How to Master Mixing Green

Master your summer landscapes and garden still lifes without getting overwhelmed!

Have You Struggled With Greens in Your Paintings?

You're not alone!

If you ask any painter what the hardest color to mix is, they'll probably tell you green! There are a handful of psychological, scientific, and even cultural reasons why green can be elusive.

There's a Reason Green is Hard to Mix -

But There's Good News Too!

There's a way to break it down so that you can mix a wide range of natural, beautiful greens and give your paintings life and depth.

All of the greens in the painting to the right were mixed from only the five tube colors below - and notice how none of them are a very true "green!"

Once You Know the Three Qualities of Color, You Can Mix Green Like A Pro

In this 1-hr class I’ll show you the three questions you need to ask yourself to change how you see and mix green so that you can create a painting with the depth and vibrancy of green in nature.

In This Recorded Online Class You'll Learn:

Why green is one of the hardest colors to see and break down, and the three questions that will help you break a green reference into easy sections without being overwhelmed

My favorite paint colors for mixing the widest range of greens (hint: you don’t need as many as you think!), as well as a few colors for taking your mixing further when you’re ready

Green mixing tips such as:

How to lighten and darken green

How to make garish greens more natural

How to use light and shadow to give your greens depth

Class Format

In this 1-hour recording of a live online class I'll outline the 3 most important qualities of color and demonstrate several ways to use them to evalute, mix, and fix greens on our palette.

Course Lessons

Introduction & 3 Reasons We Struggle to See Green Why is green so difficult? Part of it has to do with the way we perceive the world

The 3 Building Blocks of Color Learn what the three most important qualities of color are, and why they support everything else

Using the 3 Building Blocks of Color to Match a Color Swatch A demonstration of how to use the three building blocks of color to evaluate and match anything

Color Palette Overview An overview of the colors I'm using (and recommend to beginners)

Lightening & Darkening Green How to lighten green without it getting pasty, and darken it without it getting murky

Fixing an Unnatural Green What to do with garish, neon, or poisonous greens

Fixing a Dull Green What to do with pale, pasty, or murky greens

Taking Mixtures Further & Conclusion More ideas to play with as your build your palette and confidence

Also Includes

Downloadable Workbook with tips on value, fixing paint mixtures, and a green mixing guide, as well as project sheets to use in your own studio

Bonus eBook: The Color Fixing Flow Chart to help you evaluate your color mixtures and fix them before they go awry

Downloadable eBook with tips on using value and a printable value scale

What Students Are Saying:

"I loved your course on mixing green. I do rely too much on tube greens and plan to change my ways. ... BIG Thanks"

- David J

"I really enjoyed your presentation on the ins and outs of mixing green. I feel you did a class A job on the video, as well as, the various charts. ... Thank you for your amazing work and insight into color."

- Ruth M

Class Cost: $35

Purchase Now!

Class FAQs

Is this only for oil painters?

Not at all! I will do my demonstrations in oils, but with a few tweaks these concepts can be applied to all paints including acrylics, gouache, watercolors, markers, pastel, colored pencil, inks - basically any pigments that can be mixed!

Do I need to buy more paint?

Nope! I will go over some of my favorite colors, but all you need are some basic primaries.

Once you understand the concepts you should be able to use whatever colors you have on hand to start playing with your own mixtures.

I'm not a landscape painter - how will this help me?

I'm not either! I mostly paint animals and florals, so you'd think I wouldn't care much about painting green... But a badly-mixed spot of green can mess up a beautiful painting like nothing else can! Being able to spot it and fix it will help all painters, whether you're a portrait, still life, or even abstract painter.

Knowing how to see and mix greens will also help you so much with the colors that border green on the color wheel, like blue and yellow.

Hello! I'm Whitney Hall (aka The Curious Painter)

I've been a full-time painter since 2008 and have been teaching painting and color theory for just as long!

My favorite thing is helping painters of all levels overcome whatever is frustrating them in the studio so they can find more joy at their easels.

I'm also a total color theory nerd. I love researching everything I can learn about color theory and color psychology and color science, and finding a way to explain it in the simplest way possible.

I live in Bozeman, Montana with my blue heeler. When I'm not painting or teaching, you'll probably find me gardening or exploring somewhere in nature.