The Gray Recipe

Gray doesn't have to be boring. Everyone knows that the color gray is made with black and white. It seems simple enough. Add more black and it becomes darker. Add more white, it comes out lighter. But this seemingly innocent color has a more difficult, elusive side to it. What about a warm gray? Or a gray with a purple color cast? There is a whole range of varieties between black and white. In fact, gray doesn't even have to include black.
Grey can be made with colors with no black added. While mixing colors for my chromatic gray painting I quickly recognized the difference gray mixed with colors make. Mixing in brighter colors like yellow certainly made a noticeable difference. This is how one can get a warmth out of the notoriously dull color. By adding in colors , gray becomes less flat looking. It creates a more convincing color because grays, especially in metallic and reflective objects, act different in different lighting and environmental situations. That is, the light, and other things around a reflective object create different tones of the color. While mixing gray using colors is useful it also can be tricky at first.
The elusiveness of the color lies in the fact that mixing gray using only color and no black requires an almost delicate balance of complimentary colors. One can achieve a perfect gray using just blue and orange as they are compliments of each other. The goal is to reach a neutral balance. This does not always necessarily mean adding equal amounts of each color. Lighter colors usually have to be added in greater quantities. It takes a lot of experimentation and trial and error, but a balance can be achieved. I found the best two color combination plus white to reach gray is ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. It produces a classic gray that is similar to mixing black and white.