I thought I would share a free colour mixing hack I have discovered in the last couple of weeks. If you are having trouble matching a colour from a reference photo with the colour you mix on your pallet, and you want to try mixing a close match without wasting expensive paints or too much trial and error this may help. I started painting in November last year using acrylics after watching some of Sam’s painting tutorials on YouTube. I soon discovered how easy it is to mix colours that looked nothing like the colour I was trying to achieve. The subsequent trial and error process was a bit frustrating and wasting expensive pigment. Here is my solution: 1. I take a reference photo and copy it into powerpoint; 2. Create one or more rectangles beside the photo and use the eyedropper to fill each rectangle with a colour picked from the photo; 3. Open Microsoft Copilot; 4. Select one or more of the rectangles filled with the colour picked from the photo; 5. Copy and paste the rectangle into the Copilot “ask anything” box; 6. Type this instruction or something similar into the “ask anything” box alongside the coloured rectangle.. “how to mix the attached colour in acrylics using a mix of all or some colours ultramarine blue, titanium white, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow light, quinacridone magenta, cobalt teal, alizarin crimson” 7. Push the enter button, and wait a few minutes; 8. The response you should get is a step by step colour mixing guide tailored to your specific colour swatch query as follows: Peter, this one is a light, clean, gently cool blue‑green — not turquoise, not sky blue, and not mint. It sits right between cobalt teal + white and a softened ultramarine mix, but without the strong green punch of teal or the violet bias of ultramarine. It’s a beautifully balanced, airy colour. Here’s the most reliable way to mix it from your palette. Understanding This Colour • Hue: blue with a slight green lean • Value: light–mid • Chroma: moderate (fresh but not intense)

I incorporated the council of you wise artists and eliminated the obstructed view boat and houses focusing only on the beauty of the view. I was hoping to take your eye down the lake to the sun kissed mountains in the background. Anything else to do?

Mostly blocked in!

For being my first oil painting I'm pretty happy. The water is definitely more green than I anticipated, and I'm not sure about the hilight and shadow on the mountain. But I am happy with the clouds. Comments are welcome!

Just finished this oil painting. it’s a 9x12 on gessoed watercolor paper. Comments are welcome.