Hooker’s Green is named for the English botanical illustrator William Hooker (1779-1832), who originally created the green as a leaf mix from Prussian Blue (PB27) and original, natural Gamboge (NY24).
Every brand has their own formula for this middle green, but generally modern versions mix Phthalo Green (blue shade or yellow shade) with some sort of orange-yellow.
Historical Notes
Botanical illustrations show the green mix as illustrator Hooker originally used it!
To my eye, this is very, very accurate as a leaf color. You can see how Hooker varied the amount of yellow or the amount of blue for the lit or shadowed portions of the leaf. Prussian Blue is a good green mixer because it’s quite vibrant in mixes, and it also gets darker as it gets bluer, which lends itself well to shadows.
Here’s a self-mix swatch showing my own green mixes from Prussian Blue and a modern color similar in hue to the old Gamboge, Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65).
Now that we have an idea in our heads about what original Hooker’s Green looked like, let’s take a look at modern mixed versions.
Observations of Holbein Hooker’s Green
Holbein Hooker’s Green strikes me as being cooler and higher chroma than original Hooker’s Green, but it is also an excellent color for leaves in summer.
It is a crisp, medium green without an obvious yellow or blue tone. It dilutes to a pale mint/cucumber color. It disperses a lot and grades quite easily.
It’s interesting that Holbein chose to mix Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7) with two yellows rather than, say, Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG36) with one; I suspect it’s because Blue Shade is the cheaper Phthalo Green, though perhaps the blueness of the PG7 was desired for coolness. As for the yellows, Color Isoindolinone Yellow Deep (PY110) is a very similar hue to the original Gamboge, while Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150) is giving the paint its dispersiveness.
I did tend to make some accidental blooms with this one when I overdiluted. They’re interesting, but unintentional.
Recipes
Here’s how Hooker’s Green is mixed by various major paint companies:
- Da Vinci, Art Spectrum: Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7), Yellow Ochre (PY42)
- Daniel Smith: Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG36), Hansa Yellow Light (PY3), Quinacridone Gold (PY150, PO48)
- Holbein: Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7), Yellow Orange (PY110), Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150)
- Rembrandt: Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7), Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150)
- Schmincke Horadam: Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7), Yellow Ochre (PY42) Phthalo Blue Green Shade (PB15:3)
- Winsor & Newton, Turner: Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG36), Yellow Orange (PY110)
It’s surprising to me that nobody seems to use Prussian Blue considering that pigment is still widely available and is a component of the original. Perhaps modern versions tend to want to offer a higher-chroma green.
Comparison to Other Greens
Phthalo Greens
While Hooker’s Green is quite a bright green, it is still slightly more muted than the extremely bright Phthalo Greens, making it a more natural color for foliage than unmixed Phthalo. It is also a bit yellower even than the Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG36).
Sap Green
Sap Green varies from company to company, with most being darker and more olive-y than this Holbein offering, but I figured this was a good point of comparison since it’s the same company. As you can see, Hooker’s is consistently a less yellow green than Sap. Sap is usually also more muted.
I have found that people who live in temperate climates like myself and people from England will find Hooker’s Green to be a natural foliage shade for broadleaf deciduous trees in summer, while people who live in more arid climates like the Southwest USA or Australia will tend to find that Sap Greens are better matches for the tougher leaves and succulents in their area.
Comparison to Other Brands
Winsor & Newton – Hooker’s Green (PG36, PY110)
This recipe of Hooker’s Green is closer to the foliage shade I’d probably mix on my palette if left to my own devices: a simple two-color mix with a Phthalo Green with an orange-yellow. The result is a slightly muted yellow-green with a wide range. (The little imperfections in the blue mixes are just because I set something down on it before it was dry.) This is a pretty good all-around convenience green mix that pretty closely matches the color of summer foliage in my area.
In terms of yellowness, I found it fell between Holbein’s Sap and Hooker’s Greens, predictably more closely matching the Hooker’s Green. It is a bit more muted than either Holbein offering.
Winsor & Newton might be the one to pick if you’re only going to have one green on your palette because it’s nice and middle-of-the-road, while you might choose to have both Holbeins (which are yellower and bluer, respectively) if you want options.
MaimeriBlu – Hooker’s Green (PG17)
This is quite different from other Hooker’s Greens. Unlike the typical Hooker’s Greens on the market today, it is not a mix of Phthalo Green and yellow, but the single pigment Chromium Oxide Green (PG17). When the MaimeriBlu watercolor line revamped itself in 2018 to offer only single-pigment colors, it recycled the names of some formerly mixed colors for some of its single pigment offerings rather than using the typical names for them.
I question this strategy. Chromium Oxide Green is likely to annoy people looking for Hooker’s Green, and people looking for Chromium Oxide Green may miss that Maimeri has one under another name. In this particular case, it seems like a poor match. If you are looking for a single pigment color that resembles typical Hooker’s Greens, I think Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG36) is a much closer match.
Ultimately, this is a fine Chromium Oxide Green, but I don’t really consider it a Hooker’s Green.
My Review of Hooker’s Green
I really like Hooker’s Green – the usual style, I mean, not the Maimeri one. It is the convenience green I’ve been looking for to color the bright, leafy forests of the Northeast USA in summer, like this photo from Vermont:
This hue is easy enough to mix up. Here’s flexible recipe:
- Green or green-blue (e.g. PG7, PG36, PB27, PB15:3)
- Yellow-orange (e.g. PY110, PY65)
- (optional) Gold (e.g. PY150, Quinacridone Gold)
I typically don’t devote palette slots to colors that I can mix. Still, this one is convenient, especially if you are painting a ton of greenery quickly (such as plein air painting), or if you always find yourself mixing your Phthalo Green with yellows so why not save yourself a step.
Favorite version: Between Holbein and W&N, I think W&N is a more well behaved paint as well as a more balanced all-around green color, but there is something I just love about the cool crisp clarity and explosive dispersiveness of the Holbein shade.
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Holbein – Hooker’s Green, 5 ml tube: Jackson’s US