Colour mixing

I'm at the preparation stage on my next project, a lovely pink poppy with a dark background and dashes of sunlight. Of course, this is just the excuse to delay putting paint to paper, except that I'm actually putting plenty of paint to paper, just not on the poppy.

I finally got the lemon yellow recommended by the book on colour I mentioned before. And I've been busy painting my colour charts. Actually, that lemon yellow (PY3) isn't that different from my Schmincke Vanadium yellow (PY184). I've actually done a comparison, mixing with Phthalo blue, and my eye can't see the difference - both give lovely, intense, aquamarine greens. It's great to mix bright colours, not mud, for a change

I also like the mid-intensity greens made with Ultramarine and Vanadium yellow, and the greys and browns created when you add Permanent Rose to the mix. Subtle - but not dull. I might actually use them for the really dark part of the background to the poppy painting. I'm just not sure how they'll work out - the background is really dark, so I might have to do several glazes to get the effect, but I'm afraid the greys will look too dull if I add too many layers. I guess I'll just have to try it! Don't you think these colours are to die for?