black from te tube. I say it depends on whether or not there is actual black in the composition. 

Many artists say mixing your paints with black creates mud. Well, sometimes that will happen. Sometimes it won't and, I believe, a great deal depends on which black you use. Although to the naked eye under  normal light all of the common paint blacks look alike. The hues I'm talking about are Ivory, Lamp and Mars and I have used all of them. There are other shades of black which come from the many manufacturers but Ivory, Lamp and Mars are most common. 

Black is the subject of my upcoming video but I thought I'd share sone of my observations.  

Ivory black, is a black color with a brown undertone

Lamp Black, is a black with a bluish tint

Mars Black, is a black color with a brown undertone

This is a test I did mixing Winsor Newton Yellow with each of the black paints, from left to right: Ivory, Lamp and Mars. I used about a 50/50 mix of yellow and black and below are the results. Ivory Black: greenish brown; Lamp black: a brownish black and Mars black: a yellow green.  

 The orange in this image is from Winsor Newton Red and Yellow and I matched them side by side with the three blacks so see if there was a difference in view. I didn't see one. I had thought that the orange would  pop a bit next to the Lamp black because of it's bluish tones (center) but it didn't. But if you want to make a muddy green or a yellow green, you don't need to mix yellow and blue. This is just the beginning of my demonstration but, I see some positive aspects to using black in your palette whether alone or  mixed with other colors.

This watercolor painting of a Baltimore Oriole is one I just completed and I used Lamp Black for the black wings of the bird. Sometimes, I add a touch of blue or violet but this time I chose to use a pure hue. It looks good to me. I'm just getting back into watercolor painting after my Covid infection. I've mentioned before that the arthritis in my right hand become more severe after my illness in December so I'm working to rebuild my strenght  and fine motor skills by painting and drawing. I have been trying to create looser work, using pen as I did in this painting to outline the subject but I'm beginning to think that I can work more realistically, consistently with watercolors now so that's where I plan to point my recovery. 

I got a bit off topic there but back to my lesson in black. Up next will be mixing the black with blue and red to see what comes of it and which paints produce cleaner results. Maybe the issue with muddy colors is that the wrong hue is being used.  I'll keep you posted and let you know when my video is complete.