Color Spotlight: Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG36)

Daniel Smith Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade): gradient, opacity and glazing, color mixes

PGYS is a highly-staining, highly-transparent, classic grass or emerald green, more yellow than its brother Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7).

Experiment Results

Hue: A bold middle to yellow green. Wide range of values from bright to light. The computer made the middle shades look blueish, but they are not in person – it’s evenly yellow-toned all the way down.

Gradient: Nice, even gradient.

Opacity: Very transparent.

Glazing: Extra-dark hunter green glaze.

Color Mixes: Mixes with reds are uninspiring, but Hansa Yellow Light turns into a vibrant spring green, and the blues make nice turquoises. (Phthalo Blue Green Shade + Phthalo Green Yellow Shade is how Daniel Smith makes Phthalo Turquoise!) A pretty, Victorian-looking muted dark green with Quin Purple, and earthy greens with the earth tones. I like the mossy mix with Quin Gold.

Comparison to Other Brands

Winsor & Newton – Winsor Green Yellow Shade

Looks pretty much the same!

Da Vinci – Phthalo Green Yellow Shade

Lightfastness

Extremely slight fading/muting/warming. Not really perceptible in the photo, almost imperceptible in real life.

Comparison with Phthalo Green Blue Shade

Phthalo Green Blue Shade is made from the pigment PG7; the color is cooler/more blue-toned (closer to Viridian, and sometimes Viridian Hue uses this), but similarly wide-ranging in its value range and also highly staining.

Daniel Smith Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) gradient, opacity/glazing tests, and color mixes. This is a redone version with stronger color mixes than my original PGBS Color Spotlight.

Here they are side-by-side:

Blue Shade next to Yellow Shade. Again, in real life, the midtones of Yellow Shade are more evenly yellow-green.

Color Mixes

Pure Yellow (PY154)

WN Winsor Green Yellow Shade (PG36) + WN Winsor Yellow (PY154) on Wonder Forest paper

Very vibrant yellow-greens

Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150)

WN Winsor Green Yellow Shade (PG36) + MI Green Gold (PY150) on Wonder Forest paper

With mostly green, quite a bright color similar to the Pure Yellow mixes; with more NAY, a green gold that reminds me of Rich Green Gold

Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone (PV19)

Not quite complements; dull purples and dark greens

Quin Rose (PV19)

DV Red Rose Deep (PV19) + Winsor Green Yellow Shade (PG36) on Wonder Forest paper

This is quite complementary.

Phthalo Green YS (PG36)

Pretty much a complement, slightly on the cool side of gray.

Phthalo Blue GS (PB15:3)

WN Winsor Blue Green Shade (PB15:3) + WN Winsor Green Yellow Shade (PG36) on Wonder Forest paper

Glowing teals.

Conclusion

I’m actively in flux on this one. The differences between PG36 and PG7 are extremely subtle, so it’s a totally inconsequential decision, which is what makes it so hard! I have this in my Neon Palette, to make maximally bold yellow-greens, but for my main and Summer palettes, I prefer the cooler PG7.