Unlocking My Art Career: The Transformative Power of Colour Studies
- Deborah Burrow
- Aug 1
- 5 min read
I have always loved colour. I love how they interact with each other and how colour can create mood and atmosphere. Little did I know that learning how to achieve this for myself was going to be a very steep learning curve!
The Early Years
It is interesting to look back at how colour has influenced my drawing and painting over the years. As a child, like most people, I approached art with the standard way we are taught and represented what we were creating at the time - the grass is green, the sky is blue and flowers were all sorts of colours. I was aware of the seasonal colour changes in the trees and so on, but on the whole colour was understood on a basic level.
In my teens when I studied art at O level (the old style GCSEs), I began to understand the nuances in the colours as we studied still life. As I lived in a rural setting, I was also becoming aware that the landscape I loved also held beautiful colours beside earthy colours and dark black/grey shadows. I experimented with using different colours I found in misty landscape photographs and I began to add purples and blues to the shadows in hedges. I liked the way my observations were having an effect. Unfortunately I had to learn slowly on my own as the O level course didn't focus on landscapes, but on observational skills and concepts. I was discouraged from taking A level Art, so I had to go it alone. But my skills improved over time and I continued to explore painting after I left school. My drawing skills improved, and I painted a lot including starting to enjoy acrylics. I even took small commissions!
The Turning Point
I continued along these lines until I decided to take my art a little more seriously and took a Leisure Learning Watercolour Course in my early 30s. I had finished working in Adult Health and was looking to fill my time wisely whilst I worked in a part-time job in a hippie shop! The course leader was a professional artist, and she restricted her students to a 7 colour palette! This was very new to me - up to this point as I dabbled in acrylic and watercolour I used what I could get my hands on!
This new palette consisted of 2 blues (warm and cool), 2 reds (warm and cool), 2 yellows (warm and cool) and yellow ochre. The idea, I learned, was to keep colours harmonious, clean and atmospheric.
Watercolour is a tough medium to crack, so I had to learn a lot about control and choosing colour wisely. I had to get to grips with colour temperature, colour mixing and clean unmuddied colours. What a steep learning curve! And what a difference it made! It opened a door that was to influence my art career for ever!
I started to notice more subtle colours in the landscape and worked out how to mix those in my spare time. I became slightly obsessed with colour mixing!
One of the most memorable lessons was how complementary colours created neutral colours. These fresh, clean neutrals were a real eye-opener to me. As we progressed through the semesters, burnt sienna was introduced, and mixing it with ultramarine blue created the perfect grey! Then, adding a little alizarin crimson created the universal shadow colour - and guess what - it was a purpley grey. What a lovely discovery, and a confirmation of my experiments as a teenager!
Discovering my Acrylic Palette
As I ventured back into acrylic painting, the skills I had learned during the watercolour courses really started to pay off. I experimented with new ideas for while, allowing my inner creative voice to make itself known. (I was also reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, which came into my life at just the right time!)
I made a decision to take my landscape painting seriously in 2008, working with a new found surge of energy towards an exhibition opportunity for 2009. It was exciting and I found my palette of autumnal colours by chance when I bought a tube of burnt sienna in the artists range by Winsor and Newton. It was the only burnt sienna I could find that was transparent and orangey enough. It was great for layering and glazing and it glowed! I then discovered other colours and brands of acrylic to complete my palette - olive green by Winsor and Newton, and quinacridone blue violet by Liquitex were two notable additions. These two worked well with the burnt sienna and I could mix some interesting dark neutral colours! I really loved the tubes of transparent colour, and I think it is because I went from watercolour to acrylic that I really valued those properties.
As I became more confident with acrylics I started to use other colours in my landscapes like blue fields and pink fields so I could move away from the autumnal colours. I was experimenting with mood and atmosphere and I looked at how colours went together and how they appeared against neutrals in the landscape to keep it fresh with a calm atmosphere. By now I was selling well in galleries and picking up large commissions, and I began to paint winter scenes for the Christmas shows.
How I Choose a Palette for a Painting
Fast forward to now and I have built up a practice where I always carry out the same method when preparing for a painting.
Choosing a palette depends on the subject, as well as the mood and atmosphere I aim to create. I will carry out colour mixing tests for the ideas I have, particularly if I have worked on location using watercolour. I need to make sure I can translate those colours well when the final painting is in acrylic.
I like to use a limited palette for my paintings. This follows on from the lessons in watercolour. I need to know that I can keep my colours clean and harmonious. I need to make sure I can mix good neutrals, and I want to be able to create contrast with light and dark colours.
My essential colours:
Burnt Sienna - Winsor and Newton
Ultramarine Blue - Liquitex
Raw Sienna - Winsor and Newton
Titanium White - Winsor and Newton
Muted Grey - Liquitex
Quinacridone Magenta - Winsor and Newton
My speciality colours:
Quinacridone Gold - Winsor and Newton
Quinacridone Blue Violet - Winsor and Newton
Green Gold - Winsor and Newton
Opera Rose - Winsor and Newton
Diarylide Yellow - Winsor and Newton
Azo Yellow - Liquitex
Davys Grey - Winsor and Newton
You can see how my very colourful stage has now matured into a more muted colour palette. I enjoy this way of working. In landscapes I like to use colour to push and pull the viewer's eye so that the painting tells more of a story as well as creating an atmosphere.
I recently had a large commission that contained a large amount of green. This is a colour I don't usually use in such a scale! The couple who commissioned the painting wanted a colour match for their freshly painted feature wall. My challenge there was to mix up this colour in a sufficient quantity and use it throughout the painting either neat or in mixes. They kindly provided me with a swatch of it and I successfully made up about 50ml batch and popped it into a new aluminium tube and named it using their surname and the base colour. That was fun and they loved the idea that I'd named a tube of paint after them!
When I look back I can see how pivotal those watercolour lessons were. The transformative power of learning how to paint using a limited palette with clear purpose, cannot be underestimated. Without those lessons I wouldn't be writing this blog and enjoying a successful painting career. This year marks 16 years as a professional artist, and I have never looked back.
Next time...
I'll be answering some frequently asked questions!
Until then,
Keep creative!
Debs x
Well, there's lots about you in there that I really didn't know, in spite of having seen most of those paintings before! I remember the earlier days quite well, and the times we spent together doing our own thing while painting. Keep up the good work - very impressive.
Dad XX ☺️