Art Supplies Spotlight: Poems About You Handmade Watercolour Part 3

Hi friends,

In this month’s Art Supplies Spotlight, I’m continuing from the last post to share more from my Poems About You handmade watercolour collection—this time focusing on greens. We’re moving away from the bright, vibrant hues and into the moody, grounding tones that I love using in my botanical work.

My palettes usually include a mix of bold and muted colours—I love how the contrast brings depth and interest to a piece. As a botanical artist, I always reach for a good green, and I have a few favourites to share with you in this post. In Part 4 I'll be sharing my collection of earthy yellows. These are staple tones in my collection because they mix beautifully with reds, blues, greens, and oranges to create soft, muted variations.

If you’d like to catch up on the earlier spotlights, you can read about the yellows, oranges, reds, and pinks here, and explore the blues and purples here.

Paul Cezanne's Set - 18 Color Set - Handmade Watercolors

Notes On Each Colour

Sap Ultramarine (PG7, PB29), Viridian (PG17), and Green Aquamarine (PG7) are all cool-leaning greens—clean, transparent, and not overly granulating, which is something I often notice (and love) about Poems About You paints. They rewet easily, though Viridian takes a little more patience to activate. Sap Ultramarine and Viridian both lift easily from the paper, while Green Aquamarine is more staining, which is common for Phthalo pigments.

Cobalt Green Dark (PG26) has a moody, cooler depth to it that reminds me of Mayan Blue or Mayan Green. It’s a low-tinting pigment and needs extra time to activate. Although listed as non-granulating, I find it actually has quite a bit of granulation, which adds texture and character.

Sap Green and Phthalo Green (both PG7) sit slightly warmer than Green Aquamarine. They’re transparent, highly staining, and very quick to rewet—true to the behaviour of Phthalo pigments.

Bright Emerald Green (PG36) is a bit unique. Unlike most Phthalo's, it’s slightly more opaque and less staining. It leans warmer, is non-granulating, and has a brightness that really stands out on the page. In comparison, Cobalt Green (PG19) has a similar hue but is a touch darker and more opaque, especially in mass tone.

Chrysolite is a very warm, pear-like green made from genuine gemstone. It’s beautifully transparent and, while it doesn’t have much granulation, its unique warmth makes it special.

I currently have four variations of PG17: Emerald Green, Oxide Green, Pistachio Green, and Eskolaite. Most of my PG17 paints tend to be high-tinting, opaque, and slightly muddy, leaning toward earthy greens. Emerald Green stands out as the exception—it’s very transparent, cool-leaning, and low-tinting. It doesn’t lift easily and takes more water (and a little scrubbing) to get good colour payoff. Eskolaite and Oxide Green are more typical of PG17—warmer in tone, semi-granulating, and opaque. Pistachio Green, however, is the warmest of the four. It’s transparent, lifts very easily, and feels much lighter in character compared to the others.

Moving on to PG23, I have five variations: Celadonite, Glauconite Cool, Glauconite Green Dark, Antique Green Earth, and Florentine Green. PG23 pigments are generally very low-tinting and need more time, water, and scrubbing to activate. This is especially true for Glauconite Cool, Glauconite Green Dark, and Celadonite. These paints also tend to form a film over the pan if left unused for long periods, which adds to the activation time. They’re quite granulating, with large particles that are visible in washes—something I find beautiful for adding texture.

On the other hand, Antique Green Earth and Florentine Green behave differently. They activate easily and have much stronger tinting strength. Florentine Green in particular is quite opaque, and in mass tone it’s almost black, making it suitable for shadows.

Now for the last of the greens in my palette. Chlorite Green is an earth mineral pigment without a pigment number. It’s a dark, moody green—granulating, medium-tinting, transparent, and very easy to lift, which makes it lovely for layered washes. Chlorite Green is quite heavily granulating, and the pigment particles are visible in washes. Perylene Green (PBk31) is technically a black pigment with a green undertone. In mass tone it’s deep and almost black but diluted it has a cool green tint. It’s transparent, flat, high-tinting, easy to rewet, and semi-staining—a reliable pigment for dramatic shadows and depth. Azo Green (PG10) is at the other end of the spectrum—a very warm green, almost yellow, and one of my favourite leaf colours for botanical compositions. It’s highly transparent, flat, high-tinting, and semi-staining, which makes it versatile for glazing and layering.

I hope this overview helps you better understand how these pigments behave so you can choose the right ones for your own palette and painting style.

Swatches

See below for swatches of all the colours.

Sap Ultramarine

Green Aquamarine

Viridian

Perylene Green

Cobalt Green Dark

Sap Green

Phthalo Green

Cobalt Green

Bright Emerald Green

Emerald Green

Oxide Green

Eskolaite

Pistachio Green

Chrysolite

Glauconite Green Dark

Glauconite Cool

Celadonite

Antique Green Earth

Florentine Green

Chlorite Green

Azo Green

If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading this blog. Stay tuned for Poems About You IV, where I’ll be sharing shades of earthy yellows!

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and found it inspiring.

Until next time.

Much love,

Wendy