The World is Full of Greens!

This is the time of year when you might feel inspired to go outdoors to paint.  Once outside, you may wonder, "How do I make all of those greens?!"

Consider creating your own library of greens like the one above.

I have a small palette for outdoor painting adventures.  It contains:

Ultramarine Blue (warm) & Phthalo Blue (cool).

Azo Yellow (warm) & Winsor Lemon Yellow (cool).

Yellow Ochre & Burnt Sienna (warm earth tones).

Look at the wide array of greens above I can make with those colors!

I paired each of my blues with each of my yellows.  I painted a swatch of the blue at one end, and painted the rest of the band in yellow.  Then I made a puddle of the yellow in my mixing tray, and began adding dabs of blue.  After each dab of blue, I swatched the green onto the spectrum, so the greens get progressively more blue going to the right.

I also mixed Phthalo Blue with Burnt Sienna to create a rich, pine green.

Give this a try! You'll end up with a great reference sheet of greens you can mix to paint your next sketch or painting.

Out on Raccoon Creek State Park Lake, painting the morning sun shining through the trees, my experience mixing colors came in handy.

Happy Creating!