Color Wheel Exercise


I’m always searching for new and interesting ways to teach important subjects. One of them is Color Wheel Exercise which I’m using to teach color theory in the basic format. Those who never got to mix colors before are amazed by pallet which can be created from yellow, red and blue. When you buy sets of paints how many colors do you usually have in the package? Most common are those with 12 colors I guess. So what do you do when you miss some colors or shades for your project? Do you mix them or do you compromise and on the available choice and use what you have? From this what I hear most of the people don’t mix colors anymore. They feel so much more comfortable using what is already given when art is all about color mixing and expressing the way you really feel and imagine.

Well, my best advice is to learn how to mix colors and most important don’t be scared of it. You can study a bit online or you can simply try and try again until you find the right mix. Great idea is to take notes. When you find the right color, paint it in your notebook and write down which color and in what proportion you have mixed to achieve it. Color Wheel Exercise is great for an artist beginner at any age. This one which you can see in the picture is only very basic one but it can go to multi-color and multi-shade combinations.

Once you have all of the colors figure out and your pallet is complete you definitely have to use it. The fall season is so fantastic time full of colorful harvest fruit and vegetables. I love still life compositions so this was part of Color Wheel Exercise during my last art class. It turned fantastic. My students have enjoyed it a lot and I’m truly proud of the results. Try it too and if you want I can send you a photo of composition we put together that day.