How to Mix Orange and Brown Acrylic Paint for Fall Landscape Paintings

Capture the spectrum of orange and browns in your fall landscape paintings by mixing a handful of acrylic paint colors. You may be astonished by the beauty of Autumn each year, as the memory of its true brilliance fades when winter arrives. Hold onto those warm orange and brown hues by recreating them on canvas in an acrylic painting. You don't need a lot of colors to create the subtleties of tree leaves. Use this guide to mix orange and brown paint colors.

Acrylic Paint Tube Supply List for Orange and Brown Mixtures

Titanium White
Vermilion Hue (sometimes written as Vermillion)
Ivory Black

*If you (gasp!) run out of Vermillion Hue you can make your own with one part Indo Orange Red and a dot of Naphthol Crimson.

You may be surprised when you notice the list contains no traditional browns or umbers. The range of browns and orange you can create will be richer than any tube brown.

Deepest Orange

Before mixing the colors, squeeze some Vermilion Hue out on your palette. You should also work with a test canvas, where you can see how each color looks on the canvas before using it in your final painting. Because it's acrylic, mistakes can be easily covered, but it's still best not to waste paint.

Make shades of orange from the pure Vermilion Hue to a lighter almost peach orange by adding Titanium white. Start by adding a small amount of the white and gradually increase the amount. Make a row of blocks on a test canvas and brush on the hue to see how it becomes lighter.

Gray is the Key

Before moving onto mid-range orange brown, you'll need to make gray. Add one part Ivory Black to seven parts Titanium White. This creates a mid-range gray that will bring your Vermilion Hue from orange to a natural brown.

Mid-Range Hues for a Fall Acrylic Painting

Because fall leaves are not all one solid color, you'll need a range of colors for each leaf. Stick to the mid-range browns to show the leaves at the end of the fall season. Portions of the leaves may also be darker than others, as the ends may curl or turn darker faster.

Mid-range but still vibrant orange - mix one part gray with three parts Vermilion Hue.
Orange brown - Mix equal parts of gray and vermillion for a color that appears both brown and orange.
Brownish orange - Take the color further to the brown side with two parts gray and one part Vermilion Hue.
Grayish brown - Continue adding parts of gray to one part Vermilion Hue until you mix an acrylic paint color that is a grayish brown.

Dark and Deep Orange and Browns

For the darkest edges and veins of fall leaves you will need to use Vermilion Hue and pure Ivory Black. Start with minuscule amounts of the black which takes the hue to the deeper edges of brown, resembling tree bark.
Darkest orange - For a dark orange that is not brown add a speck of Ivory Black to the Vermilion Hue. Continue adding specks of black to deepen the acrylic paint mixture to create a range of deep browns.
Deepest Brown - Add two parts Vermillion Hue to one part Ivory black for the deepest brown. Use it on the leaves or for shadows on the trees.