The Wonderful Words for This Wednesday are “Choosing Colors Intuitively”
Have you ever sat in front of a blank canvas or watercolor surface, unsure which colors to choose? You are not alone! But I’m here to tell you that perhaps you are overthinking it.
When you go to paint or create with color, do your thoughts immediately go to what you ‘should’ know about Color Theory? If you’re trying to go by all of the color ‘rules, you could experience what I call “paralysis by analysis” and never actually start.
Today, I want us to pluck all of the color theory rules we may know or not know right out of our brains, and spend some time choosing colors intuitively.
Let’s throw caution to the wind, and trust our own creative instincts, shall we? Yes. Yes we shall.
Understanding Intuitive Color Choice
Choosing colors intuitively means we ‘go with our gut’ and use feelings, instincts, and spontaneous decisions to choose colors throughout the creative process rather than relying solely on color theory or planning.
I can tell you that this is the primary way I paint and create. No matter how much I learn about color theory, I still go right back to choosing colors on the fly, as I create.
By experimenting with color and having ‘play’ sessions with your paints frequently, you can learn much of what you need to know about color.
WARNING! Choosing colors intuitively could lead to increased creativity, more personal expression, and an emotional connection to your artwork.
Disclaimer: I acknowledge that there are times when you do need to be clear and careful about your color choices like when you are working with a company to license you work, or you’re planning to scan your work into Adobe Illustrator, or both. BUT, today, I’m merely talking about experimentation and play in your creative practice.
Experiment Freely
Whether you are one who always struggles with choosing colors, or you are one who loves to create beautiful color palettes before starting a piece of work, I’m suggesting you throw out all the rules and give your intuition a chance.
When playing art, we must let go of the ‘end result’ and focus on trying new things, new color combinations, new color mixes etc. If you always paint in a certain color, try a ‘new to you’ color.
Isn’t there a song that has a line that is like this: “Fee yourself and the rest will follow”?
Try it!
Now let’s get right to it. This activity is one you’ve probably seen before, but it’s a good one.
In this activity, you have to work fairly quickly which requires you to make quick decisions without thinking too much, thus you are acting mostly on your intuition. This also means you should read through all of the instructions before starting so you can go through the steps quickly.
Materials
Watercolor Paints (if I were just getting started, I would probably buy this set)
Watercolor Paper (I used Canson 9×12 140 lb paper)
Water
Step 1
Activate your watercolors by spraying them with water or dropping a few drops of water on all of the colors. This is an important step as you want them all to be ready to go for wherever your intuition leads you.
Wait for at least one minute before starting and during this time allow your eyes to look at all of your color choices. Notice which ones might be calling out to you. Purposely look directly at the colors you hardly ever use. Don’t worry, they won’t bite! I’m not asking you to choose any of those colors, I’m just asking you to look at them for now.
Step 2
Wet your paintbrush and dip it into a color. Don’t overthink this first color! Just pick one and paint a blob. I’d call it a circle but I want you to feel free of constraints, so we are calling these blobs.
Now right away while your first blob is still wet, rinse your brush and dip your brush into another color and paint a blob right next to the first one and be sure they touch slightly so that the paints can swirl into each others blobs. You can choose a variation of the first color or a completely different color.
Repeat this over and over until you have an entire page of blobs.
Step 3
Look at what you created and notice what you like and don’t like. Are there little combinations that you love? Fantastic! Are there little combinations that you don’t love? Fantastic! Remember, knowing what doesn’t work is just as important as knowing what does.
Step 4
Do it again.
You can do many of these little color blob paintings. Perhaps do one with all the blues, or all of the greens, or just blues and greens. Make up a guideline for yourself to try and give it a go.
My Example
In mine, I started by painting a teal circle as that’s one of my favorite colors. I then added many of the colors surrounding that color in my set. Then I added some of the oranges and yellows because my intuition led me to those colors next.
Here are some things I noticed:
See how that teal blends beautifully with that lime green? I can use this color combination in a leaf design by painting the entire leaf lime green and then adding a bit of teal at the base of the leaf while it is still wet.
Look at both of these blends! The pinky orange color into the yellow would look amazing on a flower petal. The yellow into that seaglass color creates a very lovely green.
Now this blend is awful. The bit of blue mixed into the orange makes a muddy ugly mess. Note to self, do not let these two colors touch when they are still wet!
Conclusion
Give your intuition a chance. If at first it’s uncomfortable, that’s okay! Keep doing this type of play until you have learned your own color style, likes, AND dislikes. It’s important.
Here’s an example of a painting I did without any forethought about my color palette:
I started with a pink I really wanted to use for those three biggest flowers (the color is Opera Rose by Windsor and Newton), then I thought a bit of gamboge (the yellow color) would look good with the pink, next I wanted some blue somewhere so I painted blue leaves (leaves don’t always have to be green!), etc. etc. etc. I LOVE how this came out!
What will you paint using just your own intuition?
Please let me know if you try this! Send me a pic of your favorite blobs and tell me what you thought of this activity. I love a two way conversation.
Kimberly Snider, Virtuoso, Signing Off
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