I tried using terra verte again today (see Proto Nebula). It covered so lightly that I had to use the much heavier chromium green for any pigment to appear.
I started today’s painting with three main patches of color: an upper and lower patch of red iron oxide, a reddish earth tone that covers the paper’s surface very evenly; and a barely visible middle patch of terra verte green. I added a bit of cobalt blue on the left-middle edge of the paper.
I then began to work on the edges of the middle patch with diagonal strokes of chromium green. I enhanced the top and bottom with the rich terra rosa and finished the bottom edge of the middle patch with shadow green directly opposing a thin, broken line of cadmium red.
Finally, I add bismuth yellow to lighten the middle patch and give the impression of a rounded surface. I then noticed that composition resembled the form a tree; I reinforced a small open patch, a couple of inches from the left-middle edge with the yellow and added a square of terra rosa on the right lower edge of the green field. These finishing touches added the star and base to this year’s Christmas tree portrait.