08 / The Studio

← STUDENTS

COLOUR

Colour changes in relationship.

A colour can seem brighter beside one colour and quieter beside another. Learning colour begins with mixing, comparing and noticing what happens.

TODAY’S FOCUS

Mix colours, place them together and notice what changes.

Look

START WITH THE COLOUR WHEEL

The colour wheel is a way to see relationships between colours.

This block uses a traditional red, yellow and blue paint colour wheel.

REDRED ORANGEORANGEYELLOW ORANGEYELLOWYELLOW GREENGREENBLUE GREENBLUEBLUE VIOLETVIOLETRED VIOLET

TWELVE HUE PAINT COLOUR WHEEL Studio diagram.

  • PrimaryRed · Yellow · Blue
  • SecondaryOrange · Green · Violet
  • TertiaryColours made by mixing a primary colour with the secondary colour beside it.
It can help you predict what might happen when you mix colours.

Materials

  • ColourPaint or gouache
  • LightenWhite
  • MixPalette or mixing surface
  • ApplyBrush
  • SurfacePaper or visual diary
  • OptionalColoured pencil or ink

Material encounter

MIX + COMPARE

Mix first. Name it afterwards.

Choose one colour. Put some on your palette.

Mix a little white into it. Make another mixture.

Now mix a small amount of its complementary colour into another sample.

Keep the mixtures beside each other. Look at them together.

WHAT CHANGED?

Painted colour samples: starting hues, mixtures lightened with white and mixtures quietened with a complementary colour.
MIX + COMPARE Studio exercise.

Understand

COLOUR HAS MORE THAN A NAME

  • HueThe colour itself.
  • ValueHow light or dark the colour appears.
  • Saturation / IntensityHow vivid or muted the colour appears.
Tint — a colour mixed with white. Shade — a colour mixed with black.
Blue
Green
Orange
Red violet
Yellow

HUE / VALUE / SATURATION / INTENSITY Studio diagram.

WATCH

Elements of Art: Color / KQED Art School

Try

PUT COLOURS TOGETHER

Analogous

Colours sitting beside each other on the colour wheel.

Blue · Blue green · Green — or Red · Red orange · Orange.

Because these colours are closely related, they can create a sense of harmony.

Blue
Blue green
Green

ANALOGOUS COLOUR Studio diagram.

COMPLEMENTARY COLOUR Studio diagram.

Complementary

Colours opposite each other on the colour wheel.

Blue + Orange. Red + Green. Yellow + Violet.

Placed beside each other, complementary colours can create strong contrast. Mixed together, they become less saturated and more neutral.

Choose one colour relationship. Make three small studies.

You might use:

  • three neighbouring colours
  • one complementary pair
  • one hue with changing value
  • one warm and cool combination

Keep the studies small. Compare them beside each other.

What changes when the colours sit together?

Small studies are quick to make and easy to compare.

Look again

WARM + COOL

WARM + COOL Studio diagram.

When warm and cool colours are placed together, some can appear to come forward while others appear to recede.

Where does your eye go first?

What changes when the colours swap places?

Understand

OBSERVED + CHOSEN COLOUR

Colour can describe what we see.

Artists can also choose colour for other reasons.

  • Objective colourColour based on observation.
  • Subjective colourColour used to communicate feeling or meaning.
  • Arbitrary colourColour chosen independently from the subject.

OBSERVE COLOUR CAREFULLY.
THEN CHOOSE TO CHANGE IT.

Look

PAUL KLEE

Paul Klee, Baum und Architektur—Rhythmen (Tree and architecture—rhythms), 1920
Paul Klee, Baum und Architektur—Rhythmen (Tree and architecture—rhythms), 1920. Oil on paper, 27.9 × 38.3 cm. Gift of Benjamin and Lillian Hertzberg. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Public Domain.

LOOK CLOSELY

Where does your eye go first?

Notice how Klee places different colours beside one another.

What happens where a bright colour meets a darker or quieter one?

Look at the black lines and geometric shapes.

How are colour and structure working together?

Make

BUILD WITH COLOUR

Begin with a loose arrangement of geometric or architectural shapes.

These might grow from:

  • rectangles
  • circles
  • triangles
  • windows
  • roofs
  • blocks
  • lines

Then choose one colour relationship to explore:

  • analogous
  • complementary
  • one hue with changing value and saturation / intensity
  • warm + cool

Paint, gouache, coloured pencil or another colour medium. Some paper can remain visible.

The purpose is to notice what colour does to the arrangement rather than imitate Klee.
Gouache geometric composition arranged across the sheet in bright colour.
01 / ARRANGE
Gouache geometric composition with more deliberate colour relationships.
02 / CHOOSE A RELATIONSHIP
Gouache geometric composition with adjusted values, quieter and more saturated areas and open paper.
03 / ADJUST + COMPARE

Look again

PAUSE + LOOK

Put the work down for a moment. Look from a little further away.

Where does your eye travel?

Is one colour taking over?

Are there areas that could become quieter?

Would changing the value of one colour shift the balance?

Try one small change and look again.

In practice

Art Creative Practice

Artists mix, test and change colour to develop visual language and communicate ideas, feelings and meaning.

Art Making + Exhibiting

Colour works with materials, techniques and other art elements to affect how an artwork is experienced.

Visual Communication Design

Designers use colour with contrast and hierarchy to direct attention, organise information and communicate.

SCREEN + PRINT

  • RGBRed, green and blue light combine to produce colour on screens.
  • CMYKCyan, magenta, yellow and black inks combine to produce printed colour.

The same colour can look different on screen and in print.

Document

KEEP WHAT YOU DISCOVER

Keep your colour mixtures, tests and small studies in your visual diary.

Beside something that surprised you, record what happened.

Keep a colour combination you may want to return to later.

Open visual diary spread with hand-painted gouache colour tests, mixtures, value changes, bright and muted swatches, and masking tape.
COLOUR TESTS Studio exercise.

Creative thinking

Notice

What changed when two colours were placed together?

Compare

Which colour relationship changed your work most?

Document

Keep one mixture or colour test you may want to return to.

← CREATIVE THINKING TOOLKIT

Tools to help you notice, describe, question, develop and document your work.

Curriculum + reading

Bowden, M., & Tooke, A. (2022). Art making and exhibiting: VCE units 1–4. Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Greenwood, D. (2023). Art creative practice: VCE units 1–4. Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Guthrie, K. (2017). Nelson visual communication design: VCE units 1–4 (4th ed.). Cengage Learning Australia.

Hornung, D. (2012). Color: A workshop for artists and designers (2nd ed.). Laurence King Publishing.

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2022). VCE Art Creative Practice study design 2023–2027. vcaa.vic.edu.au ↗

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2022). VCE Art Making and Exhibiting study design 2023–2027. vcaa.vic.edu.au ↗

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2023). VCE Visual Communication Design study design 2024–2028. vcaa.vic.edu.au ↗

Artists + artworks

Klee, P. (1920). Baum und Architektur—Rhythmen (Tree and architecture—rhythms) [Oil on paper]. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United States. Gift of Benjamin and Lillian Hertzberg. Public domain. nga.gov ↗

Studio material

Twelve Hue Paint Colour Wheel.

Hue / Value / Saturation / Intensity.

Mix + Compare.

Analogous Colour.

Complementary Colour.

Warm + Cool.

Build with Colour.

Colour Tests.

Visual material: Studio work, 2026.

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