Most artists have their favourite custom black mix. I have two custom mixes.

One is Burnt Umber and Ultramarine blue. This black can be mixed as a cool black (with the addition of more Ultramarine blue) or a warmer black (with more Burnt umber). When mixed with white it gives you an amazing selection of greys to play with.

Another custom black I like to use is a mix from Pthalo blue, Alizarin crimson and Cadmium yellow Medium (though I have used Cadmium yellow and cadmium lemon yellow in this mix). All these yellow options mixed with Pthalo blue and Alizarin crimson give you an incredible variety of greens!

I build a colour string starting with the custom black base and just add more yellow as I blend the sequence of shades and hues that I need. The result is terrific! Very rarely do I use green from the tube in my paintings.

Voila! Custom black perfect for mixing greens for foliage.