An enchanting deep Emerald green with transparency. This lovely color makes excellent glazes as well as interesting mixes which can actually go quite bluish in tints. Debate rages as to whether phthalo green (a similar color) can replace the historical viridian, and we have found the answer to be not completely.

Some painters prefer Viridian to Phthalo Green PG7 as it is gentler in many respects. Though both are transparent the two have slightly different qualities. When mixing colors that are just shy of highest chroma (which happens a lot in realistic painting) Viridian is a much more straightforward green to use. Phthalo can be used, but may take another pigment or two to counterbalance it in order to achieve a similar effect. Viridian is often paired with cadmium in cadmium green mixes, probably due to the copper in Phthalo.

One interesting quirk we've found is that some brands of viridian oil paint actually seem to shift in appearance when dried. Out of the tube they may look almost indistinguishable from phthalo green, however after drying the two may appear different.

Viridian has a very high oil content when made into paint, which may be important to keep in mind if painting in layers.

In the Artist's Guide to Health and Safety Monona Rossol has information on working with pigments containing Chrome, however in her latest work she distinguishes that this color has Chrome III.

On a rather alarming note, we've noticed that Viridian pigment is becoming harder to find in paints. Perhaps due to its cost, in some corporate paint brands, such as Winsor and Newton, Viridian has become rare. That's too bad, as it is a lovely pigment with charms all its own.