As you all have noticed over the years of following this blog, one of my most favorite thing to do is experiment with color mixtures. Often, in addition to making paints, I like to see what color makers are making. M. Graham makes several natural earth pigments that are really nice, astonishingly pigmented and very creamy. Two that are exceptional are yellow ochre and raw sienna, shown here.
Sometimes dilemmas are resolved by simply stumbling on an answer. Over the years, I have found the most difficult issue with using natural pigments is the greens. So many of the green earths or minerals are extremely low in saturation, meaning you have to just keep adding more and more pigment, but it never gets any more green. So while experimenting with these two gorgeous Graham colors, I added some D. Smith Sleeping Beauty Turquoise. Well, as you can see this combination makes a glorious range of green, from a rather raw spring green to cool minty shades just with the addition of white. Throw a little Amazonite in for good measure, and it is endless.
M. Graham yellow ochre and raw sienna with D. Smith Amazonite and Turquoise
Rublev’s madder lake was added to the Amazonite to make a rich deep dark, here on the right.
