A 14-colour Granulating Earth pocket palette

Following on from the previous post about a 7-colour earth palette, I looked at the 'extras' I carry in my little Pocket Palette. (Note all watercolours are Daniel Smith)

I normally set it up with 14 of my Ultimate Mixing Colours as picture left (more information here and here), but my 'extras' version had hansa yellow light, phthalo blue RS and pyrrol scarlet (since they are not in my regular palettes and I sometimes need to demonstrate them) and a whole pile of earthy colours - almost a perfect earth palette in fact.

It had a number of pigments that I love for different reasons, and may want to paint with along with my regular palette - the basic 20 colours that I generally use. The yellows in my regular palette are Hansa Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Gold, Goethite and raw umber.


The extras were -
yellow ochre - which I like to use for landscapes or portraits
raw sienna - which mixes into a grey rather than a green with blues - good for skies, though also for skin-tones
transparent red oxide - which I love for its gorgeous burnt orange colour and crazy granulation
piemontite genuine - which is fabulous for rusty effects with transparent red oxide
cobalt blue - which is a beautiful colour that I don't use much (outside Santorini!) and want to get to know better
cobalt turquoise - which is lovely for copper effects and the sea
green apatite genuine - which is gorgeous for foliage, and is a multiplicity of greens in one pigment
serpentine genuine - which is perfect for grassy meadows
graphite - which intrigues me, though I don't often use it...
sodalite genuine - which has a little deep blue colour but lots of granulation
lunar black - which is the only black watercolour I use - fantastic granulation and texture

I wanted of keep most of these colours in their natural form, so they are still available when I need them, but turn the palette into a full stand-alone granulating earthy palette to paint with rather than just an extras palette.

So I added buff titanium, Indian red and cerulean chromium from my regular palette, instead of the hansa yellow, pyrrol red and graphite grey. I have also added the gentle potter's pink that is a long time favourite of Liz Steel that I have rarely used, as a granulating dusty rose (instead of the powerful phthalo blue RS that would overpower this new earth palette). It will mix gentle purples with cobalt blue. Purpurite genuine was another possibility here.



Cobalt blue is arguably too bright for this palette, and Blue apatite genuine would be a very fitting alternative, but I do want to get to know cobalt blue better so it is staying :-)

Outside the 14-colour palette paint-out, you can see that up the top I have also painted the lovely earthy mix of Quin Gold and Goethite, (I guess that would be Jane's Granulating gold :-) and the mix of Transparent Red Oxide and Burnt Sienna (Jane's Sienna) that are both in the 7-colour palette I posted about here.

Below are Graphite Grey, Hematite Genuine and Jane's Grey, which are alternatives for the dark colours, with VanDyck brown over on the right.

If I were suggesting a 12-colour granulating earth palette, it would have my Granulating Gold mix instead of Yellow Ochre and Raw Sienna, my burnt sienna mix, Indian Red alone (without Piemontite or Potter's Pink) and a deep granulating brown such as Van Dyck Brown instead of Lunar Black. Though of course Blue apatite genuine and Jadeite genuine are also gorgeous :-) The basic triad of a yellow earth, Indian red and cerulean are the starting point. How many you add to it is all about personal taste and what other pigments you happen to have or to like.

Now it's time to go out and paint with my new granulating earth pocket palette...

I went to a park in Rozelle and chose to paint the rocks on the shore. Not a challenging subject with an earthy palette I'll admit! It worked fine, but don't like to be missing Jane's Grey from my palette. Sodalite is interesting but not actually as versatile as my grey mix. Nor do I like missing ultramarine to be honest, even though cobalt blue works in a similar though gentler way. Nor quinacridone gold or goethite. So what have I learnt? That I am very stubborn! I have favourites because I love working with them. Why change? It's important to experiment and test things out, even if one returns to the status quo.

I'll keep my earthy 14 colour palette made up of course, but will continue to use them as extras to my usual set.

Watercolour Comparisons 5 - Greens

While there are many artists who do not have a green in their palette, I am not one of them! I paint too many botanicals to keep away from greens.

Here I will cover a range of single pigment greens, convenience green mixtures and wonderful special effect greens. You can also see them all, and more, on my website here. You can also see a long paintout of 12 of the most interesting on YouTube here

Single Pigment Greens

There are many single pigment greens. Some are transparent and/or staining. Others are granulating. The advantage of using single pigment greens is that you don't have a multitude of pigments in the mix if you then mix them with other colours.

Below are 3 examples of Viridian on the left. I prefer the DaVinci or W&N. The Daniel Smith version is a disappointment and doesn't rewet well - best used fresh or add some glycerin to the paint well and stir if setting up in a palette. Viridian is a softer, granulating and liftable version of Phthalo Green. It is lovely for florals but doesn't have the power of phthalo green PG7, which is a very staining pigment. 

Phthalo Green Yellow Shade is a more neutral green. Made with PG36 it is very popular but not a colour I choose to use. None of these greens is really useful alone - they are generally best mixed with a yellow or a yellow ochre/earth to create realistic greens. (For more on mixing greens see my website here.)

Single Pigment Greens - Viridian PB18 by Da Vinci, Daniel Smith and Winsor & Newton;
Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) PG7 by W&N, Da Vinci, W&N and Daniel Smith;
Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade) by Daniel Smith and Winsor and Newton.

Below are a number of other single pigment greens. Some are useful alone, some are wonderful in mixes. I particularly like Perylene Green PBk31 for deep passages in florals or landscapes, Green Gold PY129 for florals, Green Apatite Genuine for wonderful granulation in landscapes and Jadeite for landscapes and as an alternative to phthalo green BS.

Top from left: Rare Green Earth DS, Perylene Green DS, Perylene Green W&N, Cobalt Green DS,
Verona Green Earth Liquitex, Green Gold OH, Green Gold DR, 
Green Gold W&N and Rick Green Gold DS .
Bottom from left: Ziosite Genuine DS, Malachite Genuine DS, Bohemian Green Earth DS, Jadeite Genuine DS,
Diopside Genuine DS, Green Apatite Genuine DS, Serpentine Genuine DS, Oxide of Chromium W&N and
Chromium Green Oxide DS.

Mixtures

Green mixtures may include two, three or even four pigments. These may well misbehave if mixed with other colours - it just gets to be too many pigments - but they can be popular and convenient.

Top from left: Sap Green Lake OH, Permanent Green DS, Permanent Green Pale MG, Spring Green DS,
Permanent Green Light DS, Phthalo Yellow Green DS, Green Gold DS, Leaf Green Holbein
Bottom from left: Olive Green W&N, Olive Green DS ( PB29+PY97+PBr7), Sap Green Deep DS,
Cadmium Green Light OH, Undersea Green DS, Hooker's Green DS, Sap Green AS, Hookers Green W&N.

From left: Prussian Green DS, Sap Green DV, Terre Verte Hue DR, Hooker's Green Light Lake OH,
Australian Leaf Green Dark AS, Cascade Green DS, Terre Verte DS, Permanent Sap Green W&N

So why include greens in a palette? They are easy to mix, but that takes additional time and space in your mixing palette. You could mix your own from tube colours and have your favourites ready to go, or buy one that you like, or just mix as you need them. As a painter of botanical themes I like to have some premixed but realistic greens so my leaves all look as though they belong to the same plant when I paint them and I am not constantly mixing more and more of the same colour.

How else are they useful?

If you only have one green in your palette, make it phthalo green BS (or Jadeite if you want a granulating alternative). This will neutralise your crimson to make deep shadow and aubergine tones and can be neutralised with crimson to make deep Prussian green and Perylene green hues. It will mix with a warm yellow or and earth yellow to make a nice version of sap green. It will mix with phthalo blue or ultramarine to make turquoise. It will mix with a cool yellow to make very bright greens, should you want them.

If you have two greens, make one warm and one cool so add a yellow-green such as green gold (PY129) or Sap Green or even the gorgeous granulating Green Apatite Genuine for some lovely effects in your painting. Another interesting option that I use a lot in Australia is Undersea Green by Daniel Smith - Ultramarine and Quinacridone Gold. This dark olive green is perfect for so many of the dull greens of Australia, especially gum leaves.

I have 4 or 5 greens in my 24 colour plein air palette, which is a lot - Phthalo green BS, Undersea Green (convenience mixture), Sap Green (convenience mixture), Perylene Green and sometimes Rich Green Gold PY129. (All Daniel Smith, though for the single pigment colours other brands would do.)

I also have Jadeite, Green Apatite Genuine, Ziosite Genuine and Serpentine Genuine and in an extra's palette for granulation  These first two are also wonderful in a limited palette for their multiple uses - Jadeite washes down to a very soft green or makes a deep green comparable with Perylene green. As a 'blue' green it also doubles for phthalo green as stated above and neutralises a crimson. Green apatite genuine is equally versatile - a green gold really watered down, a sap green in a medium wash but in mass-tone it is a wonderful deep olive green with amazing granulation. So why not just use these two for everything? Sometimes I don't want the granulation, simple as that. But in a limited palette of 12 or even 16 they are wonderful.

Enjoy your greens!

Watercolour Comparisons 1 - Ultramarine Blue here
Watercolour Comparisons 2 - mid yellows here
Watercolour Comparisons 3 - Primary Red here
Watercolour Comparisons 4 - Burnt Sienna here
Watercolour Comparisons 5 - Greens (Single Pigment, convenience mixes and special effect) here
Watercolour Comparisons 6 - Reds (Cool, mid and warm) here
Watercolour Comparisons 7 - Yellows (cool mid and warm) here
Watercolour Comparisons 8 - Blues here
Mixing with Phthalo Green here
Mixing with single pigment greens here

Boyd's Rocks - theme and variations

I went to Bundanon in 2011and painted a sketch of the rocks on the Shoalhaven River that Arthur Boyd painted over and over in so many ways. I had no desire to copy his style or techniques, especially since he was painting in oils where I am using watercolour, but have ended up creating a few large landscapes based on them.

Plein air sketch of Boyd's 'Rock Quartet', 2011.

It was incredibly peaceful sitting on the edge of the river. The water really was a deep gold as it reached the beach below me. Perfect colour - quinacridone gold.

The cliff behind was rather interesting, but I also loved the strong shadows against the light coloured rocks. I used Buff Titanium and bistre for them.

'Boyd's Rock Quartet, Shoalhaven River' 2012

I wanted to focus on the wonderful colour of the sky and the water in this painting. Australian skies are so often a lovely deep warm blue.

'Boyd's Rock Quartet II'  2012

In this one I wanted to really focus on the rocks and the line-work of the cliff. I had fun with a dagger brush for the linework. I really enjoyed using the granulating primate colours by Daniel Smith - Green Apatite Genuine and Serpentine Genuine. They are a whole range of colours in one. I have no problem mixing greens but I can't mix to create this level of granulation!

I did another of these - almost the same - as this one sold before I could exhibit it. And I tried it in acrylic too. I love painting rocks.