In his book Clear Seeing Space, artist Brian Rutenberg says “Green is a colour that overtakes everything”. If you have ever painted a tree using green paint directly from the tube or pan, then you will know that feeling.

Follow or change

Anthony’s tree tutorial recommends using Lemon Yellow, Indian Yellow, Ultramarine, Cobalt, Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna. You may not have those exact colours in your watercolour palette, or you might prefer using different yellow, blues and earth tones. Either follow Anthony’s choices exactly, or change the colours. Figuring out what colours you get when mixing different paint requires a bit of experimentation.

Make a test chart

The sample below from Linda Purdy shows what happens when you mix yellows and earth colours with various traditional blues to get greens.

Our second sample does the same, but using only two blues, a warm (Daniel Smith French Ultramarine) and a cool (Windsor and Newton Prussian Blue). This chart explores the range of colour you can get when you start with yellow and then add a drop of blue at a time. The four yellows used were Windsor and Newton Lemon Yellow, Windsor and Newton Cadmium Yellow Pale, Daniel Smith Hansa Yellow Deep and Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold.

You could also get incredibly scientific and create a series of mixing charts like Jane Blundell.

There are also some pretty complex youtube videos on the subject here and here

Mix on the paper

You could mix the colours on the paper like Vandy does in these samples of painting trees without using green.

Our challenge

Our challenge this season, is to paint trees without opening a tube of green paint, but by experimenting with mixes of other colours and even by adding unconventional colours.

Post your experiments in the facebook group or email them to us at contactSEAW@gmail.com

We would love to see the variety and colours you can come up with.