A heartfelt cry we so often hear, from POL devotees, learner painters, one or two more experienced painters and students alike is that greens are a complete horror to mix; some even get a bit of a complex about green, and try to avoid it in their paintings. Some desperately seek a tube green to meet their needs. And there are probably more ready-mixed greens than any other colour - cinnabar; chrome; Prussian; alizarin; pthalo; terre verte; viridian; emerald; oxide of chromium; cobalt; sap; olive; cadmium; Hookers; perylene; not to mention the mixes popularized by Terry Harrison, who understands the Green Panic induced in some of his students, and produced his own range of desaturated greens for use in landscapes (in watercolour). I know I've expatiated on this subject before, but the fear doesn't seem to have abated very much, if at all. And there's disagreement even amongst ourselves about the tube greens - some swearing by pthalo green, some swearing at it, others displaying a keen devotion to viridian. So - I thought I'd have another crack at it; trying to keep it brief (a challenge for me) so as not to just increase the confusion. You run into trouble immediately if you try to describe, still less recommend, some of the mixed "hue" colours: sap green and olive green, for instance, vary hugely between makers; there's a particular brand of olive green oil paint, for instance, which is possibly the vilest colour I've ever encountered in a tube; it makes me feel queasy just thinking about it... Other brands are at least tolerable: the snag with them is that some of them are mixes of so many colours that they couldn't be clean and clear - and some are suitable only for painting that odd form of green the Germany army used to use for its warm weather uniforms. General advice isn't helpful either in selecting colours, because not only do these hue mixtures vary between makers, they also vary between different media even if made by the same company. My suggestion would be that you avoid most of them entirely. The only made-up greens I've found useful are permanent Sap Green; Viridian; Terre Verte; Pthalo; Cobalt; and Rowney Emerald. Of these, Sap Green can be impermanent - check the label. Cobalt Green is expensive (the artist David Curtis uses it successfully for foliage, but then he's a professional who sells his work). Terre Verte is a good permanent green, with very low tinting strength - just make sure it's real Terre Verte, not a very dulled down Pthalo. And Pthalo Green (aka Winsor Green and Monestial or Monastral Green) is almost violent in its strength, and I'd always prefer the more expensive but subtler Viridian. If you're going to use any of these colours, I'd mix them - with yellows, reds, burnt umber, burnt sienna. Or of course glaze with them - they need a degree of adjustment if your aim is to produce convincing British landscape colours. I think though that most people starting out would do a great deal better to leave most of those colours alone, and mix with blue, yellow, and perhaps a touch of red, instead (the red calms the mix down). Viridian is a very handy shortcut colour, if you know what you're doing with it. But you have more control if you mix all the components of your green yourself. Incidentally - it's a lot cheaper. You'll have a blue and a yellow in your palette anyway - starting out with a plethora of tube greens is going to be both expensive and confusing. Strong, even harsh, greens can be mixed with Pthalo Blue and Lemon Yellow; lighter but still sharp ones with Cerulean/Coeruleum and Lemon or Winsor Yellow (use real Cerulean Blue, instead of the Hue colour, and you'll get a better green). Ultramarine and Cadmium Yellow will give strong but not strident greens. To keep it simple, I won't run through a vast array of mixes- and anyway, their usefulness would depend on the medium - but my suggestion would be to use your blues and yellows; vary the blues (ultramarine tends to be a bit too ubiquitous), and have a preference for the cleaner and brighter yellows. When I've encountered painters who say they can't manage greens, I've usually found they've bought tube after tube of different greens (the above list is far from exhaustive) in the hope of finding that very one which will answer their prayers, but stick to the same yellows and blues in their palette - typically cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, ultramarine, and cobalt blue (hue). Cut back on the different greens - try a few more blues and yellows: and then make dozens of mixes on paper, labelling them so you remember what you've used. Try them reduced with white, dulled with red, or even black. Try Payne's Grey with them as well, but remember a) it varies between a black and a blue black, each yielding different results, and b) that there are other and better ways of dulling or darkening any colour than just adding Payne's to it (I disagree with the well-known tutor who tells us that adding Payne's to any colour in a given proportion can darken it: yes it can, but then so can soot - and possibly more attractively). Don't just make direct mixes - glaze as well: look for the difference between Cobalt Blue and Lemon Yellow directly mixed, then the blue glazed with the yellow. Then make another mix, adding a glaze of burnt sienna, or permanent rose. Or even an opaque cadmium red, thinned down. Using tube greens all the time can produce a particular look - we might all be striving for our own style, but I'm not so sure we should all be looking for the same hues in all our paintings; that's not so much style as lack of variety and imagination. A "good" green - strong, reliable, permanent and assertive - can also be a predictable one if used with minor variations in all of our work. And if work is predictable, we know it - we're dissatisfied with it; we know our greens are as exciting as cold porridge; and then we convince ourselves we have a problem with the colour and become actively afraid of using greens at all. Try this approach if you're having trouble like this - you may find it enables you to haul yourself up to the next plateau in your painting career, by removing the obstacle which was holding you back.