What Color is a Good Underpainting Color for Green?

'Palm Tree Impressions'           8x10              pastel                 ©Karen Margulis
available $165

 I had this vision that I wanted to paint. It was a row of palm trees that I saw on my recent trip to Florida. I didn't want them to look detailed. I wanted a fun impression. But it was a very green scene. It needed some relief form the green or it would be a boring painting. What color would work for the underpainting?

I know that the secret to interesting greens is to use a variation of red and some violet. But what if I used red violet? How would that work? The only way to find out was to give it a try. Used some water soluble hard pastels by Charvin. I had received this set of pastels as a prize and always forget to use them. They are great for underpaintings. I did a wash with some water and the result was a bright but fun underpainting.

My underpainting on Uart 400 grit. 

The trick was to leave some of the red violet underpainting showing! I used broad and chunky marks keeping with my goal of not getting too fussy. When I was happy with my trees I added back some of the red violet for some spice marks. Can you see them?

Note: This would be an interesting painting to use for an experiment with underpainting colors!