In an artpiece, black can be over-powering and too dark. It may look like a hole in your painting. A good alternative to using true black paint is to create a color that’s near black by mixing complementary colors (opposites on the color wheel) together, like red and green, violet and yellow, or blue and orange. This creates a color that's dark, but still adds tone and mood and consistency to your painting. Mixing dark colors together, like blue and brown or blue and green, has the same effect. Creating your own version of "black" adds more “oomph” to your art work than would using your black paint right out of the tube.