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One of the best ways to become comfortable with painting in oil, watercolor, and acrylic is to use two colors and work monochromatically.  This is effective because it allows you to focus on shape, value, edge, and brushwork without the worry of matching color.  Pause oil, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna ( Some white was added later)

The secret to working monochromatically is choosing two colors that neutralize each other.   This means that the pigments you choose should be complimentary.  Blue and orange, green and red, or violet and yellow can be mixed together to create a grayed or “ish” tone.  Even though you cannot match colors, you can use these mixtures to explore the effect of warm and cool temperatures depending on the amount of pigment used in the mixtures.

Anna Watching Scooby Doo , 10x8, oil, Viridian and Terra Rosa

When you are choosing your colors, transparency in one of the pigments is important.  Transparency allows the white of the canvas or paper to show through.  Because the value of the actual mixture is limited, you create values by the thickness of the paint you apply - the thinner the paint the lighter the value; the thicker the paint the darker the value.  In oil paint you can modify the thickness by applying the paint and then wiping it off with a cloth. To do this successfully you need a good quality canvas.  If the canvas is not properly gessoed, the colors will stain and limit the light values.

Below is a list of some of my favorite monochromatic mixtures. Before you paint, mix them together on your palette so that you get as neutral a tone as possible, then you can adjust for warm and cool by changing the pigment ratio.

• ultramarine blue, burnt sienna
• viridian, terra rosa
• greenish umber, transparent oxide red.
• viridian, transparent oxide red

Rosa Reading, watercolor, ultramarine blue and burnt sienna