Exploring colour

One of my Sketchbook Challenge prompts this month is Rainbow, and I suggested an exploration of colours. Here are some of the ways I have explored colour over the years.

Make a colour chart

Collect together all the colours you have, and make a chart to show how they all mix together.

This is a really useful starting point for understanding colour, and specifically the colours you own. I recommend all my students do this in some manner so that there are no surprise mixtures in the middle of a piece of art!

Match colours to inspiration

Find way to mix colours to match an object, the sky, a landscape, your cat’s fur…

Here, I used yellows mixed with other colours to create sunset sky colours,

Explore two colours

Choose two colours, collect all the examples of those colours that you have, and experiment with mixing them. Notice which stand out, whether they are warm or cool, the value of each against another.

Recreate an inspirational image

Use Pinterest, Instagram, or magazines to find examples of abstract art in which you enjoy the colours. Use the media you own to re-create it.

I found this segment of Ammonite by Dale Rogers in a magazine.

Make mini compositions

Choose two or three colours, perhaps choices for a future piece of art, and use them to make miniature compositional sketches. Consider how the colours interact with each other, which stand out and which recede, and how you might use this later.

If you want to read more about how I choose colours, click the link to check out my previous blog post: How Do Artists Choose Colours?