"Desert Grapes 29x28" is a succulent in the Chicago Botanical Gardens desert exhibit. What really caught my eye is that it's only two colors. Green-Yellow and a very light Blue-Green. With shapes and the colors it reminded me of grapes. Like all artists, I am engrossed by color and have a variety of theories about color. One of them is about tints, tones and shades. (Tints adding white to color, Tones adding grays and Shades adding black). Here was a chance to explore that theory. When I started to mix the "tint" green-yellow I started with a ratio of 4 yellow to .25 green-yellow, ending with a 4 green-yellows and no yellow. (When melting wax I use a 6 pan muffin pan.) I vary the ratios from "light" to "dark". Creating tints, tones and shades. I did the same for white and blue-green. I choose a green/brown dye to connect and finish the painting. To say the least was very please with results.