Color Study With Sedimentary Color

Today I started an agave painting.  Having done so many cacti paintings with Pthalo Blue as the main color I figured it was time to branch out and try a whole new limited palette.  Whew!  What a different game this is.

After trying different color combinations, I finally settled on Ultramarine Blue, New Gamboge and Cadmium Red Medium.  All three are semi-opaque and sedimentary, particularly the blue.  They don't float on the water like the staining/transparent colors I've been using this past year. Being semi-opaque, they settle in the rough paper I chose to paint on, giving the painting a completely different flavor than I've gotten used to.

Shaking things up a bit from time to time is good for me, right? Keep me learning and from getting into a rut.  That's the idea, anyway.

The first pause to step back and take a look.  Not sure about that green...

Close-up you can see that the green mixture continues to lift and move around with every layer I put on.  This is not what I'm used to!  No masque on this piece, I'm painting around the thorny edges.  

This might work out alright, but I'm not so sure tonight.  Time will tell.  

I love the blues and violets this is making.  Not so happy with the greens, but I've come too far to change course now.  Press on, woman!