How Many Greens Can YOU Mix?

How Many Greens Can YOU Mix?

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Hello dear Artists and Creatives,

We, my Zoom and In-Person Artists, are enjoying our Around the Color Wheel annual theme, and especially learning the ins and outs and all arounds of Mixing Greens. I think this is the most challenging color mix of all, and we are doing it ...

without any green tubes of paint - Seriously!

Greens aren't just for the plein air artist, either. It appears everywhere....and I love creating a portrait where I use green in the skin tones. And how about a cat's eyes? Flowers and plants of all kinds, vegetables, fruit.....you name it. Green is NOT just for Landscapes.

Here are some swatches I made during my classes......no one's swatches will be exactly the same as the next as we are not all using the same pigments, but a variety is what each artist achieved.

As you will notice from the swatches above....not all are dead-on Green, some were mixes that were more neutrals with barely a green bias to them. Other yellowish greens, blue-ish greens, violet-y greens, brown-y greens, greyish greens, even reddish greens....and very very dark dark neutral greenish, and so on. 

Who says a face can't be Green?

Ahh, my Blossom's eyes

  You may recognize this pose from a recent St Laurent pose, yep, that was my inspiration, but I made her with lots of Green and imagination. And some leftover leaves from previous underpainting. Lol. Also not quite finished....

and one more

Lady on the Green

By the way, I am certainly not against adding a green tube of paint or three to one's personal color palette, but to be able to MIX any green without them is an achievement, it's an acknowledgement of understanding a simpler palette and each individual pigment you have chosen to work with, not to mention understanding the Theory of Color Mixing and the Harmony it creates overall.

When I started out painting, I purchased I think it was 63 tubes of paint. Egad, the more tubes I opened, the more cacophonous my paintings became. That was soooo frustrating! But it led me on a journey to a simpler palette and years of color theory study and hands on mixing mixing mixing. And it paid off. Not that I have learned everything, far from it, but I can now SEE a color and MIX a pretty doggone close match. It's fun, it's exciting, and color harmony no matter how many colors I throw at a painting, still retain a harmony. Most of the time, anyways! 

We will be delving into the remaining Secondary Colors

orange and violet 

in the month of May and playing with big brushes. Then on to Neutrals and faces!

Care to join us on Zoom?  Mon and Wed 10am to noon, California time. Or join as a Recording only student and send me your weekly painting/s for feedback.  Get in touch. 

More info here on my Zoom and In-Person classes. 

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with an artsy friend.

Be Creative. It's Good for the Soul!
Blessings, Joanie

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By JoanieART / May 02, 2024