Paynes Prairie Palms
8x10 inches
casein on panel
SOLD
See my paintings HERE
Painters Tip
Tree Color
One of the most challenging subjects in using color is a scene with groups of trees and green grass. This looks all the same to an untrained eye.
It is lighter and warmer in temperature where the sun hits,cooler and darker in shadow. New growth is lighter and brighter. There is a world of variety in greens in any scene. You must learn to see and paint these diverse shades of green, not only lighter and darker but more blue, gray, yellow, red and combined in the same tree. Don’t forget the infinite value possibilities too.
Using these possibilities can make a typical boring scene come to life.
I live in Florida where everything is green, so learning to give greens life and zip is essential. Start a tree mixing project and mix all of the possible combinations of yellow with blue, black, white orange and red. Use cool and warm reds, cool and warm blues and cool and warm yellows.
2 comments:
Green truly is the most difficult color to mix. I just finished a workshop with Ovanes Berberian, and he confirmed that both he and his mentor, Serge Bongart, found greens the most challenging of all.
I personally think most people paint greens in light too acidic, raw, and blue. Mixing a warm orange in greens (like a Hansa Yellow-Orange or Indian Yellow) really helps to tone down greens, as does black. I know Ken Auster mixes his dark greens with Black + Cad Yellow Light, and they harmonize perfectly with almost anything else in the picture.
Ed,
Interesting that you bring up black, because i am a huge fan of black for mixing. I recently taught a workshop where the students told me that other teachers told them never to use black. They looked at me like I was from Mars because I told them I was a black fan. I love it for greens!!! Also for the most beautiful mohogany and chocolate browns, and let's not leave out the many blues and grays that black will enhance. A useful color indeed. After i did some color mixing with them, they had changed their minds. Thank you for your always insightful comments. Love your blog too.
Love,
Linda
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