Schmincke Olive Green Yellowish: My Favourite Green Watercolour

This post has been percolating for a little while, and I didn’t know if I had enough to write about this one colour, but, after over a year of trying out different green combinations, trying single pigment palettes, creating various green mixes, and creating my own convenience greens, I have come right back to Olive Green Yellowish.

The colour is a mixture of PG36 and PO62, and looks like this:

Edited so the colour is more true to life.

It is classified as semi-transparent and staining. And has a lightfastness rating of 4 stars (Schmincke uses a system of 5 stars where 5 stars is the most lightfast). It is a series 2 colour.

I don’t know if my love for the colour comes from the fact that it was one of the first colours I picked up when deciding to give watercolour my time and energy, or if it is a colour that I generally gravitate to, or a combination of both.

One of my earliest uses of this colour as a base.

I’d initially picked it up because all the other greens available in the store seemed very harsh for the softer, olive greens and blue-greens I was seeing around me in Perth.

A PG36 or PG7 is great for mixing, and really great as a base to start with for brighter tropical greens, but for eucalypts, banksias, wattles and everything else I was seeing on my walks, I just wasn’t confident mixing those colours from such a bright colour yet.

Also, I didn’t have a whole range of options, but that’s selling the colour short. I know this is not the sort of colour a lot of people like, but I do have a soft spot for muted greens, khaki-greens, olive greens and other ‘dull and ugly’ greens, so I actually liked the little colour swatch on the half-pan anyway.

Over time, I did force myself to learn to mix my greens from a variety of colours and even pulled this colour out of my palette for about 6-8 months to force myself to stop being lazy and actually mix my greens.

This was invaluable practice, and after all that, I realised I still really love the convenience of this colour so I introduced it back into my palette, and don’t see it leaving again anytime soon.

Why a Convenience Green?

While I can mix greens, I find having convenience greens and browns super helpful for not having to mix them all the time. Especially when I’m just trying to do quick sketches outdoors. Why make life harder when you’re outside, trying to capture a moment and time is of the essence?

It has been super useful for quick sketches like this.

Why do I love it so much?

It is (I think anyway) the perfect base to start from. With this in place, I can add a bit of yellow to bright it up, a bit of blue to get it darker, a cobalt turquoise PB36 to make it that milky bluey colour of a lot of eucalypts or a yellow ochre to get a really dusty earthy colour.

These are some colours I like to mix it with in my palette (while we’ve been in the Australian Outback).

On the left is the colour by itself under white light. I’ve mixed it with PY 175, PY 150, PY 42, PBk 31, PG 36, PB 60, PG 50, PY 65, PO 48 and a PW 6:1 (Buff Titanium). These are colours I have on my palette at the moment that I like mixing with Olive Green Yellowish for a range of greens.

I also often mix Buff Titanium with the rest of the mixes to get a more ‘milky’ colour that I often see in the leaves around me. I don’t mind, and actually quite like the opaque quality it gives.

The above only shows a small range of what I can get with this colour - it can get more or less blue etc.

Like all Schmincke colours, it is so easy to rewet, and a real joy to use. Plus the tubes are exactly the same formula as the pans, so I know I can just refill it with tube paint. This isn’t the biggest consideration given Daniel Smith is the same, but not all brands are so it is still a point in its favour.

I don’t think there’s too much else to actually say about Olive Green Yellowish, so here are some mixes that I try to do with all my colours:

Here, it is mixed with colours I often have on my palette (or a similar replacement). Some are the same as the above photo, but mixed in a different ratio. From left to right:

1st row: PY 3, PY 65, PY 150, PY 42/43

2nd row: PR 122, PR 254, PR 233, PO 48

3rd row: PB 60, PB 16, PB 29, PG 7, PB 36

Final Thoughts

There are a few colours on my palette that are there for practical, useful purposes, then there are others I just love even though they aren’t essential (my absolute essentials would be a 6 colour split primary set).

This is one of those not necessary colours that I love having. I could do without it, and if I only had space for 6 colours I would, but, anything more, and I think this colour would be one of the first to go back in.