Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Tinting latex paint with acrylic paint

It worked out all right when I was painting the coffee table to go with the rug, but I didn't look into the how and why of it until now.

I learned that most latex paints nowadays do not actually contain latex--since "latex" has become a generic term for water-based paint--but that many latex paints do contain acrylic polymers (read the label on the paint can), along with other components. So mixing a little craft or artist's acrylic in will work out okay, although some acrylics are better than others.

The best book I've found for learning about how to mix and use colors is Jeanne Dobie's Making Color Sing. Her focus is on watercolor painting, but there is much that can be applied across the arts, and all the way over into decorating. I just re-read her section on "mouse" colors, and how she uses them to set off her singing jewel colors (lean the red-yellow-blue components of the mouse color in the direction of the jewel color's complement). This house is very heavy on mouse tones, and tomorrow when the light is better I am going to look around and see what undertones I have to work with, and which colors might sing against them.

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