Going green?

I have been painting quite a bit of green recently. Over the next couple of days I will post a few landscape 'quick study' sketches from my recent trip back east to do nothing but paint green in the most delightful landscpe spots. Most were done in an hour or so, sometimes four a day just to catch the feel of the scene.

I had a blast even though I don't really like to paint green and often joke "I don't do green!"

Here are some  random things I think about green:

. I don't like tubed greens preferring  to mix from UM Blue and Cad Yellow. White cools it nicely.  I also admire artists who do green well from bright to muted. Everett Raymond Kinstler, www.everettraymondkinstler.com, Dawn  Whitelaw, www.dawnwhitelaw.com,  Ovanes Berberian and Jeremy Lipking, www.lipking.com,  come to mind. 

. I don't like to wear green. I have a red undertone to my skin and it doesn't act like a compliment at all. It makes me feel Sappy Green all day if I do. Only red-heads look good in green it seems to me. And even that can be touch and glow.

. I hate it when my highlights go a funny shade of green in swimming pools from chlorine.

. I need more green $$$ always. Chromium Oxide Green must be the one they used on banknotes?

. I like green food  particularly seaweed wrapped around fish. Terre vert? But I also like yellow too (french fries). If I was famous, I would hire a green food chef. This I am totally serious about.

. I like green tea a lot but nothing beats english brand PG TIPS. If you are a tea fan and haven't tried it you should.

.  I have just gone more green...just did the car "clunker' deal buying a more fuel efficient car. It was hard saying goodbye to my gas guzzling Mercedes. We were old friends. We had guzzled a lot together.  I took a little piece of the car and will now have it made into a necklace from the $$$ I save on gas.

I also now worry about too many plastic bags in the world (long before Oprah talked about it), Subway chain restaurants that don't recycle a darn thing make me crazy as much as I love their sarnies. I also now carry my own plastic fork to re-use at lunch. I am learning a lot from my environmentalist daughter. 

. I like a dried green ground to work on for my portrait sketches, mid-toned, as it sets off the pinks in the skin nicely. As hard as I try to move away from it,,,I find myself returning. It makes a lot of sense why the old guys used that Verdacchio technique in portraiture with the green and white under painting. However, in landscapes I prefer a warm ground of burnt sienna.

. I like it when portrait deliveries get a fast green (teary-eyed) light...that is one of the best feelings. I also like it when I get green lights on the freeway entrances.

. Green leaves seem to be very hard for students to paint. And me. As hard as the actual flower itself. Someone once said your still life  painitng will be judged by the quality of your leaves and I agree. I look for that now in my own work and others. Trying to take more time on them.

. I don't like it when I get 'green eyes' toward others work or see it in others eyes/words toward mine.  I think the art world is competitive and it is easy to get green sometimes. I have to watch myself on this front and think more red,,,as in painting from the heart.

So this brings me back to my quick little studies. They are far from perfect but they were painted from the heart with my painting pal. And we had the best time! Red all the way painting that green.