How to Avoid Creating Green in Watercolor Skies - Easy Mixing Formula, by Matthew White - Watercolor Instruction on YouTube. 5 min 23 s.
- Video length
- 5 min 23 s
- Time to do it
- 15 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Lay out your blues and check each one on scrap paper. Note which blue leans toward green, such as phthalo green shade, and which stays cool and blue.
Pick one blue as your base and mix a strong puddle of it in the palette. Keep it concentrated so you can dilute it later with clean water.
Touch a tiny amount of red or violet to the edge of the blue puddle. Stir only part of the mix so you can compare the plain blue and the shifted blue.
Test the mix on scrap paper of the same paper you will paint on. Wet paper looks lighter when dry, so let the stripe dry before judging the colour.
Add more red or violet a dot at a time until the blue turns soft grey. Stop before the mix goes purple or muddy brown.
Rinse your brush in the first jar, then in the second clean jar. Dirty water carries yellow pigment that turns skies green.
Wet the sky area with clean water, then load your brush with the mixed wash. Apply it in even horizontal bands, reloading before the brush runs dry.
Leave a gap at the horizon or lift pigment with a dry brush for clouds. Let the wash dry flat before adding a second layer.
Tips and common mistakes
Never dip a brush that has touched yellow or green into your sky puddle, even if it looks clean.
Phthalo blues are very strong, so a speck goes a long way and too much red quickly turns the mix grey.
Mix more wash than you think you need, since stopping to remix mid-sky creates a visible seam.
Test every mix on scrap paper first, because watercolor dries lighter and less saturated than it looks wet.
Questions
Why does my sky turn green when I paint?
Usually a blue with a yellow bias is mixed with a yellow-tinged pigment, or your brush water is dirty. Switch to a blue that leans red, like ultramarine, and change your water.
Can I fix a sky that has already gone green?
While the wash is still wet, lift the colour with a clean damp brush and add a little red or violet to shift it back. Once dry, glaze a thin violet layer over the top.
Do I have to use two blues?
No. One cool blue plus a small amount of red is enough. The second blue is only there so you can compare how each one behaves.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
