Lunar Blue + Quinacridone Burnt Orange: A Gorgeous Two-Colour Watercolour Mix

I’ve been experimenting with two-colour watercolour swatches lately, mostly just to see what happens when I let pigments move and mingle on the paper without overworking them.

This combination ended up being one of my favourites so far.

I used Daniel Smith Lunar Blue and Quinacridone Burnt Orange, and together they created the most beautiful mix of smoky blue-grey, warm rust, soft neutral tones, and granulated texture.

What I love most is that the colours never completely disappear into each other. You can still see little areas of orange and blue, but where they overlap they create these gorgeous earthy neutrals that feel almost geological.

Why this colour combination works

Lunar Blue is heavily granulating, so it settles into the texture of the paper and creates all those beautiful dark speckles and mineral-looking marks.

Quinacridone Burnt Orange adds warmth and glow, which keeps the mixture from becoming too cool or flat.

Together, they create a really interesting range of colours, including:

• rusty orange

• smoky blue-grey

• muted brown

• soft neutral grey

• deep granulated shadow tones

It reminds me of weathered stone, desert cliffs, oxidized metal, and stormy skies.

How I made the swatch

I started with plenty of water on the paper and added both colours in different areas, allowing them to move into each other naturally.

Instead of mixing them together completely with my brush, I let the pigments travel and settle on their own.

That is where most of the interesting texture happened.

If you try this combination, I definitely recommend using more water than you think you need and letting the Lunar Blue do its strange little granulating thing without interfering too much.

Where I would use these colours

This combination would be beautiful for:

• landscapes

• rocky cliffs

• desert scenes

• storm clouds

• abstract watercolour

• earthy backgrounds

• moody shadows

• limited two-colour palettes

I can already see myself using this one again.

Sometimes the best colour discoveries happen when you stop trying to create a perfect mixture and just let the pigments have a conversation on the paper.