Think about it this way: when you mix yellow paint with purple paint, you end up with a brown or gray color. If yellow is present in the red or blue you choose to use, the same thing is going to happen in the end.
When you’re testing your paint colors, you don’t need to use much paint at all. Just a small dollop of each will be enough for you to mix them together and view the results.
If you do use a blue paint with a green color bias and mix it with a true red, you’ll get a dark shade of purple that is closer to gray than it is to purple.
Quinacridone magenta and primary magenta also work well in place of permanent rose.
For example, if you’re adding white to a shade of purple to make it lighter, don’t add the same quantity of white as there is purple. Start with just a small dab of paint—enough to cover the tip of a palette knife—and add more if it’s needed.
You could also add a little bit of black paint to the mix to deepen the color even more. Just be cautious—too much black could overtake the purple.
Try adding a small amount of white paint to this mix if you want to soften your purple even more.
The more cerulean blue you add, the darker the shade of purple will be.
The more magenta you add, the pinker your purple will become.
If you have multiple hues of purple paint, it could be fun to see how each one changes and what colors you can achieve by adding white to the mix.
Don’t be afraid to play around with your other paints, too! Although yellow will turn purple paint brown, you may have some other colors you’d like to try mixing in. It won’t hurt anything, and you’ll learn something in the process.
