Day 3 Art journal challenge - A color palette that describes you

For today’s art journal challenge, I would like you to create on the page a series of color swatches that exemplify or illustrates who you are as a person. You can use just one single color if you’d like or a multitude. Try to limit your color choices to those which really speak to you. 

By defining your top color choices and seeing them grouped together on the page you can discern much about your personality. Are you someone who loves soft pastel shades and hues, or are you attracted to bolder more intense colors.

This palette can serve as the basis for you to, later on, make informed choices on art supplies and materials, it may even have you thinking about the psychology of color and why you gravitate towards certain shades.

Here I have created a range of colors that I feel reflect who I am as an individual. The rosy swatch in the top left corner was created by mixing three of our watercolor paints: Bois de Rose, Abricot and Buff Titane, next to it is our Sapin, followed by Gris Etain. The middle row contains the following watercolors: Indigo, Buff Titane and a mixture of Red Moon and Pala Ash. Rounding out the bottom row is from left to right: Bronze Star, Copper Rose and Dark Iron. 

There are many colors that I appreciate and admire but by creating a base palette of tones this gives me insight and reference into how I might want the flow of my notebook pages to be and what colors I would choose to mix and blend together so that my personality is reflected in tonal hues.

Be thoughtful, fun and creative about your choices, if you cannot find an exact color match to your favorites, then try experimenting and creating it yourself by layering and mixing different shades with each other. Also you do not have to paint your swatches in rows, feel free to paint them in any way that you’d like, as puddles of colors, or long slashes on the page. 

Don’t have watercolor paints? Colored pencils, crayons and even collaging colors found in magazines can work well.

I have collaborated with professional artists helping them choose their custom palette choices in watercolor paints, and this is always one of the design exercises that I enjoy the most. 

There are already so many beautiful art shares from this challenge being posted on Instagram. Make sure to tag your posts #wildthorneoctober so that I can see them and this also qualifies you for our giveaway at the end of the month.

Thank you for taking this time for yourself to nourish and practice self care by refreshing your mind and spirit with creative play. Even just a simple 5 minute exercise has calming and stress relief benefits. 

I look forward to seeing your own individual color palettes and swatches. 

Bonus deep dive work. If you feel inspired write out on the next page what each color means and represents to you. For instance the Pala Ash and Red Moon hues remind me of Vietnamese lacquerware art that my parents hung up on the walls of my childhood home. 

Also note how I pasted a thicker sheet of watercolor paper on top of my tomoe river notebook page for added stability and to provide a layering effect. If your journal doesn’t have watercolor pages you can add in elements of different stationery papers to beautiful results.