The Ombre Blues

We've been having an El Nino winter here in Northern California.  Although we really need the rain, those rainy-day blues have been keeping us inside.  In honor of the rain, I felt the need to paint something blue!

With General Finishes Milk Paint there are so many gorgeous blues to choose from!  I decided to do a little ombre using 4 colors:  Coastal Blue, Klein Blue, Patina Green and Snow White.

When painting an ombre, colors gradually blend from light to dark.  I mixed up 6 variations as a starting point.  Using a plastic cupcake-like container, and a measuring tablespoon, I mixed up the following paint ratios:

Next I visually mapped out my piece into 6 sections, knowing that each of the colors (above) was going to be centered in each of the sections.  Then starting from the bottom, I painted the darkest color, then blended it into the next darkest, and all the way up to the lightest color on top.

At this point (with just one coat) someone came in and bought the table even though it wasn't finished!

For the second (touch-up) coat, I added a few drops of Extender to the paint to keep it from drying too quickly while blending.  Using a small bit of paint, I worked on blending out any transitions between colors, to make them less obvious.

Once dry, I cleaned up the hardware and handed it off to its happy new owner!