When you think of colour, do you think there is a right and wrong way to use colour? In your art you should always trust your intuition especially when it comes to colour. You could read endless books to find out about how to put colours together, how to use a colour wheel and so on but when you trust your intuition with colour, something magical happens.
I have taken all kinds of art courses about colour. I have all kinds of books on how to mix colour too. I rarely look in those books or look at references as to how to mix colours because I trust my intuition when it comes to colour and colour mixing. Whether it is mixing colour with coloured pencils or acrylic paint, the basic principles are the same. How you mix your colours is a personal choice.
Some people like to start with dark layers and layer light colours overtop like with coloured pencils for example. In my opinion that creates too much work because you then must go in and try to make the dark areas lighter if you want to create lighter areas. An easier method is to start with a light layer of a colour then add progressively darker layers to create depth.
When painting, I leave my white areas white then I paint the rest of the canvas the colours I want it to be. I layer starting with my lighter colours or white then add in darker colours from light to medium to dark the same as I would when I use coloured pencils. This is to ensure I have bright colours within my painting because if you paint everything dark from the start it is difficult to get that bright white back from the original canvas colour white. If you want, you can paint white acrylic paint on top of the white canvas to add a layer of paint on top of the bare canvas. I add white to my white canvas areas if it needs it but sometimes, I just leave it.
My point here is that your method of choosing and mixing colours is your choice. I have been told by many artists the way I was painting was wrong. I think it’s just different than the old school way of painting so of course they may see it as wrong. I tend to think there is no right or wrong way of painting or using colour, only sometimes people who only see things can be done one way.
If we could only create art one way, the world would be a very boring place. Colour is meant to be celebrated, explored and played with! Once you trust your intuition with colour, you will never go back to using a colour wheel. As for all those books I have, I do look at them occasionally, it is to look at techniques, not copy. I have my own magical method for choosing colours and colour mixing, I am extremely confident in my artistic ability because I trust my intuition!
When it comes to colour, my tiles make it easy for you to jump into colour! If you haven’t tried my tiles yet, why not try them now? My tiles are created with love in Alberta, Canada!