Hooker’s Green Winsor Newton Paint Review
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Winsor & Newton Hooker’s Green is a vibrant, high-staining watercolor made from PG36 and PY110. While too bright for realistic foliage straight from the tube, it excels at intentional watercolor blossoms and becomes an outstanding landscape green when mixed with Burnt Sienna or other complementary reds.
Hooker’s Green was one of the very first tubes of watercolor paint I purchased.
Like most beginners, I thought I had found the green. You know… the one magical tube that would instantly make all my trees, grass, and forests look realistic.
Spoiler alert.
It didn’t.
Don’t get me wrong—it’s a beautiful color.
It’s just not a natural green.
If I had to describe Hooker’s Green, I’d say it looks less like a forest and more like a fake plastic houseplant sitting in the corner of a dentist’s office.
Or maybe the glow from a neon sign hanging over a rainy alleyway in Tokyo.
Beautiful?
Absolutely.
Natural?
Not exactly.
Winsor & Newton Hooker’s Green contains two pigments:
- PG36 – Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade)
- PY110 – Isoindolinone Yellow
Together they create an intense, high-chroma green that immediately grabs your attention.
A Strong Staining Pigment
The first thing you’ll notice once it dries is that PG36 is an extremely staining pigment.
If you make a mistake…
Well…
Let’s just say you’ll become very familiar with the phrase “happy little accident.”
Once Phthalo Green sinks into the paper, it’s there to stay. Lifting is difficult, especially on softer watercolor papers.
The upside?
You can glaze over it repeatedly without worrying about lifting previous layers.
Blossoming Capabilities
Now we’re talking.
If you’ve watched my tutorials, you know I have a slight obsession with intentional watercolor blossoms.
Most artists spend years trying to avoid blooms.
I’m over here intentionally making them.
Hooker’s Green is one of those colors that behaves exactly the way I want watercolor to behave.
Lay down a generous wash on flat paper, wait until the shine begins to disappear, then drop in a little clean water.
Sit back.
Watch.
Enjoy.
The blossoms spread beautifully through the wash, creating organic textures that are perfect for foliage, shrubs, moss, and loose landscape paintings.
Even better, when heavily diluted you’ll begin to notice the two pigments separating slightly. The yellow begins to peek through while the Phthalo Green settles into richer passages, giving the wash far more visual interest than you might expect from looking at the tube.
The Secret to Natural Greens
This is where Hooker’s Green really shines.
Not by itself.
But as a mixing color.
Straight from the tube it’s almost too vibrant for believable landscapes.
Nature is surprisingly dull.
Forests are full of muted greens, warm greens, cool greens, dusty greens, olive greens, and shadow greens. Rarely do you find the electric green that comes straight from Hooker’s Green.
Fortunately, that’s an easy fix.
My favorite solution?
Burnt Sienna.
Because Burnt Sienna is a warm reddish-brown (the complement of green), adding even a small amount immediately reduces the chroma. Suddenly that artificial-looking green transforms into something far more believable.
Other excellent mixing partners include:
- Burnt Sienna for realistic foliage
- Quinacridone Rose for muted woodland shadows
- Ultramarine Blue for cool evergreen forests
- Payne’s Gray for stormy, moody landscapes
- Yellow Ochre for dusty late-summer grasses
Think of Hooker’s Green as your starting point—not your finished color.
Best Uses for Winsor & Newton Hooker’s Green
This paint works particularly well for:
- Loose landscape paintings
- Trees and foliage
- Moss and ivy
- Impressionistic forests
- Watercolor blossoms
- Tropical vegetation
- Mixed natural greens
- Background washes
- Colorful floral leaves
My Thoughts
Hooker’s Green isn’t the miracle landscape color I hoped it would be when I first bought it.
It’s better than that.
Once you stop expecting it to be your final foliage color and start using it as an incredibly versatile mixing green, it becomes much more useful.
The strong staining properties make it excellent for layering, the intentional blossoming capabilities are outstanding, and the subtle pigment separation in diluted washes adds wonderful life and movement.
Would I paint an entire forest using Hooker’s Green straight from the tube?
Absolutely not.
Would I keep it on my palette?
Without question.
With a touch of Burnt Sienna—and a willingness to let watercolor do what watercolor does best—it becomes a fantastic tool for creating expressive, believable landscape paintings.
How Does Winsor & Newton Hooker’s Green Compare?
Best for Watercolor Blossoms: Hooker’s Green vs. Holbein Yellow Grey – Both produce beautiful blooms, but Hooker’s Green creates bold, colorful blossoms while Yellow Grey creates softer, atmospheric textures.
Best for Realistic Forest Greens: Daniel Smith Undersea Green – Undersea Green is much more subdued straight from the tube and creates believable foliage with very little mixing. Hooker’s Green is brighter and really comes alive after being neutralized with Burnt Sienna.
Best High-Chroma Green: Winsor & Newton Hooker’s Green – If you want vibrant spring greens, tropical foliage, or dramatic watercolor blossoms, Hooker’s Green is the clear winner.
Best Granulating Green: Daniel Smith Cascade Green – Cascade Green produces spectacular granulation and color separation. Hooker’s Green is smoother, more transparent, and relies on blossoms rather than granulation for texture.
Best Moody Landscape Green: Daniel Smith Forest Gray – Forest Gray creates muted forests, weathered stone, and earthy landscapes. Hooker’s Green provides the vibrant counterpart when brighter greens are needed.
Best for Mixing Natural Greens: Burnt Sienna + Hooker’s Green – This is one of my favorite landscape combinations. Burnt Sienna immediately knocks down Hooker’s Green’s neon intensity, producing convincing woodland greens, olive tones, and realistic tree foliage.
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Ryan Fox AWS, NWS, TWSA
Ryan Fox Painting
(919) 645-8345