Saturday, October 31, 2009

Mixed greens

I know that everybodies monitor is calibrated differently but here are the various mixtures I have been describing. They all contain enough white to open up the note so you can tell what it looks like. Above is ultramarine and cadmium yellow. Every different manufacturers cadmium yellow is a different shade too, so there is another variable. Theses are all RGH colors in these examples. You will need to make your own samples if you want to study this. Below is ultramarine plus yellow ocher.

Below is pthalo blue plus cad yellow.

And pthalo plus ocher.

Then black plus cad. yellow.

And then black plus ochre.

Here is cobalt blue plus cad. yellow.

and cobalt plus yellow ochre.

And lastly I mixed a bright pink into a pthalo green.

I make and keep a tube of pink for subduing greens. You could use flesh color or cook up your own. Mine is very bright, but it is the opposite of a strong green as one makes out of pthalo. Williamsburg makes a color called Persian Rose that works very nicely. I use this and all my other reds to further modify the greens I have shown you above. By doing that I can get LOTS of different combination's. Notice the pink to green example gives a warm neutral in the middle.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

would that possibly be the custom pink you created which shall remain un-named?

Stapleton Kearns said...

Deb:
Yes, in fact it is.
...................Stape

Gregory Becker said...

Oh my goodness that pink and pthalo look GOOOOOOOD. I get butterflies when I see good color mixtures. My favorite mixture is alizarin crimson and cad yellow. Sometimes I mix that for fun.
Ok here's my question...When mixing compliments if one color pushes toward dark should the opposite push toward a light?

You dont have to answer these next rhetorical questions but here are the questions that pop in my head when I saw the rose and green mixture.

Is that rose as far away from white as that green is from black?

If that was a lighter green would you have chosen a darker red to mix with it?

Does the grey value that sits between the colors set them in a key?

Does your mind ever get flooded with those kinds of questions?

willek said...

I think we need to talk about your pink some more. Is it a cool red with white? or a Cad Red with white? Or both?

Joe Kazimierczyk said...

I find that mixing a tiny bit of red into my green mixtures makes a more natural looking green - cad red, alizarin, whatever - depending on the painting.

Good series of posts & thanks for posting the photos.

Mary Bullock said...

Great post, Stape - the photos really help to make it clear and easy to understand.

Stapleton Kearns said...

Gregory:

1 That depends.
2 no
3 I don't know
4 no
.................Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

I will discuss that in the post this evening.
.................Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

Joe:
Often that is the case, however sometimes with many of the greens I am suggesting they are already reddened by their percurser colors.
...........Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

Mary:

I try to be useful. I am too old and worn to be pretty.
.......Stape