SEO For Artists

A palette of green can be both a joy and a bane to the landscape artist. Green can be a difficult color, if just because there are so many shades of it. Take a look at a distant forest.  The subtle difference apparent among the different tree species is evident. Notice too the differences among the grasses — manicured lawns or not so well tended lawns, fields and prairies.  Take time to notice too how those greens change on a sunny day versus a cloudy day or a rainy day. The atmosphere can affect these colors dramatically. I mention all of this so that as you’re planning your landscape painting to draw your attention to the effect of weather on a scene. Exaggerating these effects can add great impact to your work.

What observation should also convey is that one tube green isn’t enough. Granted, tube green like sap green or hookers green won’t necessarily give you realistic color, but for me, I like the convenience at times of beginning with one of these and making variations on the theme.  Some of my favorite mixers with these two are some of the earth tones like raw umber, burnt umber, and sepia. The umbers add a nice granulation that adds texture.  You will probably find that these colors give a more realistic tint to your mixed greens. When laying a first wash with these mixes, I also like to add a few bare patches of the earth tone for contrast.  Adding ultramarine blue can also add a nice touch, especially for creating cool distant greens or darker greens. I tend to use this palette of greens when the mood of the painting is more somber, more realistic.

Having said all this, I do need to mention that all that is labeled "sap green" is not the same. For this particular color, the variations can be quite different. My personal favorite is from Schmincke.  It’s a nice green to start with — good color that isn’t too bright and is transparent. Sometimes I will use it "as is", other times mix it. 

My favorite green of choice these days though is a mix of cadmium lemon and payne’s gray. It is an opaque mix, so is not right all of the time, but by varying the mix, I can create the wonderful greens of spring, an variation of oxide of chromium for heavier applications, and some nice cool greens.

For my painting, I like lots of options because I never know what mood the scene will be calling for or the mood that I’ll be in!