Lots and Lots of Oranges

Orange cats are a frequent painting subject and I've noticed that I dull down my oranges too much. As a result, I decided to paint a bunch of different shades of orange. All were painted with Hansa Yellow Opaque, Quinacridone Magenta, and Titanium White.

The top set was one layer of paint. The following are notes which relate to the numbered swatches.

1. Mix of yellow and magenta. No white added. It's too dark. Plus, it could also use some white  to make it more opaque. The rest of the swatches in the 1st and second row are all a mix of yellow, magenta, and white.
2. These swatches are too yellow, so that I see this as a yellow-orange rather than orange.
3. These are muted with a little Phthalo Blue Red Shade. Ugh. This makes a dull, muted color, so why do I tend to add a little of this color when I am painting my orange cats. Must stop!
4. Same as #3, except the additional color was Phthalo Blue Green Shade. Ugh, again.
5. I tried to finish with a really great orange color in one layer. 

Having failed to get a really great orange color in one layer, I did experiment #2. Each row has one layer of the same color. The left column shows the original, one-layer color. In the middle and right column, a second layer of paint was added after the first one dried. The same light color orange was used as the top layer in the middle column and the same darker orange was used as a top layer in the right column.     

It was surprising to see that the top layer of paint in the middle and right column was so dominant that the underneath layer didn't matter much. My guess is that this is because there was Titanium White in both of the oranges in the top layer.

Lessons learned:

• I really do need two layers of paint to get a vivid orange.
• The top layer is the one which really matters. 

Wish / Hope:

• I hope all of this helps me to stop dulling my oranges.