Lou Withers guide to colour mixing with Cadence

One of my favourite creative quotes comes from Pablo Picasso – Inspiration does exist but it must find you working.

This is so true, to be inspired you must be working,

So, when I decide I need to practice and develop colour work and colour mixing I use very few colours, the fewer the better. I then mix these chosen colours with different ratios of water, mediums, and other colours to create swatches. The swatches are numbered, or colour named so I can achieve a similar colour again later. These swatches are like my sample diary/catalogue.

For example, neutral tones are amazing for creating shadows, shading and tonal work, so how do you do that, well you add two complimentary colours together, Red=green. Blue=orange, yellow, purple/violet. Then you start mixing, the colours that appear inspire ideas, thoughts, journeys, they connect people and places, times, and eras,

As the colours mix and the new ones start to appear it’s magical, the only downside is the addiction to this process that occurs.

Once my inspirational colours are achieved, I create simple washes that look like landscapes, darker at the front, lighter going back. This is often when I start to create 2 or 3 more pieces alongside my original.

When the work is dry, I create Moodle lines in the washes, I never know what the Moodle will look like until I look at the whole image then see what suits my ideas.