How swatching and mixing colours informs artwork
+ some creative prompts for you
This month I am wrapping up my 100 day project and I am already thinking about further directions in my work. I am going to write a separate post with reflections about the project and make a sketchbook tour with my landscapes later this month, but today I wanted to share a part of my creative process in relation to finding colour inspiration. In addition to painting the landscapes for my project, I have been creating a lot of colour studies recently.
Some of the studies are directly inspired by the project, some are just experiments with my existing colours, some are aimed at creating colour combinations for future reference. I want to dive a little deeper into exploring florals and still life compositions and experiment with a looser, more expressive style, incorporating unlikely colours more in my work.
Colour studies can be really helpful in exploring ideas and informing your future work. In my case I feel that collecting colour combinations serves the goal of creating references for interpreting real life colours in a more expressive way.
Colour swatching is also relaxing, helps to let go of perfectionism and enjoy the process of exploration!
Ways colour studies inform your work
Getting to know your colours (relative values, pigmentation, texture, is there a colour shift when they dry, granulation for watercolours, etc.).
Learning the mixing potential of your supplies and adjusting your palette.
Learning about your natural preferences, favourite mixes & combinations.
Creating your own palette for a project or as a part of developing your style.
Creating references that will support you in choosing colours and provide additional inspiration when stuck.
A good idea is to swatch all your supplies and have the swatches as a reference at all times - in a folder, dedicated sketchbook or on your wall. Experiment with swatching on different types of paper and combining colours into colour groups or specific sets. Use the exercises below to find colours and colour combinations that you love.
Where to look for colour inspiration
Record colour mixes and combinations after a painting session. You can use pieces of paper, disposable palette paper or a sketchbook page and make notes about which colours you used. I frequently put these swatches on my inspiration board. If you are using your sketchbook, you can also use the residual paint to create a loose background and come in later with more details and marks.
Cut out colours you like from magazines (e.g., interior design magazines are full of colour inspiration). Play with colour combinations, glue them onto a sketchbook page and practice mixing colours to match the reference.
Another similar idea is to swatch colours straight from a reference photo, a book page or a magazine page . Also use art books and find inspiration in work created by other artists. You can devote a specific sketchbook for colour studies.
Find images on Pinterest and create boards devoted to a specific colour, colour combination or type of colour (e.g. bold colours or muted colours). Look for a variety of examples - photos, paintings, interior design ideas, various surfaces and textures, textiles, patterns.
Make and collect your own reference photos, combine them in folders according to colour. Try cropping or zooming in photos to find interesting colour combinations.
Creative prompts
Here are some exercises I like to use in my own art practice. You don’t have to use them all at the same time, choose those that sound exciting for you and dive into exploring your colours!
Play with creating colours wheels using various primary colours to learn how this impacts the mixing results. I like to take this exercise further and not only use various types of reds, blues and yellows, but choose any three colours and learn what mixes they produce.
Create colour charts mixing all your colours with each other.
Choose two colours and mix them with each other in changing proportions to learn how many different colours you can get.
Mix tints (+ white), tones (+ neutral grey), shades (+ black) and muted versions of colours (using a complementary colour or an earth colour).
Look at art created by other artists and analyse it from a colour standpoint.
Create mini studies using a limited palette - choose one from your colour inspiration folder.
Swatch your supplies - new ones or those that you haven’t been painting with in a while.
What are your favourite ways to play with colour?
Further inspiration:
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Thank you for being here!
Until next time!
Lisa