I absolutely love color! I have a bankers box of paint tubes and a couple dozen bottles of Golden’s Fluid Acrylics, in all the colors of the rainbow. For a long time, when it came time to create, I just picked the colors that were making me happy – but all my art was starting to look very much the same, because it was the same colors that made me happy most of the time.
I sometimes used online color palettes for a change of pace, but it was sometimes difficult to match my paints to the screen colors. I wanted to have the colors with me as I created, but I don’t paint where my computer monitor is (I’d have paint all over it if I did!).
Enter Sarah Ranae Clark and her Color Cubes, Volumes 1 & 2.
These Color Cubes, with 250 different color palette cards each, have already provided countless hours of inspiration and painting fun! One of my favorite things to do is to have my husband give me a random number from one to 500. I pull that color card, then get out my paints, water-soluble crayons, pastels, stencils, and graphite sticks to see what I have in that color palette. I tape down my paper and PLAY.
Lately, I’ve been really grooving on watercolor as the first layer. I recently got three sets of Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors and I suddenly love painting with watercolors!
This is currently my favorite way to make art – just pull a card and play with my supplies. I’m not trying to make a masterpiece; I’m just trying to get to know my paints, pastels, and pens. I’m still very new to the art of watercolor, so I’m still experimenting with the amount of water I use for the effect I want, and whether a color granulates. I also have new pastels to mark make with and new Sennelier paint liners that have been especially fun to make circles and dots with.
The palette on the left is completely out of my color-comfort zone, but I love the way the project turned out. The palette on the right is more to my taste, but I’m not sure I’d have ever thought of it on my own.
I love how varied the color combinations are. I also love that I can put the color swatch right up against my painter’s diary to choose the paint colors for that art session. Each card contains a reference and five or six individual colors from the photo. On the back, the card lists the color names and hex codes along the left and the color again along the right, with a tint and shade of the color, all for easy reference.
The cards are made of high-quality cardstock with a smooth matte finish, and the color swatch number is in the upper left corner. Once I’ve used a card, I punch a hole in the right corner, to help me keep track. Eventually, I hope to try them all!
When I first ordered these, I thought they were a bit pricey — but you do get a nice discount if you buy both cubes together. The quality of the cards is excellent, and the box is sturdy. If I price these out by the enjoyment that I expect to get from them – and have already gotten! – I’d say they’re a bargain. I can see where they will be useful for more than painting. The next time I need a color theme for a newsletter or other project, I know where to look!
You can buy the color cubes or find more information here.
