I continued working on my paintings but decided to make my own version of the colour previewers that I saw on ‘colour in your life’ when they visited Susan in her studios in NZ. If you have not seen any of the Colour in Your Lufe TV shows, do go to the link as they are available on line and it is great to visit….and be invited into …so many studios of talented artists around Australia and now NZ and apparently it is going to go to other countries as well. An amazing resource and lots of fun and learning.

okay back to the part about the colour previewers as Susan called them. They are simple graded colour slides on a clear plastic sheet.

I thought they were a great idea and so I made some. I put a couple of A4 laminator sheets through the laminator so I had some clear strong laminate. I cut it into 4 sections and punched a hole in the top left hand corner. I then got out a few of my favourite acrylic paints and painted the sheets from darker to lighter. Yes you see the lines but I guess if this was a concern you could spray the paint with a mister or perhaps dab it with a soft sponge.  Once made I could place a colour slide over a section of my work to see what that colour would look like on top of my mixed media base layers. Now I am very intuitive when it comes to colour so this seems like a  more technicalI approach for me but it seems to help when you are at that point of …do I change this bit or that,..so I am building up my colours and as I want to test a colour in a composition, I will create another slide. I will store them on a jump ring in colour order for ease I use,  I like the simplicity and practicality of this easy tool that took very little time to make but simplifies my choices…and there are so many.

I do hope this idea is useful as you create your own.  I love using laminate sheets in different ways. I have found that they are great for creating your own original stencils. They are also a light weight transportable plastic pallet that can be rolled up for easy transport or flexible and great to use when making acrylic skins.

It is fun to try out new ideas and possibilities that build your artistic tool box.