To further confuse non-painters, although painting is done with a subtractive color system and, technically, cyan, magenta, and yellow are the primaries of such

To further confuse non-painters, although painting is done with a subtractive color system and, technically, cyan, magenta, and yellow are the primaries of such a system, painters don't actually mix their colors from a palette of cyan, magenta, and yellow. If you ask a painter what the primary colors are, they will tell you yellow, red, and blue. A typically painter's palette will consist of a couple hues of each of the primaries + titanium white (except in watercolor, where the natural white of the paper is typically retained instead of using a white pigment). For example, you might use cadmium yellow light, yellow ochre, cadmium red medium, alizarin crimson, cerulean blue, and phthalo blue for your palette. Mixing from a limited palette such as this helps to give the painting a color scheme that is harmonious (and is worthwhile practice if you're a designer who wants to really develop a good feel for color harmony in your designs). A common mistake beginners make is to load up their palette with every tube color they can find at the local art supply store. The end result is a painting with colors that clash like a bad 1970's leisure suit and/or ugly dull muddy color that doesn't pop at all.