Let me know if you learned something from this video, and try this one next: How to Mix Watercolors (THIS colour is essential) th-cam.com/video/D0d6OyYAIX4/w-d-xo.html
Michele hello, hoping you are well. Thank you and all your videos are very helpful. I've had plenty of problems with Viridian Green color. Lately I've decided to use it mostly for house interior decor, such as a still-life painting. I like it's transparency, especially when I needed to paint a sheer lace window curtain hanging over a yellow painted wall. Viridian stayed transparent and the light effect it gave was quite radiant for a sunny window overlooking a garden. Another place I use Viridian is for Kentucky Blue Grass, which is a wonderful blue-green as well as the "Blue Spruce" tree we have in Canada, my favorite evergreen. Painting water flowing from rivers and creeks proved to be helpful with Viridian Green the color found in the beginners color box. As you mentioned it's not easy appreciating its complexities. Blessings
Phtalo green and magenta or Quin Rose can mix as stunning clear purple too. If you mix it with Utramarine Blue you can get a cerulean of almost cobalt blue, mix it with earthy reds (venetian red f.e.) and you get beautiful browns. It is a crazy versitile color to mix with. And I believe that is the reason they put it in. It expands the beginners set to a much greater range of colors. The thing I do first when I get a new color is mix it with all my favorit other colors, just to see what happens. Phtalo green and Viridian where the big surprise. I have loved them ever since. Thank you again for a really great video.
whoa excellent, thank you Bojoura! I removed phtalo green from my palette the other day cos I couldn't figure out what to do with it, but now it's going back in! It never occurred to me to mix it with pinky colors 😂 I only tried nudging it into turquoise which seemed redundant since I already have that.
I tried this with my (cheap) watercolours and it made a fantastic stormy cloud shadow colour. Thanks for sharing your great tip. I’m off to try other mixes with “viridian” hue or otherwise.
Never ever judge paimts by the names the manufacturers give them. There is no standard, they use any fancy name that sounds good marketing wise. Always look at the pigment numbers. When they don't give them up, don't buy it.
The reason I love viridian is because it is non staining and it’s also a great mixing color for producing the muted greens we have here in the desert US.
True Viridian (PG18) is at its best when you are leveraging its granulating properties. It has less mixing versatility than Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7), as it doesn't have the same tinting strength, but the fact that it granulates means that mixes made with it will exhibit some color separation, which can be a lovely visual effect when used intentionally. Nature often follows those seemingly random color distributions, so I find it works very well for landscapes. Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7) has a high staining transparency, which makes it great for mixing and for working in glazes and thin layers. If you like to paint close to realism, this is very useful, as you have a lot of control over how dark/intense you go, and adding a new layer does not wash up the previous layer. So if you are new and just starting out, I would say Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7) is the more versatile choice for a more restricted palette. But it does have a bit of an initial learning curve.
i really love mixing phthalo green with either permanent Alizarin or perylene maroon for nice blacks. its an essential color for me just for that mix alone.
Hey there 😊 just a little tip for you for the future. NEVER put your wet brush into the paint tube. Rather squeeze some out and then take your wet brush to it. The reason you should NEVER put your wet paintbrush into your paint tube is because the paint tube is a wet , dark environment where once you close the cap , no air can circulate into it . making it the perfect environment for mold growth. And there are micro organisms as well as other bacteria in your tapwater. This is the perfect scenario on how you get a moldy tube of paint. And once that mold spreads into the paint it’s ruined and if you apply the moldy paint to your paper it will rot your artwork. It could also even spread from there onto your clients walls and into their homes .
I think that also might be the reason I tore the skin of my index finger trying to twist the cap off a previously used and dried on Cotman ultra marine tube. That event was a video in itself!
I am predominantly a colored pencil artist I used to paint in oils many years ago. I am however playing a bit and experimenting a bit with watercolor, it's a very different World of color from what I'm accustomed to. Thank you for this knowledge because it honestly applies quite a lot to my pencils as well. You helped me to distinguish between the two greens better and I greatly appreciate that.
ive used this combination before and it really does make a great mix, i used hansa yellow deep as my third colour for that particular painting and created a super moody trio that was super fun to use. the deep yellow allowed for a rich brown and nice green.
Thank-you very much! I just set up a travel palette yesterday and debated whether or not to fill a half pan or a whole pan with Viridian "hue". I opted for a whole pan and, now that I've watched your video, I think I will be able to put it to good use.
Anybody who buys cheap paint needs to assume they are not getting genuine pigments. The common names are meaningless, and more about marketing than fact. PG18 is the only thing on the label that tells you that the color is the genuine pigment. Learning that PG7 is Phthalo and PG18 is Viridian is not all that difficult. A little trivia - Viridian PG18, Chromium Green Oxide PG17, and Titanium White PW6 are the most lightfast pigments currently known. Their lightfastness is off the chart and estimated to fade by 10% or less in as much as 800 years. Earth colors (which most people assume are absolutely lightfast) fade by 10% or less in 200+ years. Phthalo Green fades by 10% or less in about 100 years.
Well beginners need to just get over it because veridian and pg7 are some of the most useful and amazing colors 😂 I would also put it in any beginner set as a manufacturer, but maybe include a little pamphlet or something on how to mix colors? Which is an essential skill for the watercolor artist and should be approached straight away. Personally, I use pg7 and veridian for a slew of subjects, including foliage. I find if you mix these hues mentioned with a nice earth brown like pr101 or burnt umber, the blue-green shifts perfectly to a realistic foliage green and easy to adjust as you cover an array of foliage types. I also like to use it to mix mints and turquoises, so I definitely believe it is a palette staple.
It can be yes, I mixed all my greens from scratch for about the first 5 years, it helped me get my head around colour mixing. Pamphlets are always helpful 🙂
I find the phthalo greens, both PG7 and PG36, to be insanely useful colors, and if I had to recommend a single green to anyone, including to a beginner, it would be either one of these phthalos. Yes, they are pretty strong and overpowering, and on their own they look, well, kind of like they are toxic, but at the same time they are hands down the most useful greens for mixing out there. With yellows, reds and even browns they make beautiful natural looking greens, with violets they make amazing moody blues and with very cool reds they make pleasant and useful neutrals. I do like real viridian for some purposes, but overall I really prefer a boring old phthalo green, it's just so versatile.
Can’t really compare real viridian to phalo green in watercolours..in acrylics,gouache and oils it’s no point of spending more money for real viridian,but in watercolours genuine M.Grahams viridian is irreplaceable if as me like to create granulating mixes..
That seems a bit excessive! Haha! Goes to show manufacturers are always out to make money by using a different name for the same few colors. Anyway, happy painting!
But those can indeed be three different colors. There are two different types of phthalo green: PG7 and PG36. PG7 is more blue and PG 36 is more yellow. And Emerald green can mean many things, very often it is a mixed pigment of phthalo green and a yellow pigment. Maybe swatch them out next to one another and see the differences.
Thank you for such a clear presentation of PG7, Viridian and hues... I'm a beginner so I happen to like all bright colors without having to understand them. So swatching can be a bright vivid experience of joy. BTW, love your coral nail color... I'm so thankful for your encouragement. God bless you, with love from a California Gramma ❤️
I've always found viridian a rather unrealistic color and wondered why people raved about it. Appreciate your many comments and comparisons about the color. It's hard to find someone so articulate about pigments so really appreciate your insights 🤗 Cheryl
Because it doesn't fade even when mixed with white or when very dilute. Phthalo green is not lightfast when mixed with a lot of white, if you look at the QOR tests. Phthalo also stains which isn't always wanted. You can modify what viridian looks like by adding something else. Add yellow to make 'leaf' greens.
Really helpful information. I laughed because my first set had “ viridian” in it and when I swatched it, I thought what on earth is this color and when would I ever use it!
Hi Michele, I love your videos! You are right about the Viridian Green! I got it in my beginners set and love the color but then was at a complete loss of how or when to use it. I've just been using tiny amounts as accent in ocean water scenes or tropical birds and florals and the like. Wouldn't it be nice to have viridian colored trees in a real forest somewhere though? LOL
Thank you so much for this video! I want to learn how to mix colors and I bought a set of single pigment paints including the pg7 emerald green. Now I know what to do with it 😅❤
One of the primary uses I have found for viridian green and phthalo green whether it be in paints or pencils is for water. A good example would be the horseshoe falls at Niagara falls the water has beautiful green hues rather than more traditional blue but they have a beautiful blue underground to them and so Veridian is my favorite for water that color and my second would be to move to Halo. I know that you said that Veridian is pg-18 whereas below green is pg7 so I am desperately trying to find an affordable source for the real viridian. Since I do very much enjoy doing water involved landscapes this information was tremendously helpful, thank you.
You’re a chunk of chocolate with a diamond on top! I love your vids, your info and in particularly your delivery, Most people babble and go on and on and on which makes me stop the vid! You speak to me and deliver info that is both valuable as well as interesting🙏🏻🥰❤️🔥🥇👍🏻Im a professional multi media artist and I’m just entranced by your knowledge and the way I can adapt your info to my technique, Thanks Michelle🙏🏻
Thanks for another informative video. I had no idea pigments were not as straightforward as you might think and had such a range of issues. I think I mentioned on your previous video about it that I found it a useful colour for mixing. The more bright spectral colours you have, the greater the range of colours you can create. If I recall correctly, your concern in your earlier talk was rather that people were tempted to use it directly in their art instead of mixing it to make more natural colours.
The two saving graces about this whole Viridian fiasco: 1) Beginners wouldn't know anyway. 2) Phthalo subconsciously trains one to control a high tonal paint.
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber Despite knowing these differences on a pigment level and an understanding of basic tonal contrast, it still took me some time to appreciate the stark difference between these pigments. I also made the mistake of treating Viridian as a high tonal color and my washes would end up much lighter instead of being mid/mid -dark values.
Thank you Michele I have been binge watching you as I’m at home with a fractured wrist. I’m learning a lot and playing about mixing my colours. You give good information and are easy to understand. I am so grateful, you may even make a painter of me yet!
I find phthalo green an indispensable mixing colour. I can make beautiful, natural greens and softer turquoises from it, and a gorgeous black. I don't often use it straight, but I always want it in my palette
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber I like to play around mixing my paints to see if I can get colours I like. It's fun for me. Often times the colours I make I find prettier than the premade ones, and since you can put paint mixes in pans, it's cheaper too. I like the black I can get by mixing pg7 and pv19 much better than most premade black as it's a true neutral black and deep
Hi, I enjoyed the video. When you were speaking about pigments and their prices which pigment did you say was cheap because it was like dirt?? Lol 😁 I kept replaying the video but I never could understand what you said.
Lol i just watched you green and red mixing video you were talking difference about hue and shade....i love the word hue....im a huge reader so i always use non ordinary words my daughter and her friends would always ask me what is that word is it a real word...lol now shes 20 and she uses some of the words i use its so funny....thanks for saying the word hie in two videos..enjoyed video....learned new knowledge...mikelle art mom🎨👩🎨✍
I just bought a Viridian Green, a PG18 pigment, by Schmincke and it's a wonderful colour. My previous versions were not really satisfactory on their own, although I still used them for mixing. These were Viridian - PG 7 by Van Gogh, Emerald Green - PG 7 by Ladoga St. Petersburg and Viridian by Kuretake - no pigment info.
Not to be controversial, I like "Yarka" Russian watercolors their pigment is extraordinary in semi-moist color pans. Imported by Jack Richeson & Co. I'm not sure if they are still available due to our sanctions. I will miss them.
@@carollen5601 I like them too, they are quite intense colours and many are semi-opaque. The White Nights range is a good quality paint at an affordable price, with some unusual colours in the range such as Bright Blue, Mars Brown and Golden. I still prefer Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton and Schmincke as my "top quality paints", but they are more expensive.
I always go by pigment colors, realizing that the binders and quality of the lesser grades are inferior. My veridian is actually a mixture of PG18 and PG7. When I first started learning painting, there were no home computers and one actually had to (gasp!) read books. A famous artist, (in the US, anyway) is Jean Dobie of "Making Color Sing". She recommended Viridian and Pthalo as greens, altering them with yellows and reds for a more natural look. Thank you for mentioning the use of pre-mixed secondaries. Since they are often a single pigment source, they can be more useful than mixing. Only can never get as balanced with mixing red and yellow to make orange, as the mixture will always bias to the yellow or red , in my experience. Plus, it is an excuse to try more colors and buy more paint! 😄
excellent vid! ive often wondered why that crazy creen is in there! and mine are winsor cotman and it IS PG7!!! going to see what mixes i can get with PINK next time im at the easel!
What an excellent video yeat again! I have to confess I didn’t have a “viridian” colour in my set (split primaries), but I have purchased “viridian” separately, as I had noticed the PG7 pigment is mixed in many colours I like 🌞 Now I know it is actually a Phtalo green 😁 That’s great to know!
Thank you for this! As a beginner, I purchased Winsor & Newton's Cotman set. I got 3 greens in it, and I hate them all. One is "Veridian Hue" labeled PG7, the next is "Hooker's Green Light" (labeled kPG 7, PY139, PB15) and the third one is "Emerald" (labeled PY175, PG7). They're all very bright and unnatural!! I've yet to find a way to mix any of them to make a natural-looking green that I like. Your video helps me understand what's going on. But why WN put 3 bright unnatural greens in this Cotman set is beyond me ...
I'm not allowed to put links here but I have a video called How to Mix Green Watercolor (IMPROVE your Tube Greens), pop the title in the search bar with my name, it gives you options for mixing from bright Phthalo based greens.
I have a Cotman set of 40 colors, and there are three greens that are very similar, and I won't use. Veridian Hue (PG7), Pthalo Green (PG36) and Emerald (PG7, PY175). The latter two look exactly alike when swatched. I love earthy colors, and these three have no place on my pallet. Seems like a waste. I'll just replace them with something else.
Dear Michele, and thank you for the tutorial. Let me once again express my admiration for you nail art. They are good artworks, and makes me happy 😀. About greens. Many years ago, I tried oil painting, by no reason at all, but eager to try. I then loved emerald green, because it was in the kit I bought, and made good see-waves together with zinc-white, and ultramarine. But that was then. In watercolor I see no difference between Sap-green, or Hookers-green, so I use either of them as the only green in my palet, and they are almost never used by themselves, but mixed with ochre, siennas, or some blue, preferably french ultramarine. Have I missed something, that Viridian-green would have been more suitable? Plants, seascape? At last, dear Michele, I will ask for some hint that may be impossible to answer, but I will ask anyway. I am an old swedish man, that loves to paint in watercolor, but have got stuck. I have searched for anything to paint for a while, but the more I search, the less comes my interest for any picture. Nothing is trigging me by now. You may have had empty periods during times so: Should I leave it at all for a while? I feel quite stressed of not have a motive that I want to paint. My best regards.
Just love these videos about colour. Started work in a dye factory lab eons ago but learning so much more. Eventually I’ll get around to painting something🙄 Thanks for sharing. ❤️
Real Viridian or Phthalo, it is one of my favorite colors (I love green-blue/blue-green) and I love mixing it or adding it with color schemes of red-violets (Quin Rose and Magentas) and other tertiary colors. I used Kuretake, and a few months ago I created the most beautiful ocean water from a base of what they call Viridian and I have let it dry on one of my porcelain palettes that I horde and protect because I can't seem to remember what I did to get the color, all I know is it is beautiful and I never want to lose it lol.
yea, that's why I appreciate convenience colors, never have to remember how to get it. Anyway, when you have some free time or maybe while watching one of Michele's videos, just try mixing it with everything you have? I know it's time consuming and of course using different amounts will change the end result. So frustrating! maybe try narrowing down the possibilities, eliminating colors that it couldn't be.
I could just eat the tree? It's the dairy bit not the chocolate bit. Pure chocolate is vegan. Unfortunately they now make nice vegan chocolate so I have to spend more time in the gym...
I just stick with dark chocolate myself..i cannot eat anything with milk on it.. it's ironic though..i can eat butter and a small limit of sharp cheese
Correct. I am vegan so don't eat dairy chocolate. The chocolate in the video is just for descriptive purposes ;-) Of course raw chocolate is vegan, as is much dark chocolate.
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber hi Michele…Lol! I did enjoy the video. I’m following an artist online who uses Veridian all the time. It’s for dark green he adds aurelion yellow and sometimes burnt sienna. I can’t believe this is how he makes dark green ! I really need to be more confident in my own instinct to make it with other colors! It’s hit or Miss never too dependable..In any event thanks for answering my silly response and I live in the US of A and we have a company that sells 85% organic dark chocolate…Theo is the brand. I hope y’all can get it! Cheers! Michelle
Dear Michele, I have found that the dye based pigments , the phthalo blues and greens and dioxanine violent for instance are very strong staining colours and I have learned to avoid them as they easily overwhelm other pigments when mixed and once down they are there forever. Respectfully, Jim
I want to avoid paints that contain significant toxic ingredients or animal ingredients such as ox gall. What brands would you suggest? I am currently looking into Mission Gold brand.
Toxicity would start with cadmiums but there are more. Most are safe to use, it's the environmental situation that can be difficult either in production or disposal. My own branded paints by Jackman's Art Materials are vegan although the whole website is not. Everything with my name is animal free. Ox gall can sometimes be synthetic so don't just go by the name. I will drop some links to resources below. Both Sandrine Maugy and Jane Blundell are great people to find in depth pigment information from too.
Hi, I've been watching a few of your video's and have learned so much from them, and it it so wonderful to hear you are a vegan :) as well - it can be a real problem sourcing animal free products for watercolours - after you mentioned it I see you have developed your own range of vegan paints - They've now definitely gone on my wishlist :) I'm still very much a beginner but I feel like want to invest in a better quality set I can add to with different colours. Would love to see a video on vegan art supplies, colours to watch out for, best synthetic brushes etc.
The tinting strength for Viridian is lower than phthalo green however Viridian is still an excellent mixer. In fact it’s a main ingredient in many of schmincke‘s super granulating watercolors . It’s subtle softness and beautiful granulation adds texture and visual interest to artwork. Where phthalo green is excellent for glazing , Viridian is great for lifting techniques because it’s a sedimentary color. This means artists have an advantage for reworking a painting and lifting out highlights and details . Viridian has been a favorite of watercolorist for centuries. The REAL reason why Viridian is often not in student grade or beginners art sets is because it’s more expensive AND it’s toxic. You’ll often see cadmium Hue , cobalt hues and viridian hues in beginner watercolor sets not only because they’re less expensive than there genuine counterparts but because beginners haven’t learned artist heath and safety practices yet . Many beginners still haven’t learned the importance of washing their hands after painting and often have a cup of coffee or food and drink nearby while painting. Both phthalo and Viridian green are wonderful colors with their own unique characteristics and personalities. And both are good for different applications. Because of the toxicity viridian green cannot be sprayed applied and often cannot be included in pastels either for this reason because of the risk of inhalation. It’s great to have both.
If you could have only one, for landscape drawings, which would you choose? Viridian or Pthalo Green? I want to get Van Goghs to try watercolors for the first time, so it would help a lot ( Im on a budget)
@@greekveteran2715 I’d choose genuine Viridian because the tinting strength will be much easier to control and the lovely granulation will add texture and visual interest to your landscapes. Viridian mixes beautiful greens .
@@greekveteran2715 The viridian will also be liftable because it’s a Sedimentary color. So if you wanna go back and lift out highlights or rework an area you’ll be able to do that as well.
Maybe this colour is often in beginner sets because it is easier to mix more muted colours from intensive colours, and it is not possible to mix intensive colours from more muted colours and to offer a larger spectrum of intensive colours this colour is contained in beginner set. This assumption does not really work, otherwise dioxazine violet and a quinacridone magenta would always be included.
Thanks Michele. I love true viridian for mixing. I don't often use phthalo green. I usually mix my greens. I do like phthalo green when doing breaking waves. It is so nicely transparent and gives that light showing through the wave.🥰
I have 4 greens in my palette... All contain the pg7 pigment but only one of them is single pigment. And yes, that one is labelled viridian. Not that I care much about names, they just make it easier for me to remember my mixes 😁
You can't go wrong with a video which talks about diamonds and chocolates !:) That's a great way of explaining pigments, thank you Michele! Is it fair to say that hues are non-toxic and environmentally friendly?
Let me know if you learned something from this video, and try this one next: How to Mix Watercolors (THIS colour is essential) th-cam.com/video/D0d6OyYAIX4/w-d-xo.html
Michele hello, hoping you are well. Thank you and all your videos are very helpful. I've had plenty of problems
with Viridian Green color. Lately I've decided to use it mostly for house interior decor, such as a still-life
painting. I like it's transparency, especially when I needed to paint a sheer lace window curtain hanging over
a yellow painted wall. Viridian stayed transparent and the light effect it gave was quite radiant for a sunny
window overlooking a garden. Another place I use Viridian is for Kentucky Blue Grass, which is a wonderful
blue-green as well as the "Blue Spruce" tree we have in Canada, my favorite evergreen.
Painting water flowing from rivers and creeks proved to be helpful with Viridian Green the color found
in the beginners color box. As you mentioned it's not easy appreciating its complexities. Blessings
Yes! It opened my eyes to read the colors ID numbers instead of the names like you say “wall paints”.
Thanks!
Phtalo green and magenta or Quin Rose can mix as stunning clear purple too. If you mix it with Utramarine Blue you can get a cerulean of almost cobalt blue, mix it with earthy reds (venetian red f.e.) and you get beautiful browns. It is a crazy versitile color to mix with. And I believe that is the reason they put it in. It expands the beginners set to a much greater range of colors. The thing I do first when I get a new color is mix it with all my favorit other colors, just to see what happens. Phtalo green and Viridian where the big surprise. I have loved them ever since. Thank you again for a really great video.
You are most welcome!
Wow nice, gonna try some of those mixes, great tip!
whoa excellent, thank you Bojoura! I removed phtalo green from my palette the other day cos I couldn't figure out what to do with it, but now it's going back in! It never occurred to me to mix it with pinky colors 😂 I only tried nudging it into turquoise which seemed redundant since I already have that.
I tried this with my (cheap) watercolours and it made a fantastic stormy cloud shadow colour. Thanks for sharing your great tip. I’m off to try other mixes with “viridian” hue or otherwise.
@@annieh6021 Ah cool! Glad I could help. Hope you have fun with color mixing. I can't get enough...:)
Never ever judge paimts by the names the manufacturers give them. There is no standard, they use any fancy name that sounds good marketing wise. Always look at the pigment numbers. When they don't give them up, don't buy it.
Good points 🙂
The reason I love viridian is because it is non staining and it’s also a great mixing color for producing the muted greens we have here in the desert US.
True Viridian (PG18) is at its best when you are leveraging its granulating properties. It has less mixing versatility than Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7), as it doesn't have the same tinting strength, but the fact that it granulates means that mixes made with it will exhibit some color separation, which can be a lovely visual effect when used intentionally. Nature often follows those seemingly random color distributions, so I find it works very well for landscapes.
Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7) has a high staining transparency, which makes it great for mixing and for working in glazes and thin layers. If you like to paint close to realism, this is very useful, as you have a lot of control over how dark/intense you go, and adding a new layer does not wash up the previous layer.
So if you are new and just starting out, I would say Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7) is the more versatile choice for a more restricted palette. But it does have a bit of an initial learning curve.
i really love mixing phthalo green with either permanent Alizarin or perylene maroon for nice blacks. its an essential color for me just for that mix alone.
It's great to mix your own blacks :-)
Hey there 😊 just a little tip for you for the future. NEVER put your wet brush into the paint tube. Rather squeeze some out and then take your wet brush to it. The reason you should NEVER put your wet paintbrush into your paint tube is because the paint tube is a wet , dark environment where once you close the cap , no air can circulate into it . making it the perfect environment for mold growth. And there are micro organisms as well as other bacteria in your tapwater. This is the perfect scenario on how you get a moldy tube of paint. And once that mold spreads into the paint it’s ruined and if you apply the moldy paint to your paper it will rot your artwork. It could also even spread from there onto your clients walls and into their homes .
I am sure you are right. I have so many tubes, it's unlikely to end in a finished painting, I get sent a lot of samples.
I was thinking the same thing.
I think that also might be the reason I tore the skin of my index finger trying to twist the cap off a previously used and dried on Cotman ultra marine tube. That event was a video in itself!
@@michaelklein5242Nah, that's just watercolour drying around the cap. Happens all the time. Try to keep the cap area clean before closing the tube
You’re so organized and your explanations are very clear. Your analogies are really helpful. I learned a lot.
Awesome, thank you!
Your analogies are wonderful! They made your points very clear and easy to understand. Thank you!
You're very welcome!
I am predominantly a colored pencil artist I used to paint in oils many years ago. I am however playing a bit and experimenting a bit with watercolor, it's a very different World of color from what I'm accustomed to. Thank you for this knowledge because it honestly applies quite a lot to my pencils as well. You helped me to distinguish between the two greens better and I greatly appreciate that.
Wonderful!
Thank you. I loved this
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber ❤
Pthalo green and dioxazine purple make an unusual and beautiful blue, good for oceans or wisteria for example. One of my favourite mixes.
Interesting!
Yep,they are my two favourite for seascapes,can get all emerald greens,intense blues and purples from them
Thanks, will try that!
ive used this combination before and it really does make a great mix, i used hansa yellow deep as my third colour for that particular painting and created a super moody trio that was super fun to use. the deep yellow allowed for a rich brown and nice green.
Thank-you very much! I just set up a travel palette yesterday and debated whether or not to fill a half pan or a whole pan with Viridian "hue". I opted for a whole pan and, now that I've watched your video, I think I will be able to put it to good use.
Glad it was helpful!
Anybody who buys cheap paint needs to assume they are not getting genuine pigments. The common names are meaningless, and more about marketing than fact. PG18 is the only thing on the label that tells you that the color is the genuine pigment. Learning that PG7 is Phthalo and PG18 is Viridian is not all that difficult.
A little trivia - Viridian PG18, Chromium Green Oxide PG17, and Titanium White PW6 are the most lightfast pigments currently known. Their lightfastness is off the chart and estimated to fade by 10% or less in as much as 800 years. Earth colors (which most people assume are absolutely lightfast) fade by 10% or less in 200+ years. Phthalo Green fades by 10% or less in about 100 years.
Interesting! I love Chrome Oxide green :-)
Well beginners need to just get over it because veridian and pg7 are some of the most useful and amazing colors 😂 I would also put it in any beginner set as a manufacturer, but maybe include a little pamphlet or something on how to mix colors? Which is an essential skill for the watercolor artist and should be approached straight away. Personally, I use pg7 and veridian for a slew of subjects, including foliage. I find if you mix these hues mentioned with a nice earth brown like pr101 or burnt umber, the blue-green shifts perfectly to a realistic foliage green and easy to adjust as you cover an array of foliage types. I also like to use it to mix mints and turquoises, so I definitely believe it is a palette staple.
It can be yes, I mixed all my greens from scratch for about the first 5 years, it helped me get my head around colour mixing. Pamphlets are always helpful 🙂
I find the phthalo greens, both PG7 and PG36, to be insanely useful colors, and if I had to recommend a single green to anyone, including to a beginner, it would be either one of these phthalos. Yes, they are pretty strong and overpowering, and on their own they look, well, kind of like they are toxic, but at the same time they are hands down the most useful greens for mixing out there. With yellows, reds and even browns they make beautiful natural looking greens, with violets they make amazing moody blues and with very cool reds they make pleasant and useful neutrals. I do like real viridian for some purposes, but overall I really prefer a boring old phthalo green, it's just so versatile.
Yes, great mixing colours!
Can’t really compare real viridian to phalo green in watercolours..in acrylics,gouache and oils it’s no point of spending more money for real viridian,but in watercolours genuine M.Grahams viridian is irreplaceable if as me like to create granulating mixes..
You know when you have successfully gone down the water color rabbit hole if you are talking about pigment numbers! Thanks for another great video
No worries Lydia!
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber really great. You are a really great teacher!
Good information
Oh wow you’ve blown my mind because in my new Winsor & Newton 40 colors set I have all those colors: Viridian Green, Emerald, & Phatholo Green.
That seems a bit excessive! Haha! Goes to show manufacturers are always out to make money by using a different name for the same few colors. Anyway, happy painting!
But those can indeed be three different colors. There are two different types of phthalo green: PG7 and PG36. PG7 is more blue and PG 36 is more yellow. And Emerald green can mean many things, very often it is a mixed pigment of phthalo green and a yellow pigment. Maybe swatch them out next to one another and see the differences.
@@justacatwhocantype Yes I have swatched them and they are indeed slightly different colors or shades of green. I’m pleased with them all as well. 😊
@@AyaSmith Green is my favorite color so the excesses are fine with me. They do look very different from my swatching them. 😊
The pigment numbers have the answers. If they aren't on the set they should be listed on the manufacturers website X
These are the type of videos I need. Thank you 😊
Glad you liked it!
Thank you for such a clear presentation of PG7, Viridian and hues... I'm a beginner so I happen to like all bright colors without having to understand them. So swatching can be a bright vivid experience of joy.
BTW, love your coral nail color... I'm so thankful for your encouragement. God bless you, with love from a California Gramma ❤️
You are very welcome Ann!
Thank you
You're welcome!
I've always found viridian a rather unrealistic color and wondered why people raved about it. Appreciate your many comments and comparisons about the color. It's hard to find someone so articulate about pigments so really appreciate your insights 🤗 Cheryl
No problem Cheryl!
Because it doesn't fade even when mixed with white or when very dilute. Phthalo green is not lightfast when mixed with a lot of white, if you look at the QOR tests. Phthalo also stains which isn't always wanted. You can modify what viridian looks like by adding something else. Add yellow to make 'leaf' greens.
Excellent explanation as usual. Thank you. 😊
No problem!
This is excellent material. Thank you for being so thorough and the examples are excellent
No problem!
Excellent thank you, Kathy
Welcome!
Great video Michele! Thx ver much. 🥰
No problem 🙂
Really helpful information. I laughed because my first set had “ viridian” in it and when I swatched it, I thought what on earth is this color and when would I ever use it!
It's in a lot of starter sets!
Hi Michele, I love your videos! You are right about the Viridian Green! I got it in my beginners set and love the color but then was at a complete loss of how or when to use it. I've just been using tiny amounts as accent in ocean water scenes or tropical birds and florals and the like. Wouldn't it be nice to have viridian colored trees in a real forest somewhere though? LOL
Maybe in a rain forest there are some viridian plants (and frogs), here in the uk not so much...
Thank you so much for this video! I want to learn how to mix colors and I bought a set of single pigment paints including the pg7 emerald green. Now I know what to do with it 😅❤
Thank you. Great info. Sorry I didn't see this before painting those ugly pinetrees. 😃
Very interesting! I've a "viridian green" in there--I think it's Cotman's, not sure, but will check it out shortly here. Thanks once again!
Hmmm...... my Veridian Green seems bluer than yours.
It will vary between manufacturers, plus the camera/your moniter will distort things :-)
One of the primary uses I have found for viridian green and phthalo green whether it be in paints or pencils is for water. A good example would be the horseshoe falls at Niagara falls the water has beautiful green hues rather than more traditional blue but they have a beautiful blue underground to them and so Veridian is my favorite for water that color and my second would be to move to Halo. I know that you said that Veridian is pg-18 whereas below green is pg7 so I am desperately trying to find an affordable source for the real viridian. Since I do very much enjoy doing water involved landscapes this information was tremendously helpful, thank you.
You are very welcome!
You’re a chunk of chocolate with a diamond on top! I love your vids, your info and in particularly your delivery, Most people babble and go on and on and on which makes me stop the vid! You speak to me and deliver info that is both valuable as well as interesting🙏🏻🥰❤️🔥🥇👍🏻Im a professional multi media artist and I’m just entranced by your knowledge and the way I can adapt your info to my technique, Thanks Michelle🙏🏻
Wow, thank you!
The gambouge says hue also! I saw another tube that said hue also. Forgot what it was.
It's also sometimes called New Gamboge, the original one is toxic and some manufacturers don't stock it now.
Thanks for another informative video. I had no idea pigments were not as straightforward as you might think and had such a range of issues.
I think I mentioned on your previous video about it that I found it a useful colour for mixing. The more bright spectral colours you have, the greater the range of colours you can create.
If I recall correctly, your concern in your earlier talk was rather that people were tempted to use it directly in their art instead of mixing it to make more natural colours.
Exactly that. There are no bad colors, only bad application :-)
If I could only have one green on my palette, that would be PG7.
The two saving graces about this whole Viridian fiasco:
1) Beginners wouldn't know anyway.
2) Phthalo subconsciously trains one to control a high tonal paint.
Good points!
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber Despite knowing these differences on a pigment level and an understanding of basic tonal contrast, it still took me some time to appreciate the stark difference between these pigments.
I also made the mistake of treating Viridian as a high tonal color and my washes would end up much lighter instead of being mid/mid -dark values.
Great video Michelle and has clarified a lot for me. Thank you again for excellent informative content 😊
No worries!
Wonderful lesson, Michele! Thank you so much. :-)
You are very welcome!
Thanks Michelle a great explanation of hue and pigment names I have learned a lot ❤
You are so welcome!
Thank you Michele I have been binge watching you as I’m at home with a fractured wrist. I’m learning a lot and playing about mixing my colours. You give good information and are easy to understand. I am so grateful, you may even make a painter of me yet!
Ooo hope the wrist heals soon then!
Excellent video! I'm a similar "watercolor investigator," and I super appreciate you taking the time to do this very informative video.
Awesome, thank you!
All this time, I never knew how to use Thalo and virdian. I used to avoid them like the plague and now I’m anxious to give those colors a try.
Genuine viridian PG18 from M.Grahams is the best if you like granulating mixes in watercolours.cant be compared to hue PG7 at all.
I find phthalo green an indispensable mixing colour. I can make beautiful, natural greens and softer turquoises from it, and a gorgeous black. I don't often use it straight, but I always want it in my palette
It's a very good colour if you know what to do with it, which you obviously do!
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber I like to play around mixing my paints to see if I can get colours I like. It's fun for me. Often times the colours I make I find prettier than the premade ones, and since you can put paint mixes in pans, it's cheaper too. I like the black I can get by mixing pg7 and pv19 much better than most premade black as it's a true neutral black and deep
Hi, I enjoyed the video. When you were speaking about pigments and their prices which pigment did you say was cheap because it was like dirt?? Lol 😁 I kept replaying the video but I never could understand what you said.
I did. I just meant that many earth pigments are literally dug from the ground. Pretty dirt if you like!
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber lol, but which one did you mention? I couldn't hear it.
@@TmarkN I think it was yellow ochre
@@annecollier8741 OK thank you. She would never tell me. Lol 😁
Nah, I’ll have the real chocolate.
Thank you this video was incredibly enlightening
Glad you enjoyed it!
Lol i just watched you green and red mixing video you were talking difference about hue and shade....i love the word hue....im a huge reader so i always use non ordinary words my daughter and her friends would always ask me what is that word is it a real word...lol now shes 20 and she uses some of the words i use its so funny....thanks for saying the word hie in two videos..enjoyed video....learned new knowledge...mikelle art mom🎨👩🎨✍
That's awesome!
Color 1 and 2 you showed are natural colors you can find in rainforests and jungles. You can not say they are not natural looking colors...
Of course every colour is found somewhere. But it's rare in populated areas to find such greens.
I just bought a Viridian Green, a PG18 pigment, by Schmincke and it's a wonderful colour. My previous versions were not really satisfactory on their own, although I still used them for mixing. These were Viridian - PG 7 by Van Gogh, Emerald Green - PG 7 by Ladoga St. Petersburg and Viridian by Kuretake - no pigment info.
Nice!
Not to be controversial, I like "Yarka" Russian watercolors their pigment is extraordinary in semi-moist color pans.
Imported by Jack Richeson & Co. I'm not sure if they are still available due to our sanctions. I will miss them.
@@carollen5601 I like them too, they are quite intense colours and many are semi-opaque. The White Nights range is a good quality paint at an affordable price, with some unusual colours in the range such as Bright Blue, Mars Brown and Golden. I still prefer Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton and Schmincke as my "top quality paints", but they are more expensive.
I hate this colour!
I always go by pigment colors, realizing that the binders and quality of the lesser grades are inferior. My veridian is actually a mixture of PG18 and PG7. When I first started learning painting, there were no home computers and one actually had to (gasp!) read books. A famous artist, (in the US, anyway) is Jean Dobie of "Making Color Sing". She recommended Viridian and Pthalo as greens, altering them with yellows and reds for a more natural look. Thank you for mentioning the use of pre-mixed secondaries. Since they are often a single pigment source, they can be more useful than mixing. Only can never get as balanced with mixing red and yellow to make orange, as the mixture will always bias to the yellow or red , in my experience. Plus, it is an excuse to try more colors and buy more paint! 😄
More paint is always good!
Yay color mixing! My favorite thing you talk about I must confess! I keep a whole journal of color mixes! 😊
I bet it's pretty!
excellent vid! ive often wondered why that crazy creen is in there! and mine are winsor cotman and it IS PG7!!! going to see what mixes i can get with PINK next time im at the easel!
Have fun!
This is so interesting. Thanks Michele love your hair it suites you well.
Thanks Patricia!
What an excellent video yeat again! I have to confess I didn’t have a “viridian” colour in my set (split primaries), but I have purchased “viridian” separately, as I had noticed the PG7 pigment is mixed in many colours I like 🌞 Now I know it is actually a Phtalo green 😁 That’s great to know!
Glad it helped you!
Thank you for this! As a beginner, I purchased Winsor & Newton's Cotman set. I got 3 greens in it, and I hate them all. One is "Veridian Hue" labeled PG7, the next is "Hooker's Green Light" (labeled kPG 7, PY139, PB15) and the third one is "Emerald" (labeled PY175, PG7). They're all very bright and unnatural!! I've yet to find a way to mix any of them to make a natural-looking green that I like. Your video helps me understand what's going on. But why WN put 3 bright unnatural greens in this Cotman set is beyond me ...
I'm not allowed to put links here but I have a video called How to Mix Green Watercolor (IMPROVE your Tube Greens), pop the title in the search bar with my name, it gives you options for mixing from bright Phthalo based greens.
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber Thank you so much! I found it. I'll watch it now :)
very helpful
thank you for the color lesson, very helpful.
You are welcome!
Really useful and informative video - thank you.
You are welcome!
Great!
I have a Cotman set of 40 colors, and there are three greens that are very similar, and I won't use.
Veridian Hue (PG7), Pthalo Green (PG36) and Emerald (PG7, PY175). The latter two look exactly alike when swatched.
I love earthy colors, and these three have no place on my pallet. Seems like a waste. I'll just replace them with something else.
PG7 can be useful for mixing, so perhaps keep that one?
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber maybe just one. 😉
PG7 and PG36 are both great for mixing. The comments explain how some artists use them.
"..space alien nightmare..."! LOL I love phthalo green for its versatility.
Dear Michele, and thank you for the tutorial. Let me once again express my admiration for you nail art. They are good artworks, and makes me happy 😀.
About greens. Many years ago, I tried oil painting, by no reason at all, but eager to try. I then loved emerald green, because it was in the kit I bought, and made good see-waves together with zinc-white, and ultramarine. But that was then.
In watercolor I see no difference between Sap-green, or Hookers-green, so I use either of them as the only green in my palet, and they are almost never used by themselves, but mixed with ochre, siennas, or some blue, preferably french ultramarine. Have I missed something, that Viridian-green would have been more suitable? Plants, seascape?
At last, dear Michele, I will ask for some hint that may be impossible to answer, but I will ask anyway. I am an old swedish man, that loves to paint in watercolor, but have got stuck.
I have searched for anything to paint for a while, but the more I search, the less comes my interest for any picture. Nothing is trigging me by now.
You may have had empty periods during times so: Should I leave it at all for a while? I feel quite stressed of not have a motive that I want to paint.
My best regards.
Great video. So many greens! That was a mind-blowing fact that I realized so many years ago when I started painting. ty
Just love these videos about colour. Started work in a dye factory lab eons ago but learning so much more. Eventually I’ll get around to painting something🙄 Thanks for sharing. ❤️
Wow and u keep learning
You are welcome 🙂
Nice color info. Thank you !
No problem 👍
This is so helpful! I’ve always loved my phtalo blue and green, but never realized how nice they were for mixing!
Real Viridian or Phthalo, it is one of my favorite colors (I love green-blue/blue-green) and I love mixing it or adding it with color schemes of red-violets (Quin Rose and Magentas) and other tertiary colors. I used Kuretake, and a few months ago I created the most beautiful ocean water from a base of what they call Viridian and I have let it dry on one of my porcelain palettes that I horde and protect because I can't seem to remember what I did to get the color, all I know is it is beautiful and I never want to lose it lol.
Yes great for water!
yea, that's why I appreciate convenience colors, never have to remember how to get it. Anyway, when you have some free time or maybe while watching one of Michele's videos, just try mixing it with everything you have? I know it's time consuming and of course using different amounts will change the end result. So frustrating! maybe try narrowing down the possibilities, eliminating colors that it couldn't be.
I just love that color especially with blues, reds, and purple 💜
you're vegan so you don't like real chocolate ? LOL chocolate comes from trees.. aint that vegan ?
I could just eat the tree? It's the dairy bit not the chocolate bit. Pure chocolate is vegan. Unfortunately they now make nice vegan chocolate so I have to spend more time in the gym...
Chocolate usually contains milk. Milk is not vegan.
I just stick with dark chocolate myself..i cannot eat anything with milk on it.. it's ironic though..i can eat butter and a small limit of sharp cheese
Real c has no dairy in it! Have no idea why you would say that. Enjoy real chocolate.
Correct. I am vegan so don't eat dairy chocolate. The chocolate in the video is just for descriptive purposes ;-) Of course raw chocolate is vegan, as is much dark chocolate.
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber hi Michele…Lol! I did enjoy the video. I’m following an artist online who uses Veridian all the time. It’s for dark green he adds aurelion yellow and sometimes burnt sienna. I can’t believe this is how he makes dark green ! I really need to be more confident in my own instinct to make it with other colors! It’s hit or Miss never too dependable..In any event thanks for answering my silly response and I live in the US of A and we have a company that sells 85% organic dark chocolate…Theo is the brand. I hope y’all can get it! Cheers!
Michelle
Dear Michele, I have found that the dye based pigments , the phthalo blues and greens and dioxanine violent for instance are very strong staining colours and I have learned to avoid them as they easily overwhelm other pigments when mixed and once down they are there forever. Respectfully, Jim
“Space alien nightmare” art - you are so funny!
This annoys me so much! Viridian is beautiful colour, why pretending some phthalo is viridian 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
Manufacturers 🤷♀️
I want to avoid paints that contain significant toxic ingredients or animal ingredients such as ox gall. What brands would you suggest? I am currently looking into Mission Gold brand.
Toxicity would start with cadmiums but there are more. Most are safe to use, it's the environmental situation that can be difficult either in production or disposal. My own branded paints by Jackman's Art Materials are vegan although the whole website is not. Everything with my name is animal free. Ox gall can sometimes be synthetic so don't just go by the name. I will drop some links to resources below. Both Sandrine Maugy and Jane Blundell are great people to find in depth pigment information from too.
www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2019/01/29/vegan-brushes-vegan-watercolour/#:~:text=Choosing%20Vegan%20Watercolour%20Paints,as%20they%20use%20synthetic%20binders.
www.jackmansartmaterials.co.uk/collections/sets
@@IntheStudiowithMicheleWebber thanks. How do you dispose of your paint water when using your relatively non-toxic paints?
very important educational lesson.Thanks
Thank you ☺️
Excellent lesson. Thankyou!
Very informative, thank you. And I can't help myself. Love your top...very sharp outfit.
Why thank you, I made it myself :-)
I just watched your old video yesterday. How odd. :) Thanks for the info. PG18 always found it the racier of the greens... I mean impressionistic. lol
Racy is a good description of it. Party green lol
Great video Michele! How well I remember that original video with your "space alien nightmare" comment! 🤣😂😅
😁
Thank you for this valuable information. You explain colours clearly and concisely. I subscribed you are just what I need to improve my painting.💐
Awesome, thank you!
Hi, I've been watching a few of your video's and have learned so much from them, and it it so wonderful to hear you are a vegan :) as well - it can be a real problem sourcing animal free products for watercolours - after you mentioned it I see you have developed your own range of vegan paints - They've now definitely gone on my wishlist :) I'm still very much a beginner but I feel like want to invest in a better quality set I can add to with different colours.
Would love to see a video on vegan art supplies, colours to watch out for, best synthetic brushes etc.
I may do such a video in the future :-)
Thank you Michele for that thorough explanation. I really appreciate the information.
Any time!
The tinting strength for Viridian is lower than phthalo green however Viridian is still an excellent mixer. In fact it’s a main ingredient in many of schmincke‘s super granulating watercolors . It’s subtle softness and beautiful granulation adds texture and visual interest to artwork. Where phthalo green is excellent for glazing , Viridian is great for lifting techniques because it’s a sedimentary color. This means artists have an advantage for reworking a painting and lifting out highlights and details . Viridian has been a favorite of watercolorist for centuries. The REAL reason why Viridian is often not in student grade or beginners art sets is because it’s more expensive AND it’s toxic. You’ll often see cadmium Hue , cobalt hues and viridian hues in beginner watercolor sets not only because they’re less expensive than there genuine counterparts but because beginners haven’t learned artist heath and safety practices yet . Many beginners still haven’t learned the importance of washing their hands after painting and often have a cup of coffee or food and drink nearby while painting. Both phthalo and Viridian green are wonderful colors with their own unique characteristics and personalities. And both are good for different applications. Because of the toxicity viridian green cannot be sprayed applied and often cannot be included in pastels either for this reason because of the risk of inhalation. It’s great to have both.
If you could have only one, for landscape drawings, which would you choose? Viridian or Pthalo Green? I want to get Van Goghs to try watercolors for the first time, so it would help a lot ( Im on a budget)
@@greekveteran2715 I’d choose genuine Viridian because the tinting strength will be much easier to control and the lovely granulation will add texture and visual interest to your landscapes. Viridian mixes beautiful greens .
@@greekveteran2715 The viridian will also be liftable because it’s a Sedimentary color. So if you wanna go back and lift out highlights or rework an area you’ll be able to do that as well.
@@nicolegrace2410 That was more than helpful!!!! Thank you very much!! I wish a Merry Christmas Nicole!!!
@@greekveteran2715 thank you 😊 merry Christmas to you !
Thank you Michelle - you always expand my knowledge.
Happy to help!
Thankyou for the greens. Love the cool green ring with warm nail polish
You’re welcome 😊
Maybe this colour is often in beginner sets because it is easier to mix more muted colours from intensive colours, and it is not possible to mix intensive colours from more muted colours and to offer a larger spectrum of intensive colours this colour is contained in beginner set.
This assumption does not really work, otherwise dioxazine violet and a quinacridone magenta would always be included.
Yes I think you are right!
Thanks Michele. I love true viridian for mixing. I don't often use phthalo green. I usually mix my greens. I do like phthalo green when doing breaking waves. It is so nicely transparent and gives that light showing through the wave.🥰
Yes it is useful for seas!
Very practical ~ thank you!👍🙋🏼♀️
Glad it was helpful!
i enjoy all your videos, great explanations and easy to watch.
Glad to hear it!
They are all really good videos. Always full of useful information.
So nice of you
I have 4 greens in my palette... All contain the pg7 pigment but only one of them is single pigment. And yes, that one is labelled viridian. Not that I care much about names, they just make it easier for me to remember my mixes 😁
Indeed!
Great explanation! Thank you, Michelle!!
Glad you liked it!!
You can't go wrong with a video which talks about diamonds and chocolates !:) That's a great way of explaining pigments, thank you Michele! Is it fair to say that hues are non-toxic and environmentally friendly?
Hmm, I wouldn't like to guarantee it... It's a matter of looking at each one individually.
I see, thank you.
Thank you for this explanation!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you again for such valuable info xx
You're welcome!
Excellent info, as always! 😁
Thanks!