Mix It Up!

That’s Amore!

Love Makes the World Go Round! We all could use more love in our lives and February is the month that really puts LOVE on the front burner. Candy, flowers, jewelry, cards – all joyful gifts straight from the heart that reflect the spirit of St. Valentine’s Day. With that in mind I started mixing up this month’s palette.

Four of the color recipes this month are based on two of our premixed colors: Appalachian Sunset, a rich strawberry red, and That’s Going to Leave a Mark, a deep lavender purple.

The recipe Virginia Red Bud is an equal mix of Appalachian Sunset and That’s Going to Leave a Mark producing a vibrant, rich red violet.

With the Barbie movie making such a splash this year, I just had to create a pink in honor of the doll-come-to-life! Malibu Pink is a true “Barbie” Pink. Mix one part Appalachian Sunset with one-part Clean Canvas to create a dreamy hue that I think the girl herself would love.

Tickled Pink is a paler version of Malibu Pink that’s a knockout on its own, or when paired together for subtle contrast. The color recipe is one part of Appalachian Sunset plus two parts of Clean Canvas.

And finally, Plum demonstrates one of the key principles of the paint line: the use of Primary Colors. To achieve this deep, luscious purple, simply mix one part I Need a Bandage with one-part Blue Ridge.

Having been an Art Teacher for 25 years, I based our line of premixed colors on the color wheel so that any color could be created. And, as you may already know, all colors start with primary red, yellow and blue.

Our red, I Need a Bandage, is a true red (and the name a catch phrase made popular by Mike Whiteside on Salvage Dawgs whenever he would get hurt – which was fairly often!). Blue Ridge is our primary Blue, and Star City Sunshine is our true Yellow. Our white, Clean Canvas, can be used to create tints of all the colors, and our Black Dog Black can be added to any color to create shades of a color.

Tip: Most people think that to dull a color you add black…not so, as that creates a shade of the color, a darker version. To dull a color, you add its compliment. How do you find a color’s compliment? Look at your color wheel, the color opposite from it on the wheel is that color’s compliment. Red is the compliment of green, orange is the compliment of blue, Yellow is the compliment of purple.

And there you have it, the colors of “That’s Amore”! We at Black Dog wish you the happiest of Valentine’s Days. Keep Mixing it Up and be sure to send me your color recipes so we can add them to our recipe box!

Happy Painting!

Swooz