Creativebug Let’s face it, after the tra la la of the holidays, January can be a bit dreary. Add to that the relentless hustle to improve/give up/reinvent, it’s a LOT to ask of these darkest weeks of the year. Good news! Creating a daily color study may be the easiest resolution of all. Ease into 2025 with some color self-care. Step away from the noise and make time to slow down and look closely at color in the natural world in its most quiet season.
Mixing paints to match a fragment of nature quiets my mind even on days when my efforts fall short of what Nature does so elegantly. This is not botanical illustration – I’m not sure it’s even watercolor painting. It’s an exercise in paying attention. The more we look the more we see. And with practice, I promise, you will begin to see more.
Set Yourself Up For Success
When I first began my daily color study practice in 2018, I wanted a project that would tell me what to do. Having a simple framework with what I hoped would be minimal barriers to success meant that all I had to do was show up and follow directions each day.
I work in watercolor because it’s easy to create a making station that can be left out on my art desk like an open invitation to play with color. Making space is part of my framework. I realize not everyone has an art desk but it’s easy to assemble a portable making station by gathering your paints, a brush, and pre-cut pieces of watercolor paper in a pencil case or small tote. Then all you need to create a color study is a glass of water, a paper towel and 15 minutes.
Decide What You’re Going to Paint
Now that you’ve gathered your materials and committed to making time in your day, decide what you want to paint. I’m a gardener, so it’s natural for me to choose a piece of nature, such as a blossom, a leaf, a shell, or a pebble.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, grey, brown, white, and deep green dominate the winter landscape. It’s a matter of physics that color needs light to activate its energy and be seen. It’s no wonder that colors in my garden fade when daylight hours are so short.
But don’t overthink — anything that will fit on your paper is fair game.
Mix Paint & Swatch Colors
Look at the colors in your botanical and begin testing swatches of paint. Paintbox colors, whether in tubes or pan colors, typically need to be modified to match colors found in nature. Taming pure pigment with a bit of its complementary color. Often you can shift green to a more “natural” hue by adding a tiny touch of red.
Experiment with mixing. Then, compare your bloom to your daubs and swatches to see if you are headed in the right direction. Try not to belabor a color that’s not working, you’ll just end up with a muddy mix. Color can’t be forced.
Once you’re satisfied with a color, lay down a swatch on your color study to record your observation. Repeat the process as you move on to the next color. And the next. Be gentle with yourself, forgive those days when you might fall short. Life is busy and complicated and well — you know. The beauty of a daily color study practice — there’s always tomorrow.
This is the first of four weekly blog posts to encourage you to develop your own color practice. For more inspiration, lessons on how color behaves, and daily prompts, check out my Creativebug class, Color In and Out of the Garden. All 31 lessons are free to watch this month.
Lorene Edwards Forkner is a gardener, author, artist and teacher. She lives a garden-based life in the Pacific Northwest, specifically in an old house near the beach in West Seattle. This tiny plot is her living workshop and testing ground where she pursues seasonal pleasures, delicious flavors, and creative experimentation. She is the author of many garden-centric books including her newest, Color In and Out of the Garden, published by Abrams.