When Colour Becomes the Beginning

For many artists, colour is where the excitement begins.

A painting can start with an image, an idea, a place or a feeling. But sometimes it starts with something much simpler: a colour that catches the eye and creates an immediate desire to paint.

A particular blue. A warm ochre beside a cool grey. An unexpected combination of colours that suddenly feels alive.There is something about colour that can be difficult to explain. It can create energy or calm, tension or harmony.

And sometimes, before there is any subject or composition, colour alone is enough to make us want to see where a painting might go.

This was something I rediscovered during an art retreat in France.

When Colour Becomes Inspiration

Colour has always been important in my work. I naturally think about palettes, harmony, contrast and balance before a painting takes shape.

But I had perhaps been thinking about colour mainly as part of a painting — something that helps create the composition, supports the mood or connects different elements.

The retreat made me look at it differently.

What if colour didn't have to serve an idea?

What if it could be the idea?

What if a painting could begin simply because two colours caught my attention?

That shift sounds small, but for me it opened up a new way of thinking about my process.

Seeing The World Through Colour

During the retreat, we spent time in markets and small towns, surrounded by colour.

I soaked in the atmosphere. I began to look less for subjects and more for moments when colours came together in unexpected ways.

Turquoise-painted window frames set against rough, ochre-coloured walls.

Elaborately adorned shop windows, where textiles mingle with abundant bouquets of flowers and delicately crafted ceramic wares.

Artful arrangements of knitted, woven, and embroidered textiles spilling from clothing racks in front of the shops.

Abundant displays of colourful foods and lovingly arranged samples at the market stalls, their enticing aromas drifting through the square and filling it with fragrance.

I started photographing these moments, not because I wanted to reproduce them, but because I wanted to remember them. I was collecting possibilities.

When Colour Becomes a Painting

Back in the studio, these observations became invitations rather than references.

A colour could suggest a shape. A shape could lead to a line. A line could change the balance of the composition. One decision could create the next.

The painting didn't have to begin with a complete idea. It could evolve from a feeling about colour. And that gave me a greater sense of freedom.

The Joy of Seeing

Perhaps the most unexpected part of this experience was realising how much I had missed simply enjoying colour.

It also reminded me that colour does not always need to be justified.

Sometimes a colour is beautiful simply because it is beautiful.

Sometimes the relationship between two colours creates a feeling before we understand what it is.

Sometimes a colour we thought would play a small role suddenly takes over the painting.

I might begin with a particular palette, only to lose one colour completely and discover another that becomes essential. A combination that seemed obvious may lead somewhere unexpected.

For me, this is part of the fascination of painting: starting with an intention, but allowing the work to become something I could not have planned from the beginning.

The Journey Continues

This workshop didn't give me a completely new way of painting. Rather, it reminded me of the pleasure of looking closely and noticing what might otherwise pass unnoticed. Colour is not simply one element of my visual language. It can be the impulse that sets everything else in motion.

What I brought back from this journey was therefore not a particular palette or a collection of colours.

It was a renewed curiosity.

I now find myself paying more attention to small colour relationships — in places, objects, shadows, fabrics, flowers, and everyday details.

And when I begin a painting, I feel more open to starting without knowing exactly where it will lead. There is still so much to explore.

So the question I am carrying with me into the studio is a simple one:

What can colour do?

You can read more about the art retreat in my bio post A Creative Growth.

If you’d like to learn more about me and my art, feel free to explore my website and Instagram.

Finding My Way Back to Colour