How to Mix Muted Colors for Fall Color Palettes

It’s finally Fall and I love taking inspiration from the season. As I look out my window now I can start to see beautiful, reds, oranges, and yellows all around. 

I know you’ve probably been using a lot of bright colors in your paintings throughout the Spring and Summer, but did you know you can take those same colors and create some beautiful muted shades for fall?

Color Theory and Mixing Colors

If you haven’t already painted a color palette with me in my Watercolors Made Simple course I recommend you do that before starting this process. Using the color wheel and color theory is so important when transitioning your palette and creating some color mixes. 

I always start with the primary colors, yellow, red, and blue. With these three colors, you can create so many different combinations. Start with yellow and red. Just mixing those two together will get you a bright orange that ties into Fall as the color of most pumpkins. 

But, say you wanted a warmer orange for some more fall theme paintings. Simply add the tiniest bit of blue to that orange you already created and you can create a darker, warmer orange. This is where your color wheel comes into play, use your color wheel to find colors across from each other. These will help tone down your colors from bright to dark and moody.

Dive Deeper into Color Theory

If you want to learn more about the world of color theory, I highly recommend my Watercolors Made Simple or my Color Mixing Made Simple courses if you haven’t taken them already. I break down color theory, creating, and using a color wheel to create beautifully mixed colors. 

Muted Colors and Painting Pumpkins

Ready to take what you’ve learned and paint beautiful watercolor pumpkins? My latest Youtube video will walk you through how I take this process and create some muted colors to paint some beautiful pumpkins!