Green Favorites

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Many of the most common and well-known green watercolor paints consist of two or more pigments. Sap green is one such example—it’s included in most ready-made watercolor sets. Sap green is usually a mix of phthalo green and some kind of yellow. Another example is the somewhat more intense Hooker’s green, which uses the same base as sap green but often also includes a red pigment.

Without having conducted a scientific survey of all watercolor paints, I would estimate that a little more than half of all green paints on the market are mixed. Judging by what I see in beginners’ paint boxes during my courses, mixed green colors are much more popular than single-pigment greens.

Personally, I don’t like paints made with multiple pigments. They limit the possibilities for mixing—being able to mix my own colors is absolutely essential to how I use watercolors. So all the popular multi-pigment greens are not among my favorites.

I usually mix my various greens using blue and yellow, sometimes with a small amount of cool red. So green isn’t a particularly important color for me, but sometimes it’s needed. In this text, I’ll highlight my favorite green paints.

Viridian

Viridian is a development of Chromium Oxide Green, which is a color I dislike. Viridian, however, is a much more pleasant green, though it can’t be used straight from the pan or tube. Its unnaturally cool tone makes it unsuitable unmixed, but with just a touch of yellow it becomes a beautiful, natural-looking green. The aggressive color tone softens immediately with a bit of yellow, and a hint of red may also work in the mix. Viridian is heavily granulating, so I often use it together with other similar colors, like French Ultramarine or Cobalt Blue, as well as genuine earth colors.

Phthalo Green Yellow Shade

Another cool green that must be mixed to be useful—I use it in much the same way as Viridian, but alongside modern synthetic pigments. This paint doesn’t granulate and is very staining. I prefer the yellow shade because it is the perfect complementary color to the primary red Quinacridone Rose. The more common blue shade turns into a violet-black when mixed with that red.

Serpentine Genuine

This is a beautiful color even when used unmixed, which sets it apart from the previously mentioned paints. It granulates heavily and creates unpredictable patterns on the paper. It works best when used alongside other granulating colors. It’s a very lovely green, though unfortunately a bit expensive, and currently only one major manufacturer produces it: Daniel Smith.

Perylene Green

This is a black-green with roughly the same hue as Phthalo Green Yellow Shade, but nearly black. It’s a color that can be useful when a very dark green is needed. I don’t use it often, but I appreciate its usefulness in certain paintings.

Other Greens

There are a few other greens I use only occasionally—such as various earth greens (PG23) and a few cobalt greens. All of these are granulating and fairly weak in tinting strength. I do use them from time to time, but rarely. Daniel Smith offers several expensive green mineral pigments—some of which I use now and then. However, I never use the popular mixed green colors.