Color and value are critical to learn for an artist, but curiously most beginners skip this info in pursuit of 'making a painting'. Spending a few minutes on getting familiar with pigments and value will save much frustration later when painting. Knowing how to read the ingredients in a paint tube will save you a lot of money and can help you learn how the art pigments work regardless of media.
Sort through some old paint tubes. Find the pigment codes and see which are related or overlap. Make some simple color charts to 'tint out' color blobs and see what the paint does.