Home › Colour recipes › Lavender
How to mix Lavender in oil paint
Lavender is a pale, bluish violet. Below are the oil paint mixing recipes PaintMixLab calculates for it from three common paint sets, in parts you can measure on the palette.
Target colour #B4A0D2
Predicted mix #B99CCA
Target #B4A0D2 against the predicted mix from the Winton recipe (very close, ΔE 3).
Lavender mixing recipes by paint set
| Paint set | Recipe (parts) | Match |
|---|---|---|
| Winsor & Newton Winton | 17 Zinc White + 1 Dioxazine Blue 17 Zinc White1 Dioxazine Blue |
Very close (ΔE 3) |
| Gamblin 1980 | 21 Titanium White + 1 Dioxazine Purple 21 Titanium White1 Dioxazine Purple |
Very close (ΔE 3) |
| Magicfly 40 | 33 Titanium White + 1 Violet 33 Titanium White1 Violet |
Close (ΔE 3.6) |
Parts are by volume. Recipes follow the app’s standard engine, which adds white to bring the mix up to the predicted value on the palette. Match quality (ΔE 2000) compares the predicted mix with the target: under 1.5 is excellent, under 3.5 very close, under 6 close.
Dark Mode recipes (original engine, no extra white)
- Winsor & Newton Winton: 8 Zinc White + 1 Dioxazine Blue
- Gamblin 1980: 10 Titanium White + 1 Dioxazine Purple
- Magicfly 40: 16 Titanium White + 1 Violet
What two colours make Lavender?
With only two tubes from the Winton range, the closest PaintMixLab finds is 17 Zinc White + 1 Dioxazine Blue (very close, ΔE 3). Two-tube mixes are simpler to repeat but usually a little further from the target than three.
How to mix Lavender by hand
- Put out Dioxazine Blue as the base — it carries the hue.
- Lighten with white until the value matches your reference. Check it next to the target in daylight — a mix always looks lighter on the knife than on the canvas.
- Mix more than you think you need, and save the swatch in PaintMixLab so you can repeat it tomorrow.
Violets are easy to muddy. Use a clean red (a quinacridone or alizarin type) with a blue, and lighten with white in small steps; a dab of yellow greys them quickly.
Related colour recipes
Lavender questions
What colours make lavender?
In the Winton range: 17 Zinc White + 1 Dioxazine Blue. Other sets use different tubes because tinting strength varies by brand — see the table above for Gamblin 1980 and Magicfly.
Can I mix lavender without black?
Yes. None of the recipes above rely on black alone; where a dark is needed the engine prefers a deep colour or an earth so the mix stays lively. PaintMixLab has an “avoid black” option if your set includes black and you would rather not use it.
Why does my lavender look different from the swatch?
Pigment batches, how much medium you use, the lighting and your screen all shift the result. Treat the ratio as a measured starting point: match the value first with white, then nudge the hue with the smallest tube in the recipe.
Does this recipe work for acrylic lavender?
Roughly. Acrylic ranges share many pigment names, but acrylics dry darker and the tinting strengths differ, so expect to add a little extra white and re-check once dry.
Mix lavender from a photo instead
Point PaintMixLab at the colour you actually see and it writes the recipe for your own paint set — free for 3 days.
