Shading with Complimentary Colours

Did you know that the most effective way to shade {darken} a colour is to add in its compliment?

Orange with Blue
Yellow with Purple
Green with Red

A few years back, I was at the hardware store with my mother-in-law. She was wanting to paint her front door a lovely brick red, but the shade just wasn't coming out deep enough. I suggested to the colour expert to add just a tiny touch of green and it would deepen the colour.

Both my mother-in-law and the colour expert were shocked....it worked!

Here's how to do it!

Mix equal parts of paint to create your complimentary shade {I chose orange and green, to shade blue and red, respectively}

Add just a tiny bit to your primary colour to shade it, gradually adding more and more until you are happy with the end result.

Voila! A deeper shade of blue...red...whatever you choose!

 
Have colour mixing questions? Leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer it!