In this video, Stephen takes you through the foundations of mixing earth tones — those beautifully natural colours like brown, beige, yellow ochre and burnt sienna. These colours are incredibly useful for painting nature scenes, skin tones, wood textures, and organic still life work.
Instead of reaching for a pre-mixed tube of paint, why not mix your own? Stephen shows you exactly how to do it using our double primary colour mixing system. You’ll not only save money, but gain confidence in your understanding of colour mixing.
What You’ll Learn in this Video:
What are earth tones?
Understand what qualifies as an earth tone and why they’re essential in your oil painting kit.How to mix your own brown shades like yellow ochre, and burnt sienna
Step-by-step instructions using the primaries you already have.How colours change with white
Learn what happens when you tint your earth tones and how to adjust their vibrancy.What’s the difference between raw and burnt colours?
Stephen explains this key concept and demonstrates using colour swatches on canvas board.
Video Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction to Earth Colour Paints
00:33 – What Is The Difference Between Raw And Burnt Paint?
01:05 – What Happens If You Add White To Earth Colours?
02:30 – How To Mix Yellow Ochre Paint
07:00 – How To Mix Burnt Sienna Paint
Colour Mixing 101: How To Mix Yellow Ochre
Knowing how to mix natural paint colours gives you more control over your work. Whether you’re painting landscapes, portraits, or still life, these tones add warmth, depth, and realism. Plus, mixing your own colours encourages you to really look at colour relationships and values in your subject matter.
Stay tuned for more colour mixing tips and tricks with our Colour Mixing 101 series!
Happy painting!