Last week we did a lesson on mixing greens. We did color combinations wet on wet. So here's a challenge for you, if you haven't done this already.
Using the same color combinations as before, mix the colors on the palette instead of wet on wet.
Make a puddle of the yellow and a puddle of the blue. Paint a column of yellow on the left and the pure blue on the right. Add a tiny bit of the blue until you notice a color change. Then paint a column of that to the right of the yellow. Use the same puddle, add a little more blue, then paint a column next to the one before. Do this several times until you have gone through as many color changes as you can. (I did 6-7)
This gives a very clear idea of what color variations you can make with each yellow/blue combination. Put next to last week's chart, you can decide whether to mix a color on the palette or on the paper.
Tube greens can be a mix of colors or single color pigments. The top color swatch shows mixed greens on the top row and the pigment color. The bottom row shows two single color pigments, serpentine genuine and green apatite genuine, emerald green, deep sap, and green gold, another single pigment color.
The bottom chart is more single color pigments. Knowing pigments in a mix, such as sap green, can tell you how to mix that color from others in your palette. Example, Sap green is a mix of PG7 (pthalocyanine green) plus PY100 (Isoindoline yellow). Undersea green is a mix of PB29 (French ultramarine) and PO49 (quin gold). A chart of colors can be found on the Daniel Smith web site shown below. Also, if you look on Dick Blick or other art site and look for that color, then go into details, it should tell you about that paint, its pigment composition, whether it stains or lifts, how light fast it is, and whether it granulates. (I will email the chart)
Knowing the composition of a color can tell you whether or not a blue or yellow or other color would go well for color harmony.
THE VALUE OF PG & (pthalo green blue shade)
Below shows a few combinations of pthalo green : by itself, with hansa yellow, with red,
with french ultramarine, and with purple. Many tube paints have a PG7 base. But beware, it is a very staining color (all pthalos stain), and a powerful influencer. A little dab 'l do ya.
(Staining means that color grabs onto the fibers of the paper and don't want to let go. They are hard to lift with clear water and stiff brush)
A QUICK WAY TO SEE HOW COLORS REACT TOGETHER is what Jean Haynes (a loose watercolorist from Wales) calls "dancing ladies." Put dots of tube colors at the top of the page, and label each one. Put a 1/2 trails of water underneath the color, and then gently wet the color so it flows down the water. YOu will be able to see the color from dark to light. Try adding a yellow or blue to see what color green it makes.
A bonus of this method is that you can use the dot of paint at the top to paint with.
Below: Using line direction to indicate large field.
STARTING A PAINTING WITH GRASSES
Below are two small "thumbnails" that I used just to try out which colors I wanted to use in my painting. They are only about 3 inches high. It's a good idea to do this...takes about 5 minutes...and saves a lot of grief over using a color that doesn't work well.
SHOWING DEPTH
This is a picture that shows depth through the following ways:
Muted colors in the background (
Soft edges in furthest objects
less detail in background
keeping warmest colors in the area of attention
I took this from a photo I found on Unsplash: photographer Pat Whelan.
We started by drawing a line about 2/3 down the page for a horizon line Working wet on wet, starting with a dulled down cobalt or cerulean blue, paint a wash from the top of the page to the bottom. Work the blue down to the horizon line, then add some yellow over the area where the dark trees will be. Then paint yellow green, then yellow, then yellow green-green on the bottom of the page.
In the picture below you can see the underwash done before this next step. Dry the wash completely.If you want a figure or barn in the picture, tape off the area to keep from painting it.
For the distant hills, Wet the area from the top of the hills to the bottom of the tree line. With some dulled down blue, paint in the hills. Add the paint about 1/2 inch below the tops of the hill, and allow the paint to move up to create a soft edged effect.
For the tree line, drop dark greens into the wet area. Vary the height and width Try to leave some gaps so the lighter undercolor shows through. While wet, drop in French ultramarine blue, a dark green, or purple to deepen the shadows. Notice how painting wet leaves the top of the tree looking distant and soft edged.
MIDDLE AND BACKGROUND GRASS
Background grass will have very little texture. You can add some tiny dots in the distance or some horizontal lines in the midground to suggest grass. You want to either add lines wet in wet or soften after putting them on dry paper. lines will be further apart as you get closer to foregorund. (perspective)
Here is the finished version of this painting with a figure painted in. Next time we'll work on different methods of painting grasses.
for a sneak peak at some videos on painting grass, see the following:
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