This is a four-week course in colour theory, and everything you always wanted to know about colour and mixing colours, to help artists from beginner to professional learn the fundamentals of colour theory, so they can choose their palettes with confidence, know how to mix their colours without creating mud, have fun, and use their new skills either to improve their paintings or experiment with knowledge and ease. Whether you paint with oil, acrylics, or watercolour or use colour pencils, painting realistic, or abstract, colour theory is for everyone, including artists who work digitally.

Why this course?

Colour theory is not taught in art school, academy or university unless you study design. In classical training the focus is on values, in art academies nowadays the focus is on creativity. Many struggle with colour and do not feel confident to mix and as a result, their paintings are either dull, over-saturated or lack any contrast, or depth. (NB. colour is for all mediums, not only oil.)

The benefits of learning colour theory:

• In four weeks, you get confident with colours without the need to buy a huge amount of tubes.
• With this knowledge, you can intuitively start using the right combinations.
• Experimenting becomes part of your practice
• You learn about the values, hues, different contrasts, minimal pallets (also for digital painters) and much more. That will improve your art, stand out from the crowd and be more understandable for your audience.
• Find more joy in working with colours without being afraid mixing becomes a mess.
• Free to experiment with colours
• Your artwork will significantly improve.

Details about the course.

• This will be a hybrid hands-on four-week-long course. 
• Short videos (3-5 minutes) with demonstrations and assignments you can easily do
• Ask Questions in private Facebook Group
• Lifetime Access with updates (Colour is a lifetime journey and I still learn, you get my experiments)

Bonuses 

• Case study how Rembrandt uses cold and warm shadows to create depth and emotion in his portraits (Values)
• Case study the colours of Matisse and what we can learn from him
• Case study Rothko and his use of colours

Who is this course for?

• Beginner artists,
• Advanced artists,
• For the professional artist, to further improve their knowledge.
• For school teachers

Your Instructor

I am Karin. I am a portrait artist and have about 30 years of teaching and mentoring experience. I have a love relationship with oil paints. However, in the beginning, I had no clue where to start with a colourful palette other than the minimal palette, based on 17th Century painting. Colour theory was not taught and was not the focus, values were. My mixes were a mess when I expanded, and I wanted more than the minimal palette that I got at the academy. Painting with oil is my number one, and mentoring/ teaching is a natural habit. Learning the ABC of colour taught me how to use colours deliberately in my work, and that gives me the freedom to paint classical, bold or combine the two when I want to use them. To find combinations and look for great contrasts, depth, light and perspective.

Course Instructor

Karin Merx Author