Mastering Muted Color

We all love vibrant color. But for much of what we look at, in fact, the color is muted. How to create rich, engaging muted color, without just creating a muddy mess? This video gives you some suggestions of how to do it.

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[paintlady]

Amazing how such a seamingly simple scene of mundane everydayness can turn into one in which we find ourselves drawn in, wanting to study it, to really look at it and be introduced to the hand of the artist.
Fabulous demonstration.

[lunadargent]

I watch quite a few artists at YouTube and very rarely do I have an “aha” moment where some of the fog that lives perpetually in my head clears. I had that today when you were discussing the puddle of paint and pulling colour into the puddle. I always feel so surprised when something that feels so complicated gets resolved by such a straightforward technique. You also made a comment that I found very insightful about the temperature issues with mud. Thank you very much. 👏🏻👍🏻😃

[gasperettiarts]

Finally a simple explanation about muted colours!

[chaptero]

Et voila, here is the finished painting, ( I always like to hear Ian saying it), those muted colours have transformed the photograph into something of interest, the gradations and transitional areas just a pleasure to see come alive. Many thanks Ian.

[ozlemguler]

I'm always amazed at how much information and demonstration you pack into a video under 10 minutes. Thankyou for your wonderful teaching - concise, beautiful and infinitely useful!

[janetkingwill]

So love this. Thank you. It feels like a modern day Andrew Wyeth.. The calm everyday scene.

[yiliao]

Thank you very much for talking through the process

[padams]

I just cant thank you enough for these videos. I’ve learned so much. I appreciate your time and effort and instruction. thank you again.

[devanshi]

This is so fascinating. It reminds of marco bucci’s videos on coloring in the greys!! His videos are mainly for digital art, but love the concept

[mmartin]

I have tried to paint an old gray barn with very muted and subtle changes. I kept wasting a bunch of paint making separate puddles of three or four colors. Not sure why this wasn't obvious to me, but starting with a single puddle and slightly mixing in the split complementary colors did the trick! Thank you very much for the video!

[pjlewisful]

I want to title this delightful painting MOVING DAY. Enjoyed this.

[paulineshelley]

I could really see the relationship between your colours in that painting. Everything seemed to belong which gave it a comfortable feel. Thank you.

[janelintern]

Yes, interesting, subtle colours - all looks 3-dimensional. Thanks, Ian.

[rsbagley]

Love the gray puddle in the middle tip...Thanks...Great video!!!!

[patjeffers]

Fascinating approach to color mixing. Thank you! Lovely painting too!

[christinerothmuller]

It is a beautiful painting and composition ! the colours are great and subtle ! Thank you so much !

[sydene]

portrait of the shoes: love it! most pop contrast

[pleinaire]

Rich engaging neutral color gives this painting great harmony and subtle beauty.!!
thanks for this great lesson in the SuBLIME!

[attiliadin]

Thank you, Ian, you are a gently spoken man... I love your teaching ♥

[isaniart]

Thank you so much! I’ve been trying to figure out muted colors for the longest time and this helped so much