Colour Strategy Colour Wheels

These are downloadable PDF reference sheets to help with designing a colour theme for your painting.

Some common design schemes are Monochromatic, Compliment, Split Compliment, Triad, Tetradic and Analogous.

Working with any of these really pulls together the colour harmony of a painting. It also makes it easier on you, the painter, as you don’t have to worry about mixing every colour out there.

Triads have become a favourite of mine to experiment with lately. Don’t think a triad scheme has to be evenly spaced on the colour wheel either. Have fun with a 3-4-5, which just represents the spacing between colours, as there can be so many variations. See the image below.

With a 3-4-5 triad, choose one colour you really want to use, a primary yellow for this example (above), and count three spots to the left or right, then from that colour count four spaces. Five is what is left over between the first colour and the last.

In the case of the first example, you have a primary yellow, a blue-green and a red violet. So for pigments, you could choose a Hansa Yellow Medium, a Cerulean Blue (or a Viridian) and an Alizarin Crimson Permanent, plus white.

In addition, when choosing your colours don’t think of each needing to be primary or highly saturated. For example, your yellow could be yellow ochre, which can be categorized as yellow/green. Your red, a burnt sienna (red/orange), your blue, a black (dark and unsaturated blue), your green, a Viridian (blue/green). Each choice will result in a very different outcome.

Use the PDF’s below for designing a colour scheme you want to use.