It’s Not Easy Seeing Green: Twelve Artists Share Their Favorites

The Terrace in Dubrovnik 47 x 59” Oil © Marc Dalessio

The Color Green

Mixing accurate and harmonious greens can be a real challenge for the painter. Trial and error and lots of practice often leads each artist toward developing favorite mixes of greens which they use reliably in their work. To add complexity to the subject, recent scientific research has revealed that men and women perceive greens differently. (See “Tomato Tomahto”). Different seasons and different climate zones can require modulations of the cool/warm relationships of the greens in our palettes, and we must be aware of these changes as we travel or the entire painting will be off. For example, spring greens can be shockingly bright against the muted winter colors often still present. These fading winter tones create a backdrop that allows the sparkle of spring colors to stand out for a few weeks. But it won’t be long before what we call “The Wall of Green” descends upon the landscape, and those br…