I do a lot of paintings with blacks and white. When I first started painting, years ago, I would just go buy the one of two blacks available – squeeze a large amount onto my palette and start working. A few years back I took a class on color theory. I learned how to mix different colors to create blacks (and other shades) that have more depth, more sheen or other colors hidden within them. Now I rarely use black straight from the tube unless it’s for small parts within a painting. I have a few of my (personal) favorite color mixing recipes that create the look and effect that I’m searching for but recently this approach caught me completely off guard.
From time to time I try out new brands of paint. Paint itself varies some in color and consistency based on brand. So If I’m looking for texture from the paint (without adding a medium) I go for one brand… different effects, I may try an alternate brand. Anyway, in starting ‘Narrow Passage’ I tried a new-to-me brand of paint, and instinctively squished out a bunch of Dark Permanent Green and Deep Cad Red and began mixing. While typically this will give me a color that I am very used to working with (and that I sometimes modify further) in this case it was definitely NOT black… I did however like the effect – and decided to just go with it.