Hello my artsy friend!

I love love LOVE what the participants have been creating in the Abstract Color Challenge! Today is the last day, so let’s celebrate!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who sent me their photos. Below are some of the (hundreds of) pictures you guys have sent me: a whole rainbow of new possibilities! I couldn’t possibly include them all here, but please know that even if your art didn’t get featured, I did see everything you sent and I so appreciate your participation.

Now let’s explore these yummy colors one by one! Let them inspire you, and I’m sure they will make you want to try even more colors and color combinations.

Red was the color I demonstrated in the workshop: it’s so rich and deep, but to me it can get overwhelming very quickly! And it seems I’m not the only one, because many of you chose this color too. Some reds are cooler, leaning towards magenta, and others are warmer, especially when combined with rusty, orangy tones. Take a look:

Next in the rainbow is orange! Quite a few of you explored this color family, including rusty colors like burnt sienna. Well done!

Just like red, yellow can be super bright and often feels overwhelming to me when used in larger amounts. But I love how some of you have given it a softer edge, keeping it airy and uplifting. You inspire me!

Green is a color family that comes naturally to me, so it was really interesting to see that so many of you chose it for the challenge! I hope it helped you make friends with it. Green can be such a delightful, soothing color to use in your art. It’s the color of nature!

There are so many different kinds of blue, and looking at all these mini artworks, I realize that I’m very comfortable with those that have a hint of green, like turquoise, or that are more neutral, like Payne’s Gray. But I’m a lot less comfortable with Ultramarine and other intense blues. Maybe something I should explore!

There’s something utterly magical about purple, especially the more intense kind. It’s a color you might not come across very much in your surroundings or in nature. Which is why it is such a show-stopper when it does show up!

Is it red? Is it pink? Sometimes it leans towards burgundy or purple. There’s something highly subjective about the way we experience this color. Magenta is so rich and deep, yet as soon as you lighten it, with water or with white, you get soft, subtle pinks. It can be tricky, but it never fails to create a beautiful, feminine vibe.

And finally, a few of you chose to work with neutrals. Yes they are colors too! From cool grays to warm browns and every shade of white, this is such an exciting palette to play with.

Sometimes I wish I were a little mouse to sneak into my students’ creative spaces! When I film an online class, I’m alone in my studio, and I can only imagine what it will be like “on the other side”, so it’s a real treat when you share pictures of your own space with me!

The whole point of this “challenge” was to create a series of mini artworks, or little studies, to explore a color you find beautiful but also a bit intimidating. And you did it!

When I asked you to tell me about your experience in this workshop, one of the things that came up again and again is that at some point, you didn’t like what you created and almost gave up. But with a bit of self-love and compassion, you still pushed through the discomfort and ended up really enjoying your results.

Leave a comment for me!