How to Create Visual Excitement With Colour

A simple concept — but one that has a huge impact on your paintings.

Today I want to talk to you about something that is going to have a real impact on your work — and it’s one of those things that once you understand it, you start seeing it absolutely everywhere.

Some of you might already know this. Some of you might just need a little refresher. And some of you might never have come across it before. Either way, stay with me — because this simple concept has a huge impact on how you create vibrancy and excitement in your paintings.

And it’s not just in painting either. Think about a field of red poppies — why do those reds glow so intensely against the grass? Or a yellow butterfly landing on a purple flower — why does that just sing to you? There’s a reason for it. And today I’m going to show you exactly what’s going on.

It’s all about complementary colours

Complementary colours are colours that sit directly opposite each other on the colour wheel. Blue and orange. Red and green. Yellow and purple. Place them next to each other and something really magical happens — they make each other sing in a way that no other colour combination quite does.

It sounds simple, and honestly it is. But so many artists miss it. And when you don’t understand it, you end up in that frustrating place where sometimes a painting just works and you’re not quite sure how you got there — and other times it just isn’t translating, and you can’t put your finger on why. Sound familiar?

That’s exactly why I love talking about the visual language of art. Because when you start to understand these concepts — really understand them — everything starts to shift. You stop painting intuitively and hoping for the best, and you start making conscious, deliberate decisions. And that, honestly, is a wonderful place to be in your painting journey.

Seeing it in action

I demonstrated this recently with some Phthalo blue and a vibrant pyroll orange — I love the Golden Fluids range for their pigment strength, but you can absolutely mix up your own orange and try this yourself.

So I laid out some marks in blues, keeping everything on the same side of the colour wheel. Phthalo blue, titanium white, a little payne’s grey. And do you know what? It was calm. Quite lovely actually, but nothing was jumping out. Nothing was demanding attention. Everything was sitting quietly together because the colours were all so similar — all from the same family, all telling the same story.

And then I dropped in a tiny bit of that orange.

The difference was immediate. Your eye goes straight to it. It almost vibrates against the blue. That’s complementary contrast doing exactly what it’s designed to do — and it happens every single time you place those opposites together. It’s not luck. It’s not instinct. It’s colour knowledge.

That little experiment tells you so much about how colour actually works.

It’s not just on the canvas

This is one of the things I genuinely love about learning the visual language of art — it completely changes how you see the world around you, not just the work in front of you.

I was sorting out my garden this weekend and I had a handful of red leaves and some green leaves in front of me. When the reds were surrounded by other reds they just sat together quietly. Lovely, but nothing special. The moment I placed them against the green leaves — that’s when they popped. Suddenly there was that visual excitement, that contrast, that pull.

And one of my students, bless her, brought me a beautiful flower for my garden recently. Pinks amongst all that green foliage. And there it was again — those pinks glowing because they were surrounded by their complementary. Nature has been doing this all along. We just need to slow down and learn to see it.

Bringing this into your paintings

Once you understand complementary contrast, everything changes about how you approach colour in your work. You stop placing colour randomly and crossing your fingers. You start making decisions. Strategic ones. Intentional ones.

In my poppy painting — and I am all about vibrant, expressive colour, as you probably know — I didn’t just slap reds on and hope for the best. I worked the greens around those poppies deliberately, so they would glow. The restful areas, the quieter marks, the more muted blues — they’re all there for a reason. They’re doing a job. They’re making sure that when your eye lands on those bright vibrant reds, they really sing.

There are little bits of yellow, bits of lime green, areas where things are calmer and less demanding. And that balance matters. Because if everything is shouting, nothing stands out. The visual excitement needs somewhere to rest, and somewhere to land.

That’s the shift that happens when you start to understand the visual language of art. You stop guessing what’s happening and you start knowing. And once you know, you can do it again and again and again — with any subject, any palette, any painting.

This is just the beginning

Colour contrast is just one small piece of a much bigger picture — excuse the pun! Because there is so much more to explore. Composition, how your eye moves through a painting, depth, atmosphere, value, the way light creates drama — all of it connects, and all of it is completely learnable. And every time you understand one more piece of the puzzle, your paintings take another leap forward.

But colour contrast is a brilliant place to start, because you can go and try it today. Right now. Get your paints out, put some opposites on your palette and just see what happens. Blue next to orange. Red next to green. Yellow next to purple. I think you’re going to love it.

And the next time you’re out for a walk, or pottering in the garden, or just looking out of the window — notice it. Notice where your eye is drawn. Notice the colour relationships happening all around you. Because that’s what it means to start seeing like an artist. And it is such an exciting place to be.

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Did something click for you reading this? I’d love to know. Drop a comment below and tell me — what is your biggest struggle with colour right now? Is it knowing which colours work together? Getting that vibrancy you’re after? Mixing without ending up with mud? Whatever it is, pop it in the comments. I read every single one and your answers genuinely help me create content that’s useful for you. Happy painting! 🎨