Colors have power. They make me smile. I love the bright colors of clothes, paintings, colors of stones, colors of the local market stand…

While I was in art school, my professor told me I had a great sense of colors. I guess he was right. I used colors intuitively.

But then I noticed that I was changing colors several times (dramatically, unnecessarily) during the painting process on some paintings. I remember having the feeling of not being in control of this process.

Later on, I discovered that besides using colors intuitively, I had to learn about colors to feel in control.

I see that artists I mentor have the same need – to learn about color. So we do it – I teach them value, hues, color temperature, saturation, harmony, color mixing, etc.

But one crucial thing beginner and intermediate artists need to do to use color authentically is to free themselves from color preconceptions.

What do I mean by that? Well, let’s do a short experiment. I’ll ask you a question: What color is the grass? What color is the sky? Greenish and blueish, right? Wrong. Cause it depends. There are a zillion or more answers to this question.

These colors depend upon the feeling you want to bring into the painting.

Before I go, here is what two artists I mentor have to say about it:

“I realized that a painting with different colors from the real ones can turn out even better than a photo.”
Iztok Mihevc

“I am now much braver when using color. I am giving myself permission to play around with colors. For example, I just painted a meadow in red.”
Tatjana Turnšek

May your days be colorful!