Cream

[BeaSue]

I seem to be having some difficulty coming up with a cream color. Every time I try, I end up with a light lemon yellow. Any suggestions?

[musika]

Try Titanium white with the smallest touch of yellow ochre. Keep adding specks until you have the colour you want. If yours is too yellow, you can add specks of raw umber to tone it down.

[BeaSue]

Thank you, Ray! This worked perfectly. It's funny, but as a watercolor newbie, I have constantly had it drummed into my head: Don't use white--your paper is the white! I don't have titanium white, but I do have Chinese white. I've just never used it. That plus the tiniest bit of yellow ochre gave me the cream color I wanted. Very much appreciated. 

[musika]

Oops, I didn't notice it was in the watercolour section. What I suggested was for oils and acrylics. Perhaps Dennis will chime in for future reference.

[Val]

Colour mixing works the same...you do get some odd variances sometimes depending on the brand of paint.
Thanks Ray.

[Tousabella]

Thanks, Ray. Sure glad you asked that question, BeaSue.       Val, that is almost the color I was talking about for the clouds!! FANTASTIC!!!!

[Val]

You just never know where the right answer is going to come from.  Best of luck with the clouds, can't wait to see them. 

[dennis]

Be careful of adding colour to Chinese White as it can add a chalkiness to the painting _Why? Because you have just made the colour opaque.

[audrey5]

Good tip.  White with touch of yellow ochre.  Sadly, I read the wrong advice elsewhere and bought a Buff Titanium and applied it to my watercolour.  I wanted an off white or cream for posts on a fence, but got a textured cream.  Good for elsewhere, but I let it dry before I realised what the effect was.

[Harald]

All is not fond of using chinese white or any other opace colours in conjunction with watercolours.
For the fun of it I`ve mixed a creamcolour in watercolour, I`ve used Cotman Lemon Yellow hue, Cadmium Red Pale hue and Cobolt Blue hue. Other yellow, red and blue can certaanly be used with similar results.
Harald

Details

 

[Tousabella]

Thank you, Harald. Will play around with those colors. Wow...this is fun!!  It's sure great to have others who have experimented with the colors we need!!  LOL
The other one I'm having trouble with is Mishmash by Dennis!   

[Val]