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Jubilee Lowdham

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Posted
How can I mix copper beech colour?

Alan Bickley

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Posted
Why not give us a bit more information?, this will make it easier for us to answer... What medium are you using for a start? and what is it that you are trying to portray?.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Alan, he says the medium is watercolour. So, taking the question to mean the foliage of the copper beech - first analyse it: the leaves are dark, tending to deep red-brown often with a hint of purple; some are almost black on the copper beech that lives near me, while the younger leaves are much brighter - some having a touch of green around the margins. So ... if you were painting individual leaves, you'd need to reflect all of that so far as possible. If painting them en masse, the finer details won't matter. It being easier to assume that's what you want to know - I shall. I would go with a mix of Burnt Sienna, for the orange-red, and ultramarine; or Indian Red, or Venetian Red, would do as well as the Burnt Sienna. Go heavier on the red-brown than the blue - introduce that slowly and carefully. If you can find Caput Mortuum/Mars Violet Deep, or Brown Madder, you could get a useful darker shadow in the masses, or variation in the foliage; and for the lighter leaves, perhaps a touch of Raw Sienna in the mix. Shadow could also be indicated by adding a touch of viridian to the red-brown. PS - Practise this first on a piece of paper before entrusting the mix to your actual painting..

Edited
by RobertJones

Alan Bickley

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Oh yes, thank you Robert, I feel stupid now but it's not the first time, anyway, you have given a good comprehensive answer, job done.
michael

Michael Edwards

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Posted
I go along with Robert although I do like to exaggerate the colour a tad (artistic licence they calls it) and would use alizarin crimson as my common basic mix colour. It's just a matter of playing around to find a mix that is right for you and don't be too slavish about getting the colour factually correct.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Yes, I should think crimson would work - oddly enough, I passed our local copper beech this evening; noticed that the leaves had started to turn distinctly green; they do vary throughout the year - so Michael's Alizarin, plus a touch of Viridian, could work, too.