The Challenge Of Spring Greens

I love painting the fresh, bright greens of early springtime. With the first sniff of warmth in the air and a hint of green on the trees, I pack up my oils and favourite brushes from Rosemary’s Ivory Range and head to the woods to paint the bluebells. A couple of long filberts and a no.4 rigger are all I need for working on location.

In order to paint really fresh colours, choose a cool blue, such as Cerulean Blue and Lemon Yellow. Yes, they make very bright, vibrant green initially but by adding just a tiny bit of complimentary red you can “naturalise” this towards a softer spring green.

Using this approach you control the colour and with practice will soon be mixing with confidence. For darker greens, I prefer Cobalt Blue as my base colour again with either Lemon or a warmer Yellow such as Azo Deep or Indian Yellow.

So now, rather than avoiding greens, load up your paint box and set off to capture this lovely time of year.

See more of Melanie’s work on her website here.