Date: 12th April 2021
Location: Isle of Wight
Category: Creativity

Colour palettes and colour mixing

This is a post about art but I’ve discovered that so much of my art and photography are connected. What I learn in one place helps with the other.

So. Colour mixing. Oh my word!

As a self-taught “artist” I really do get anxious about mixing colour – I’ve had too many experiences which ending up with mud.

When I did Laura Horn‘s wonderful 5 day #creativeelementschallenge back in February, we were asked to create 2 palettes! It was easy to find images in magazines with colours that I wanted to put together but it took me ages to find matches for the colours with my limited materials, especially when I had to combine 2 or more to get a colour match (like the coral in the image below). I got there eventually. You can see the palettes in the left side of the first image below.

We had to paint backgrounds with those colours and I wasn’t too happy with them. I used one of backgrounds as a piece in one of my art journals, adorned with hearts and a ladybug (right side of first image), which I felt OK about.

But then I watched an amazing video about making a patchwork scraps diary (see end of post for a definition) by Autumn (of @autumn_moon_art). Of course I was inspired to make my own patchwork using paper scraps in this exact colour palette. I love love love how this turned out. Finally I had a piece using this palette that I was 100% happy with (bottom image).

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So what’s all the fuss about?

Mixing colours stresses me out. But with practice I am getting better at it. I will still avoid it if I can by having materials in the exact shade I need – haha!

An antidote to this stress is making a scraps diary with pieces of paper centred around a theme or colour palette. The process is magical. I become so absorbed in my scraps and colours – its calming and peaceful. Plus – as a paper addict, I dislike throwing papers away – this is the most perfect way to use them up! I have done quite a few of scraps diaries now, and every one feels different!

Read more about this exciting new Everyday Delight here

What is a scraps diary?

This is what Autumn ( @autumn_moon_art ) says about it:

“Sifting through my scraps (a large amount let me tell you!), I could see how they told the story of my recent arting. So I came up with this simple visual diary – a record of my month in scraps. Unadorned, letting them tell their story just as they are”

Her guidelines:

• GRID, any size, as many as you like for the month
• SIMPLE, unadorned, non-over-lapped
• Use under papers , failed experiments, left-over collage bits…..
• Use #scrapsdiary and tag me @autumn_moon_art