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Inspiration * Ideas * Instructions Watercolor for you © July 2014 July BRING LIFE INTO YOUR GREENS Mixing Complements vs Optical Complements Watercolor Tips & Techniques Lighting Tips Issue 3 Issue Keep your eye on the Horizon - the importance of a horizon line in your landscapes. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the copyright holder. Jim Black , creator and owner of Watercolor For Me And Jim’s Watercolor Gallery Copyright 2014 BRING LIFE INTO YOUR GREENS Do you have all the greens you want (no not the kind in your billfold)? Greens are probably the most challenging of all colors to mix. Do your attempts to make green result in dull, grayed mixtures? Or, do your greens become thick and chalky from over-mixing? Even when a bright green is finally attained, does it seem too artificial for a landscape green? Sadly, some watercolorists solve the problem by avoiding the use of green altogether. But if you skirt around greens with substitutes, then you are missing out on some distinctive coloring. The secret to conquering greens is the choice of pigments and the sequence in which the colors are . mixed. Greens made with yellow ochre are not as luminous Lets start with a mixture of Viridian PG18 as greens made with Aureolin yellow PY40. and Aureolin PY40. Best pigments to mix green: I recommend that you start with Aureolin yellow (yes, I know it is expensive) but it is very transparent and offers many advantages over say a cheap yellow pigment like Yellow Ochre PY43. Greens made with this yellow will not be as luminous as a green made with Aureolin yellow). Red Showing Ochre to be opaque & Aureolin . transparent The mixing sequence and ratio now become vital to counteract the cool effect of Viridian The next step is to slightly modify, or "naturalize", the intensity of the basic mixture. Add some red - but only a small touch. Again, the ratio is important. If you use too much red, the green will become dull. Try these reds : Rose Madder Genuine, Permanent Rose, Cadmium Red, added to the basic batch of vibrant green (made with Viridian and Aureolin). See how easily the mixture is transformed into a natural landscape green. Rose Madder Genuine is very transparent, and the green mixture always remains transparent without danger of becoming mud. If you need a very cold dark green, Permanent Alizarin Crimson is a good choice. Why? That red is a very cool red because it contains Blue. As you can see, it is not always the colors used but the way they are used. For colorful greens, develop a habit of adding yellow and green together first, then Here is a group of other transparent yellows with naturalizing it. their pigment code number. Winsor yellow PY154, Winsor lemon PY175, Transparent Yellow PY150, New Gamboge PY153 (Substitute for Aureolin). If you do not use Winsor &Newton paints , just look for the given pigment codes on your tubes. The names maybe different, manufacturers can call their colors any name they wish, but they cannot change the pigment code color. Welcome to the land of confusion. Just use the pigment code and you will be fine. Lets start with a mixture of Viridian PG18 and Aureolin PY40 For an inventory of even richer, deeper greens, use the same mixing procedure but substitute Dip your brush into Aureolin yellow and mix it with Winsor Green for Viridian. Because Winsor Viridian before continuing. Try to keep this mixture Green has more carrying power than Viridian, it as luminous as possible. This basic batch of color is gives you very transparent darks. It also stains transparent, warm and bright - too bright, actually, the paper, but since most darks are added as for many greens found in nature. the watercolor is completed, the dark areas are already known. Since Aureolin yellow is transparent, it will not muddy the darks. This time, establish a vivid basic mixture using Aureolin Yellow and Winsor Green. Make a middle value mixture using light red, With the exception of Rose Madder Genuine, followed by darker mixtures with Cadmium Red add different red pigments, as before, to and with Indian Red, which yield yet more greens. naturalize the green. (Because Winsor Green is highly saturated and stronger than most For the absolutely darkest green possible, add pigments, it would be foolish to mix the Alizarin Crimson. Although the transparent weaker Rose Madder Genuine with it.) Aureolin Yellow has little effect in deepening the dark mixtures, it will enrich the result and prevent the greens from looking lifeless. THIS SHORT REPORT WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU PAINT FOREVER!!! Most books get this wrong I am about to change the way you look at and think about color. This much you already know, pairs of complementary colors serve as two functions. 1) for making neutrals. As the two colors that are opposite one another on the color wheel march across the wheel to meet each other, they produce some very interesting neutrals. 2) You can use them for visual color enhancement. You have been told for the last few hundred years to place complements next to each other to make colors appear even more brilliant. You have seen the examples in books of the two squares painted with the same color and one surrounded by its complement to illustrate how it looks a little more brilliant. there is no doubt that it does. But most Artists are misinformed about the actual colors of complement . They know all about opposites on the color wheel ,which we shall call MIXING COMPLEMENTS , but nothing about OPTICAL COMPLEMENTS. This is where the Victorian Theory about complements falls apart. This theory is in all the books I have ever seen, and for that matter ,you have ever seen. Mixing Complements vs Optical Complements Optical Wins Ogden Rood in his book "Modern Chromatics" 1880 named the correct colors of the complementary pairs, which he called "Contrast Colors". This was the first mention of Optical Complements . Not many took any notice of his findings. And Artists, today, still do not. Years later, Doctors of Ophthalmology, studying diseases of the eye and visual system, started I am betting the farm that you have always been looking at a phenomenon known as “simultaneous taught the complement to Blue is Orange. It is contrast”, which is related to how the eye works. the mixing complement, but not the best choice for vibrant color. Then there was Ellen Marx, with her book You are now going to throw out "Mixing "Optical Color and Simultaneity. Complements" for bright color contrast and start using "Optical Complements“. The book is very HEAVY reading. At least it was for In other words, the brain/eye sees color a little me, when I started reading it in 1984. differently than previously thought. I wonder if that was the main reason that every Optical Complements, used for color enhancement, painting book never mentions the findings of are pairs of colors that make each one appear more modern day scientists and the Marx book, and still vibrant when they are painted contiguously (i.e., rely on Victorian Thinking. Blue will appear more vibrant if placed side by side with the color. YELLOW (the Optical complement of After reading it many times ,it slowly began to Blue). While Orange is the Mixing Complement to make sense. At one time I took the book to my Blue. trusty Ophthalmologist. He confirmed both authors knew what they were writing about. But the books were not for the lay person. The good news is that, if you use the right optical complements (in place of the old mixing complements ) in your paintings they will be more I am going to do my very best to explain to you exquisite and dazzling than ever before. how to make colors in your painting really “pop” ,neither authors used that word…… Oh well ! Only use mixing complements for great neutrals. But, do not use as you have previously, side by YOU ARE GOING TO THROW OUT THE OLD IDEA side or in the close proximity of the subject OF MIXING COMPLEMENTS AND START USING matter. THE BETTER MODERN WAY OPTICAL COMPLEMENTS. Optical complements do a much better job when surrounding the subject Optical Complement and Mixing Complement of Colors Color you are using OPTICAL COMPLEMENT MIXING COMPLEMENT Prussian Blue PB27 Raw Sienna PBr7 Quinn Burnt Orange PO48 Phthalo Blue RS-PB15.1 Cadmium Yellow PY 35 Cadmium Orange PR108+PY35 Phthalo Blue GS-PB15.3 Gold Ochre PY42 Cadmium Scarlet PO108 Cerulean Blue PB35 Winsor Orange PO62 Burnt Sienna PBr7 Manganese Blue PB33 Winsor Orange PO62 Burnt Sienna PBr7 Ultramarine Blue PB29 Transparent Yellow PY150 Indian Yellow PY153+PO62 Cobalt Blue PB28 Cadmium Yellow PY153/PY35 Winsor Orange PO62 Phthalo Green PG7 Thioindigo Violet PR88 Permanent Alizarin Crimson PR206 Viridian PG18 Cadmium Scarlet PR108 Red PR254 Hookers Green PG36 Violet PV23 Winsor Red PR254 Sap Green PG36+PY110 Dioxazine Violet PV23 Thioindigo Violet PR8 Winsor Lemon PY175 Cobalt Blue Deep PB74 Ultramarine Violet PV15 Transparent Yellow PY150 Winsor Blue/R.S. PB15 Winsor Violet PV23 Winsor Yellow Deep PY65 Winsor Blue/R.S. PB15 Ultra Marine Blue PB29 Hansa Yellow PY3 French Ultramarine PB29 Ultramarine Violet PV15 Scarlet Lake PR188 Turquoise Blue PB15.3 Cerulean Blue PB35 Permanent Rose PV19 Winsor Green PG7 Phthalo Green PG36 Cobalt Violet PV49 Yellow Green PY175 Green Gold PY129 Perinone Orange PO43 Winsor Blue PB15 Cerulean Blue PB35 This is a group of weeds that I spotted while walking in a meadow.