PaintingColour palettes

Colour palettes include full colour and limited colour palettes. Through your research, development and investigations into different painting mediums and techniques you will have used colour in many ways in your preparatory studies.

How you choose to use colour will allow you to develop your own individual style.

How to use colour/colour schemes

Using a particular range of colour can create mood and emphasis.

Warm colours are bright and vivid. They will appear to advance within a painting. Warm colours include:

• red
• orange
• yellow
• brown
• tan

Cool colours are calm and soothing. They will appear to recede within a painting. Cool colours include:

• green
• blue
• purple
• most greys

Neutral colours include:

• black
• white
• grey

Using limited colour

Select colours considering their tonal value. You could consider primary colours and complementary colours.

You could also develop and apply a mixture of tones and play around with various combinations to create a range of striking images.

Monochromatic colour

Change the tone of a colour by adding its complementary colour or by adding black or white to it. Adding white to a colour creates a tint, adding black creates a tone.

Adding more paint (creating a darker tone) or more water (creating a lighter tone) can alter the saturation.

The effect of colour

The effects of colour can be purely:

• optical - creating visual interest and drawing the viewers eye.
• emotional - cool colours like blue or green have a calming effect. Red and yellow are more stimulating to the senses.
• aesthetic eg the beauty that springs from the juxtaposition of two or more harmonious colours juxtaposit

Colour can affect the composition of a painting, it can be used to:

• harmonize or contrast
• unify a scene
• set a visual path
• produce a rhythm
• create emphasis