Here are 10 things that I think you should know about the color Green, along with 10 sketchbook exercises and color studies for you to try:
1. The Greens in nature are extremely varied, ranging from the yellowish green of a fresh Boston lettuce, to the khaki green of a late summer tree, to the blue-green of a Colorado Blue Spruced. When you encounter a forest landscape, your first impression is that it is entirely green. But, if you really look -- really SEE it -- you will find that it contains many other color jewels within.
The color harmonies of Green mostly mark two of the seasons -- spring and summer. Think of spring's bright greens and yellow-greens, and summer's lush deep greens and blue-greens. The color of grass and leaves are constantly transformed by light and shadow, too.
Sketchbook Exercise #1 -- Draw a scene, with trees in your yard, in pen. Then, add some color with your watercolors. Write about your experience, in one sentence, on your page . . .
Now, go for a little hike or walk. Stop at a place that appeals to you, and draw some of the trees in ink. Write about where you are, and then add some color with watercolor -- either on the sport, or after you return home. . .
2. Natural Greens are predominantly warm, so Yellows and Reds need to be included in your Green mixtures. Greens are challenging, but they can be beautiful, can look natural, and can even be transparent.
Don't be afraid to use green, and don't use the same boring green everywhere. Try to use a colorful blend of Green mixtures and tube Greens. For colorful greens, mix Yellow and Green together first, and then naturalize the mix with a small amount of Rose.
Sketchbook Exercise #2 -- Draw a bird's eye view of a plant -- either a houseplant or a plant in your garden. Draw this in pencil, and then add some color with colored pencils . . .
3. Use both tube Greens and mixed Greens, but always add another color to your tube Greens. Many artists mix their greens, instead of finding the correct color in a tube for convenience. And, certain pigments, like Winsor (Phthalo) Green, are way too bright, overpowering, and unnatural to use alone. You may be better off mingling Yellows and Blues to get the Greens you want; however, you can also use tube Greens, like Sap Green, and add other colors to it.
Sketchbook Exercise #3 -- A helpful exercise for you to do is this mixing exercise. Draw a grid on watercolor paper. Label and put all your Yellows across the top (including Quinacridone Gold and Raw Sienna). Then, label and put all your Blues and your tube Greens down the side of the grid.
Paint the Yellows first -- all the vertical strips. You can be pretty bright with your Yellows. When those strips are dry, paint the Blues and Greens next -- all the horizontal strips. Stay very transparent with the Blues and Greens, so you can see what Greens your paints will produce.
4. Winsor Green (Phthalo/Thalo) is an unnatural color, when used alone -- with a strange, blue tinge. But it can still be a useful color for your palette. Phthalo Green is a cool, staining, transparent color, primarily used for mixing darks. Use Phthalo (Winsor) Green + Alizarin Crimson for your darkest greens. If you add equal parts Winsor Green and Alizarin Crimson, it becomes a beautiful Black.
For rich, dark greens, start with Phthalo Green, and add a Yellow to it, to get a very transparent dark. If this green mixture is too vibrant and unnatural, it can be tamed with a bit of Quinacridone Rose or Quinacridone Burnt Orange (either added to the mixture, or glazed on top). Also, a nice Yellow-Green can be made with Phthalo Green +Aureolin Yellow, with a touch of Quinacridone Rose, to make it look more natural. Mix the Phthalo Green and the Aureolin Yellow together first (you will need more yellow than green in this mix); then, add the Rose.
Try creating different dark greens, starting with Winsor Green, and adding various yellows. These mixed greens will be less harsh and more varied than using Winsor/Phthalo Green right out of the tube.
Sketchbook Exercise #4 -- Draw one or two trees, simplifying the shapes. Draw clumps of leaves and not individual leaves. Mingle the greens within the shapes, using some of the mixtures above.
5. Permanent Sap Green -- warm and transparent, nongranulating and nonstaining -- is a good choice of green for your palette. A basic transparent Green mixture is Sap Green + Aureolin Yellow. Then, add a touch of Rose for a natural landscape Green which stays transparent. You can neutralize Sap Green with a Rose or a Red, for a bronzy Green. Sap Green + Quinacridone Rose makes a nice Gray-Green.
Sketchbook Exercise #5 -- Draw some "Green" Flower Doodles, in pen. And then, color them with markers or watercolors.
6. Some suggestions for mixing interesting Greens:
- Mingle Sap Green + French Ultramarine, for middle value foliage or foliage in shadows.
- Mingle Sap Green + Quinacridone Rose to gray down foliage a little.
- Mingle Sap Green with Cobalt Blue + Quinacridone Gold for grass in sunlight.
- Mingle Sap Green with Quin. Burnt Orange + Phthalo Blue for an intense dark green.
- Mix Sap Green + Raw Sienna + Cobalt Blue for a gray-green.
- Don't use Yellow Ochre in a green mixture -- it's too opaque, so the mixture is not luminous.
- Don't add a 4th pigment to any mixture -- that's when your greens will get muddy and opaque.
- Whenever a green in your landscape is too vibrant or unnatural, it can be tamed with a bit of Rose or Burnt Sienna, (either added to the mixture, or glazed on top).
Sketchbook Exercise #6 -- Negative Painting of Foliage. Start with wet-in-wet underpainting. Draw some leaves of a houseplant, in the foreground. Then, mingle colors in the negative space. Draw the next layer of foliage, then mingle some more greens in the negative space. Continue for as many layers as you want . . .
7. Remember that your Warm Greens will come forward, visually. Try making your distant Greens slightly grayer and cooler (bluer).
To make your foreground foliage brighter and warmer, mix some Yellow and Burnt Orange into your Greens. Distant trees should be cooler and a little grayer, so add more Blue into the mix.
In fact, underpaint the foreground with a warm Yellow and the background with a light Blue, before painting any Greens.
Sketchbook Exercise #7 -- On a small piece of watercolor paper, use a resist (like masking fluid, or a wax crayon, or torn masking tape) to draw some wavy lines. Then paint a wet-in-wet wash, starting with warm greens at top and gradually moving to cool greens at bottom.
8. Green and Red are the warmest of the complements, and so, the most cheerful! Evenly matched partners (since they are both warm and both of a middle value) -- setting up a vibration when they touch, like optical glitter.
In even the most abstract art, Green reminds us of nature's greenery, and Red reminds us of its flowers.
If your green is overly bright, use a transparent glaze of Quinacridone Rose over it, to cut the intensity.
If you have a bright red in the background that needs to be calmed down -- use a very light glaze of Winsor Green over it.
Make your tree trunks reddish brown to make the leaves of the trees look brighter.
Sketchbook Exercise #8 -- Draw and paint some small studies of leaves. Make some Blue-Green, and lift out the veins. Make some of the leaves Red, with a Blue-Green background. Make some of the leaves Green with a warm Red background.
9. Using an analogous color scheme in a nature painting breaks up the monotony of green and creates excitement in your painting. Start with the main object's local color (green) and build an analogous color scheme around that. (Remember that analogous colors are next to each other on the color wheel.
Since the local color of leaves is green, use more yellow in the areas closest to the light source and more blues in the shadows.
Use analogous greens and yellows to dominate in a nature painting, with a touch of reddish brown added for contrast. (That is a foolproof color combo!)
Sketchbook Exercise #9 -- Do some contour line faces in black ink, on top of some green under paintings . . .
10. Try some "Optical Mixing", with Yellow and Blue -- where juxtaposed colors are blended by the viewer's eye. This is called Pointillism, and was used by Georges Seurat, a Post-Impressionist artist. To paint a large grassy area, he painted an undertone of Green, and then built up areas of light and shadow, using dots of Yellow, Orange, Violet, and Blue. This would be a good way to add some variety to a big area of Green in your painting.
Sketchbook Exercise #10 -- I actually want you to use your camera for this. Take some "Green" photos, to use as reference for future paintings, and for the Painting Challenge for this lesson. Take close-up shots of houseplants -- in your house, or a friend's house, or at a florist. Place special emphasis on the leaves, rather than the flowers.
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