I’ve designed myself a ten step programme over thirty days to move from Representational art into a personal language of Abstraction. To understand what I mean by that, be sure to read my blog A Language of Abstraction.

This is step six: COLOUR

What can I say about colour?

I mean, everyone has a favourite one; we often have strong reactions to the ones we don’t like. The right - or wrong - colour can completely change our mood. Though our reactions to the same colour will change over time.

Colour is a super powerful tool, but also a mine field!

It feels like some artists have a natural talent for colour, but it is an art that can - and must - be learned if you want to create successful paintings.

This is especially true for expressionist painters, who use colour and emotional connections as a foundation to their work.

The artist and teacher Josef Albers taught the Abstract Expressionists about colour placement and manipulation: how one colour placed alongside another can be interpreted differently by the human eye and elicit a very different emotion.

This is key in using colour in terms of language. As with contrasts in shape, mark-making and tone, colours relate to one another and interact. Two different colours can be opposing in a conversation, or harmonious, sit within the same colour family or have nothing in common with one another at all.

These examples from some of my favourite artists illustrate how colour can be the main element in a painting and tell most of the story.

Richard Diebenkorn

Beth Munro

Mark Rothko

Paul Klee

The Challenge with Colour

It’s important to learn how to mix colours correctly. Using a different medium can mean learning a new method. Mixing watercolours, for example, is different to how you’d mix oils or acrylic. Knowing about pigments and lightfastness, opacity and colour relationships (a la Josef Albers) and colour temperature is all vital. It is a constant learning curve.

However, I have two big challenges concerning colour: first, is choosing a colour palette and then sticking to it as I work! The second is working tonally with a colour palette. (See previous blog Abstraction: Tone)

Choosing the colour palette

Colour palettes will change according to the project. There are a number of factors which might help to select the key colours: an inspiration source or where the painting is going to hang.

I have in mind a number of paintings that will eventually hang in my house, so I have taken a combination of these two things: My Barely There set of prints and the decor in key rooms.

I particularly like matching muted colours with a splash of bright.

With this selection, I can have a number of combinations that work well and each piece will compliment each other as a set.

However, I need to have a good range of tonal values in the selection. So I lined the paint samples up into what I believed to be darkest to lightest. I took a photo and removed the colour saturation.

It’s not a bad effort, but I think I can dial up the contrast a notch.

So in order to select a good tonal range, I created colour spectrums using each of the base colours. I mixed Payne’s Grey with white, black, titanium buff and neutral grey. I then repeated the mix sets with Violet Oxide, Quinacridone Magenta, Yellow Oxide and Bismuth Yellow.

I also added a spectrum of Yellow oxide/white with Quinacridone Magenta which produced a lovely range of muted pinks, oranges and neutral yellow which I will use as base layers for the other colours. Also note how mixing black or Payne’s Grey with yellow makes a beautiful green which is a valuable addition to the palette.

After taking a photograph, I removed the colour saturation to see the tonal values of those colours.

Now, that’s more like it! I now have a range of light, mid to dark tones in each colour. I can use all of these within a painting, but to varying degrees. It’s good practice to have decided upon the dominant light and dark colours and also mids.

I made a little study using the dominant colours of my chosen palette (strong dark, light and mid tones) to see how they interact with one another. Also, I could see what this “dialogue” was missing. I decided to change out the Bismuth yellow with a Hansa Yellow which gives me a warmer yellow-green when also mixed with a little violet. I’ve also thrown in a fluorescent pink and metallic copper.

For easy reference, I then put them in value order: lightest to darkest.

There is so much more to explore, especially how colours layer up to create depth and how fluid tones appear underneath heavy bodied paints. I will experiment with this in part nine: layering. However, I have enough material here to move on to the next step. I have a wonderful range of light, medium and dark tones to work with to create a strong contrasting composition. That’s what I’ll be exploring in the next step.

Step seven is all about COMPOSITION

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I was an art student who became a screenwriter. Twenty years later, I abandon the page and return to the canvas as I attempt to tell stories through pictures.

Abstraction: Colour

The Challenge with Colour

Choosing the colour palette