How To Find Your Own Colour Palette
Lots of palette inspiration and a zoom class on March 23rd!
Hi everyone!
And an extra hello to all my new subscribers: I’m so happy you’re here! I have a class for you to celebrate spring together, and below is the information about the session. I have some tips for finding a colour palette. Playing with colours is mostly fun! But some people struggle with finding a “signature” palette. I’m here to tell you it’s already here. And also, you can change it up at any time.
ZOOM DRAWING SESSION: SPRING EQUINOX!
To celebrate the official start of Spring I will host an extra themed drawing session!
Saturday March 23rd 16:00 (4 PM) CEST Amsterdam Time (+replay)
I've preselected (nature-inspired) images within the theme of Spring Equinox for us to draw. We'll set a timer for every drawing and can chat about the materials we use, how to approach the drawings, and more. If you don't like chatting, you can turn off your camera and/or microphone. At the end, there's an option to share your work (tag me @lascarlatte on IG:), but there's no pressure. It's meant to be a fun and relaxing time.
This session is open to all and donation-based. Pay what you can! A portion of the sales will be donated to the Vogelbescherming (the Dutch National Bird Protection Foundation).
MORE INFO & SIGN UP HERE
How to come up with a nice palette for this session? I’ve got your back!
Look around you
Well, the best way to find your colour palette to me is always to stay close to home. Look around you - what colours do you see? What colours are your couch, your wall, shoes, and your shirt? They are probably your favourite colours and a great place to start. This is my studio, as you can see I’m into greens and blues. I made a colour palette just using the colours in the picture (and the trousers I was wearing because I love them).
You can also:
Pick colours out of an existing artwork. Either yours or somebody elses (there is no copyright on colour;). Sometimes starting with something you just like the look of is a good way to start developing your own palette. Below is an artwork of mine where I’ve sampled the colour swatches. If you want, you can start with this palette.
Make swatches of every colour you like in your art collection. I’ve done this and put them all in a small pot. I can either use it as a colour chart or pick colours out of the pot at random and create a palette that way. Works really well!
Look at nature! The season bring on a whole array of colours. I did a few Monthly Colour Palettes, where I looked at plants and flowers around me and made a palette matching them with my art materials.
Other ways to come up with a palette:
Collect swatches: whenever you find a scrap of pretty paper, save it. See something beautiful? Take a picture. Go to the hardware store and collect pretty swatches in the paint section and wallpaper sections. You’ll have a palette in no time.
Look at the colours you use most, and make palettes out of them. Everyone has a collection of tiny pencils, paint tubes that are almost completely empty, and those are definitely your colours. Swatch them in your sketchbook and then choose pairs of 4 or 5 to make colour palettes with.
No pencils stumps yet? I have a system: I’ve put my pencils with the tip down in a pot and when I’ve used one, I put it back in the pot with the tip up. This way, I know which ones I use and which ones I don’t. I saw it once on Oprah, she did it with clothing (by turning hangers in her wardrobe when used), and well, she just has some great ideas.
Here are some inspiring things on colour:
A session by
and where they explore limited colour palettes. I came up with combos I would have never used before the session, but they worked surprisingly well! Watch it here!- and swapped colours. Sometimes it’s good to explore things out of your comfort zone. Read it here.
The website Coolors helps you create a palette by generating one and you can build from that. You can also upload a photo and it’ll derive a palette from it.
Make a giant mixed media colour wheel with TJ Marston
If you’ve found some base colours, mixing them and playing around is a great idea. This video by
shows how you can build from an existing palette.
I hope this has given you lots of inspiration. Don’t forget to sign up for the Zoom session. See you there!
Thanks so much for sharing my workshops Pauline! This is such a great round up of ways to get colour inspired - I love it!
I love using Coolors too, what a fun way to play and mix and match. I made my personal palette by pulling out all my favourite clothes and recording the colours and then adding a few. I now paint using these choices.