The Power of Colour 6: Red and Green

February 9, 2021

Hard and soft edges; colours allowed to mix on the paper; Vermilion, Alizarin Crimson, Sap Green, Phthalocyanine Green

This week I just took a little time exploring how two reds, one closely related to orange, Vermilion and the other Alizarin Crimson, closer to purple, mixed and related to two very different greens, Sap Green which is much more yellow that Phthalocyanine Green which leans toward blue.

This is the same watercolour with swatches of the four different pigments superimposed.
Middle has Sap green and Crimson Alizarin squares.
Right has Phthalo Green and Vermilion squares.
Look at how differences in tone and differences in hue determine how bright or dull each square appears in its surroundings. See how the top left red square in the middle image almost disappears and how bright the pure vermilion in the image looks against a complementary dark green and also against a very dark tone in the image on the right. Even the top left Vermilion square looks subdued against reds that are more like it with regard to hue and tone.

**The Scarf Mix 1**
Sadly where the spots were painted against their complementary colour, even though these were very de-saturated (impure), a black line appeared where some of the paint mixed. However this dark line does make the spots glow!

**The Scarf Mix 2 with Collaged Spots**
The dark line of the first scarf image was eliminated by digitally collaging spots of the same pure colour with no outline. There is still a slight optical illusion of a dark edge, especially on the Phthalo Green spot on the impure Crimson Alizarin mix, due to after images making the edge “vibrate”.
Look at how all these spots glow from their de-saturated surroundings and
how much brighter they appear than the same dots of colour on the white ground to the left.

Each Quadrant of the scarf was painted with only two colours.
The left pair share Vermilion
The right pair share Crimson Alizarin
I was not surprised by the darks or brownish colours but really enjoyed the near purple colours achieved with Phthalo Green and Crimson Alizarin

You may have different greens and reds in your paint box. Take some time to discover how near to orange or purple s each red is and how near to yellow or blue each green is.

Viridian, Phthalocyanine Green, Cobalt green and Prussian Green are all examples of greens nearer to blue. Sap Green is a more yellow green and Hooker’s Green is much bluer than Sap Green but more yellow than Phthalo Green.

Vermilion, and Cadmium Red Pale are much nearer to orange than Crimson Alizarin, Quinacridone Rose and Magenta and you may have other reds which are somewhere between the two.

Before homing in on the green and red pigments you choose for your painting subjects this week find which combinations will be best suited by experimenting a little.

Have a look at this week’s Pinterest board at

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jhall1282/the-power-of-colour/red-and-green/

In each example make a note of how the red and green pigments are being employed and how they interact. Observe how red looks when surrounded by dark, pale tones, by similar hues and by complementary colours both pale greens, dark greens, yellow greens and bluer greens.

Practical

Choose only two from the following list and make two paintings incorporating one in each. That doesn’t mean to say the other items won’t be present but I would like you to have one main theme for each painting, just as a story may involve one main character and a couple of supporting roles. Don’t feel you have to do two paintings. One well thought out composition is really worthwhile.

A bright red line winding a bright way through a green and a very close blue green of similar tone
A painting with very equal amounts of red and green
A painting that is almost all green with a tiny flash of red or a painting with a large area of red with a little green.
A painting where the colours adjacent to each other are just slightly different but span the range between red and green. This should involve a lot of mixing either wet in wet or on the palette/overlaying colours.
A painting with huge tonal differences.

You may use white pure in areas and in mixes, and your paintings may be representational or abstract. The medium is up to you. Try to make dark tones by mixing the appropriate reds and greens and use black only if essential.

Think very carefully about how many greens you wish/need to work with and how many reds. The illustrations will give you some idea of the scope of using only four pigments but you may wish to explore lots of greens in a painting and only one red for instance. Try to have a reason for your choices.

After a while it becomes intuitive to just go for the “right” colour knowing how it will appear on its own and in mixes, and you will definitely begin to enjoy using some pigments more than others. I firmly believe that individual colour choices and combinations form as much of the identity of an artist as the shapes and lines he produces. (“he” being used in the universal mankind sense here.) Think this has already been born out in the last few weeks by those who prefer orange and blue to yellow and violet and vice versa!

Your paintings;