Opus Resource Library

The Beauty of Greens: Why Mixing Your Own is Worth the Brushstrokes

When painting landscapes, whether on a sun-dappled hiking trail or from a cozy urban sketching perch, artists often face the same challenge—how to create greens that feel alive. While it might be tempting to reach for pre-mixed green pigments straight from the tube, there is a world of nuance, depth, and harmony to be discovered when you mix your own greens. For watercolourists especially, this practice offers a richer, more organic painting experience—one that better captures the complex beauty of the natural world.

With the addition of 12 new colours in the Opus Essential Watercolours range arriving at the beginning of watercolour season, we are excited to share the experiments in mixing greens as we explore the range of green colours we can make with our new and existing colours.

An image of over 50 painted green watercolour squares of different shades of green

The colours above are mixed using a variety of yellows and blues to create various greens in different shades and temperatures. The colour shifts in a mixed green add interest, and when certain paints are mixed, they may granulate to give exciting effects where both colours used are visible separately when viewed up close.

A Harmonious Palette of Greens from Simple Ingredients

Mixing your greens from primary colours, typically a blue and a yellow, not only expands your palette but also gives your work a sense of cohesion. When you rely on a single yellow and blue as your foundation, you can create a wide spectrum of greens simply by adjusting the ratio—cool, piney greens for wintery shadows, warm, sunlit greens for spring buds, and muted, olive tones for the faded foliage of fall. Because they originate from the same colour family, these greens naturally harmonize on the page, avoiding the jarring effect that sometimes results from using a range of unrelated tube greens.

Greens made of Gamboge Hue and Phthalo Blue

Greens made of Hansa Yellow Medium and Phthalo Blue

Greens made of Arylide Yellow and Ultra Marine Blue

The Magic of Watercolour Blooms

One of the most magical aspects of watercolour is its spontaneity, and mixing your greens enhances this quality tenfold. When a transparent yellow washes into a granulating blue, you don’t just get green—you get movement. You get blooming edges, subtle texture, and soft transitions that echo the variability of real leaves, grasses, and moss. These “blooms” can be especially expressive in plein air work, where the changing light and breeze invite a looser, more responsive painting style.

colour swatches to test Nickel Azo Yellow mixed with Indigo

colour testing Arylide Yellow and Ultramarine Blue

colour testing Nickel Azo Yellow and Ultramarine Blue

Texture and Depth Through Granulation

Granulating pigments, such as Cobalt Blue or Ultramarine, add further richness to your greens. As they settle into the paper's texture, these pigments create a mottled, naturalistic effect that mimics the uneven surfaces of foliage and earth. Combined with a bright yellow like New Gamboge or a more subdued Raw Sienna, they form greens that shimmer with dimension—perfect for depicting the layered complexity of a forest or a shadowed parkway.

Cadmium Yellow & NEW Atmos

NEW Aureolin Mix & NEW Aquamarine

NEW Arylide Yellow & Prussian Blue

A variety of greens made with Opus Essential Watercolours in colours

NEW Nickel Azo Yellow & NEW Atmos

NEW Nickel Azo Yellow & Phthalo Blue

NEW Nickel Azo Yellow & Ultramarine Blue

NEW Nickel Azo Yellow & Indigo

Hansa Yellow Medium & Phthalo Blue

NEW Mixing Gold & NEW Aquamarine

Adapting to the Seasons with Colour Temperature

Seasonal shifts in colour temperature are also more faithfully captured when you mix your own greens. In early spring, cooler mixtures with more blue can suggest new growth and early morning light. As summer unfolds, you might shift toward yellower mixes to reflect the sun’s warmth. In autumn, adding a touch of red or burnt sienna can transition your greens into the earthy, ochre tones of turning leaves. This adaptability helps your paintings resonate with the mood of the moment, grounding your work in time and place.

2 pages of watercolour tests testing out a large variety of yellows and blues to make interesting greens.

Testing out a number of combinations of yellows and blues to make a wide range of greens – experimenting with your watercolours is a great way to discover additional colours you can make with what is in your collections of paints.

Mixing Greens as Mindful Observation

Ultimately, mixing your own greens is about more than just colour—it’s about connection. It invites you to slow down, observe more closely, and respond intuitively to the world around you. Each blend becomes a personal interpretation of nature, a reflection of both your surroundings and your hand. So next time you're painting outside or filling the pages of your sketchbook, try leaving the tube green behind. With a few well-chosen yellows and blues, you might just find your greens becoming as alive as the scenes they depict.

Explore The Watercolours & Tools We Used:

When we experimented with mixing the greens, we used the following colours from the Opus Essential Watercolours line.

For the yellows, we tested out our new yellows, including:

Nickel Azo Yellow
Aureolin Mix
Arylide Yellow
Mixing Gold (which admittedly does lean more towards an orange colour)

...along with some staple yellows including:

Cadmium Yellow Medium
Hansa Yellow Medium
Gamboge Hue

For the blues, we experimented with two of our new blues:

Atmos
Aquamarine

...along with some favourite classic blues like

Ultramarine Blue
Phthalo Blue
Cobalt Blue
Prussian Blue
Indigo

We used an Opus Galiano Quill brush in a size 4, as they hold loads of water, which allows the paint to flow from the brush nicely - especially when you're looking for blooms, granulation, and surprises, and because we were experimenting, we opted to do our testing on Opus Student Watercolour paper in the 11"x 15" size.