Please don’t let my title fooled you. I am, in no way, a color expert. I mean, I did ok in color theory class in college, but that was a few yeas ago! What I mean by the title is “color theory” is all up to you. What do you love? What colors really stand out to you? What do you like to wear?
I’m beginning a new series of paintings (which has me pretty stoked!!) …well, really I kind of already started… they’re little 4×4, 5×5, and 6×6 baby paintings which focus on color and texture more than anything. I looooove painting tiny paintings. Maybe because I can paint them pretty quickly (2-5 hours vs. 8-50+ hours… I can be pretty slow!) But more than that, I completely am obsessed with the chunky, thick, lush textures I can get with my oil paints. When I get that right, it makes me quite happy.
But, like I mentioned, these baby paintings are also about color. Confession time! I’m actually not completely comfortable with color. It’s just so fickle and tricky! It’s an aspect of my paintings and design I keep evaluating and adjusting more than any other. Does anyone else feel this way?
But, really, color theory is simple. You know what colors you love and you can sense what colors work well together. The hard part is making it happen!
So, to help myself out, I did a little color love based on a couple of photos of the flowers we arranged for my cousin’s wedding. I’m really loving these combinations! They’re different and a bit trendy, but still true to what I love about color. win win!
beautifulhelloblog.com 
In my day-to-day life, I’m actually super terrible with color. I seem to wear the same colors over and over (black, blue, purple, green, red and grey- like a bruise). But weirdly, in my design and photography work, I favor really bright, bold colors. Color selection is definitely an art!
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Yay! You understand! I do the same thing! I wear so much white grey and black. In fact, I bought a pinkish shirt last night and realized it was one of TWO pink shirts I own. For a girl that designs with pink all the time, that’s pretty crazy.
E
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Ohh..I am so lost in color right now. In my head I know what I want my piece to look like, but I cant seem to get there in real life. I have just started working in digital and nothing like trying to pick between a thousand different shades..Need help!! Love your color combinations above. They do look so luscious in oil!
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I love the post and the colors look so delicate.
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Couldn’t agree with you more! Colour a tricky one… I was pondering on the same subject in my last blog post too! I’d say you definitely have a great eye for colour though from looking at your pics! :o)
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thanks! Good luck with your colors too!
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Cool. Love flowers.
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You are one talented lady. I think separating out the colours into the little triangle / ribbons / wheels like you do is a very useful, methodical way to go about it, and a way that I’ve started using. I find it hard to limit my colours, but selecting the three or so that really give a picture that feel is a good way to go about it. Thanks for this. x
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When it comes to color, pulling out specific hues really helps me focus and actually remember which ones I’m aiming for!
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We love your thoughts on color theory! Of course, colors can all be a little complicated, but that doesn’t have to make a difference on what you inherently are drawn to or like!
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