How To Mix Greens

Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!

Since I like sharing my learnings here on YouTube, that's what I am doing today too. A while ago I took a workshop from Barcelona-based artist Santi Sallés. Part of the workshop was capturing natural greens. He actually has written a whole book about it: "Verde Al Natural." I can recommend it - even if you don't speak any Spanish, you'll be inspired and learn a lot just by looking at his art.

During the workshop, I learned a lot about mixing greens with watercolors, and that's what we'll do today. Grab your watercolor set and discover how many greens you can mix with the colors in your palette. You might be surprised how much variety your colors bring when you start mixing!

The watercolors in my palette, all from the brand Daniel Smith:

Hansa Yellow Medium
New Gamboge (= warm yellow)
Monte Amiata Natural Sienna
Quinacridone Gold
Sap Green
Hooker’s Green
Cerulean Blue, Chromium
Ultramarine Blue
Indigo
Van Dyck Brown
Italian Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Permanent Red Deep
Quinacridone Rose
Transparent Pyrrol Orange

Resources:

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Materials used in this video:

Copyrights Koosje Koene

[betsybangley]

Thank you for this inspiring video on color mixing! I'm impressed by how closely you matched Santi Salles' greens! Great tips👍

[AprilSanPedro]

This is so helpful and inspiring to play with. I also wander why some people love Viridian. But when I found that it’s mixable, it made me want to buy it too. Thankfully this video inspired me that I can stick with my own palette already since I can still mix it with other colors too. 🌈😊

[stephanaal]

Thanks for this, Koosje. I ordered the book right after the video and got it yesterday ... pretty fast!. It's a work of art in itself ... lots of really good examples from a very experienced artist. I loved the fact that all the images are hand drawn and painted .. plants, trees, leaves, tubes of paint, mixing diagrams... Thanks very much for your video and for steering me towards this excellent book.

[charmde]

Your videos are really helpful in my art journey. Thank you so much.

[NinaSChronicles]

This was so helpful to me. I have lots of work to do to get to know my palette!!

[peev]

I like your curiosity, approach, and the outcomes…

[JF-kvgm]

This is a great video, Koosje, and something that I need to dedicate some time to - getting to know my colours well and discovering how they interact.

[annburlin]

Thank you for this video and can't wait for your book!

[eclecticmoi]

Thank you Koosje, I just learned so much about mixing colour! Looking forward to you book :)

[wademfp]

Thanks for this Koosje! I can’t wait to get out and give this mixing a try.

[JurjenMelinga]

Viridian green is a really nice colour for mixing green hues for painting the sea.

[eileenreillyarts]

I know I don't like viridian or phthalo but they are great for mixing. I did a video of my favourite greens recently so I loved seeing this.

[aru_plou]

Wow you have such a beautiful art style

[annepercival]

Thankyou Koosje….very interesting mixes

[katekelner]

Great video. So encouraging and such good information. Thankyou

[karenkay]

This was a great little tutorial! Making your own mixes is so much fun. In your little tin, did you glue down the pans? I'm getting ready for a trip and want to make myself a traveling kit using tube WC paints I already own and new, empty pans. I'm concerned about the pans shifting around inside the tin and wonder if I should glue them down.

[parkametrist]

I never understood why Sennelier made a two pigment paint of their Viridian Green (PG18 and PG 7). Most professiional brands only use PG18 (The pigment historically known as Viridian). Mijello's Viridian only uses PG7 (The pigment historically known as Phtalocyanine Green) . It just seems more logical to use only one pigment in a color that's known to be used for mixing only. Is it in your opinion true that the more pigments a paint uses, the quicker it muddies up when you mix with it, Koosje?

[edzejandehaan]

Yeah, viridian green(pg7) toned down with burned umber is my "go to" mossy green.
Pg 7 is a horrible color pure (in my humble opinion), but it mixes great, it's very versatile, it tints very strongly (phtalo green is the right name, real viridian is something else, in my set it's called emerald green, all the same pg7)
Paired with bright lemon yellow makes nice sap green. I would never use it unmixed, brrr
I very much agree with your opinion to keep the palette relatively small.