Grays again

More questions on grays. bottom line, remember that grays must have a color! Battleship gray refers to the colorless neutral gray that navies paint their ships so that they are harder to see against the ocean and sky. in painting we want grays that are colorful, not neutral or the neutral will deaden your paintings. many painters will have 85% of painting in colored grays and the remaining 15% in primary and secondary colors for emphasis. no set forumula.

Remember: a gray is a mizture of all three primaries-red, yellow and blue.  if a red gray than red is dominant; if a purple gray then red and blue are dominant; if a green gray, they blue and yellow are dominant. I can use the same mixture in the mixing well of palette and bounce the gray all over the color spectrum by what colors i bring in to mix. if my mixture is somewhat greenish and i want more purple, i add more red and blue until the purple appears and the green disappears.  try this exercise.  refer to Jeanne Dobie, "Making Colors Sing", North Light Books, Cincinnati.