It Isn't Easy Mixing Greens--Part 2

The last few days were spent mixing greens for the lily pond painting talked about in the last blog. The painting is now done--and I have to say that I really like this one. It was a challenge and I believe it stretch my green palette. Painting outside again will tell. That will happen this week when the weather gets really nice.

As mentioned before, it's always a good idea to add the complement colors to really give the brain something to absorb. After all, just looking at various shades of green could be a bit boring. Here's the completed painting...



I used my red and blue Plexiglas "spy" glass to continually check if I was getting a good value range in the painting. The ultimate way to check this is to take a Black and White picture and match it up to the shadow and light area foundation that you did at the start of the painting. This way you can check your painting to see if you held true to the original under painting. Here's the black and white photo:




As you can see there is a very good range of values here. Here's the original foundation painting:



Comparing the black and white to the shadow blocked picture, I think I actually improved the light and shadow areas. In any case, the important thing is that I like this painting and I believe it helped expand my green palette and the mixing of green colors.

Hope you enjoyed the painting as much as I enjoyed painting it. The real test for the practice of mixing green exercise I did is the transfer of the knowledge gained into the field. Next up--outdoor sessions again!
Peace,
Linda