Mixing recipe
How to mix mauve
Target
#B38496
Recipe mixes to #AF8193
Mauve is a greyed pink-violet. The base is white, then a part of Cerulean Blue and a part of Burnt Umber to grey it, and two parts of Alizarin Crimson last for the hue. It is the Alizarin that makes it mauve; the blue and umber are what keep it from being pink.
The recipe
Step by step
Build the pile from the biggest, lightest component and work toward the strongest tinter. Check the pile against each swatch before moving on.
- Start with 8 parts Titanium Whitepile #F6F6F4
- Work in 1 part Cerulean Bluepile #B5D6ED
- Work in 1 part Burnt Umberpile #B6B2AC
- Add 2 parts Alizarin Crimsonpile #AF8193Strong tinter. Add it in knife-tip doses and mix fully before adding more.
Another route
Replacing the Burnt Umber with Cadmium Red gives a slightly warmer, more rosy mauve at nearly the same accuracy. Use it for anything in warm light. The umber version is dustier and better for fabric and shadow.
What goes wrong
The pile looks like a grey-blue until the last step, then the Alizarin arrives. Alizarin is transparent and strong, and in this much white a half part too much takes the mauve to a magenta pink. Add it in small amounts. If it goes too pink, a speck more Cerulean cools it back; more umber only dulls it. Alizarin Crimson (flagged by the mixing guide as moving a pile hard for its share) is the paint to be careful with here: it goes in last, a knife-tip at a time, and a little too much cannot be mixed back out.
Related colors
Results vary with brand, lighting and medium. Acrylic dries a touch darker than it looks wet. Treat this as a mixing aid, not a lab instrument: it tells you which tubes to reach for and roughly in what proportion. Fine-tune the last stretch by eye.