Green

I really do love the color green.  Depending on the shade, it can be refreshing, calming, healing, expansive . . .alive! In watercolor painting, the trick of mixing a good green is to use colors with the same 'temperature', meaning you use either all cool colors or all warm colors, not some of both.  If you mix a warm yellow with a cool blue, the outcome will be muddy.  And muddy color can be a disaster, because part of the magic of watercolor is the transparency, allowing the white of the paper to shine through.

These oak leaves are a very cool, bluish green.  So my leaf formula is veridian green (a dark, cool green) mixed with a tiny bit of indian red (which is more brown than red), and to add brightness, a bit of cool lemon yellow.  Later I'll paint shaddows and dark areas with a wash of permanent rose mixed with ultramarine blue.  Another cardinal rule of color mixing is not to use too many different colors.  You keep it as simple as you can to avoid the dreaded Mud Situation.  So I have to watch it . . . sometimes I get carried away!

Some artists get their desired colors by applying very thin washes of color straight from the tubes.  A blue wash over a yellow wash will look green, for example.  You have to be really patient and meticulous, keeping your brush clean and waiting until each layer dries before applying the next layer.  You also have to have an exceptional knowledge of color theory because you are mixing your colors essentially right on your painting -- risky business if you ask me!  As you can see from my palette, I mix my colors first on the paint tray, often testing them on spare strips of paper before I apply paint to the painting.  It gives me more of a sense that I'm in control of the situation.

I'm still working on the form of the leaves.  They don't yet look alive, but they do look like leaves!  so far I am pleased with how it is coming along...