There are many common misconceptions about painting. One is, that the more tubes or jars of colour that are put out for a painting, the more chance there is of getting the colours in that painting right. In fact, fewer pigments make for the best chance of a harmonious colour scheme. I rarely use more than 4 pigments in a painting, and frequently prefer 3 plus white. Mixed secondaries – greens, purples, oranges – have the advantage of being related to the primaries they are mixed from. More important, a green mixed from blue and yellow can be mixed to sometimes lean to the blue and other times lean to the yellow. This gives life and interest to the colour that straight green from a tube is sadly lacking. So when putting out your paints next time, remember, less is more.