A little about me ….
Let me tell you about me and why this site exists.
My name is Shirley Williams and I’m a full-time visual artist. I paint contemporary abstract landscapes and my acrylic paintings are shown in galleries in both Canada and the US.
Color is my life and my passion.
Unlike most artists, I don’t work in one particular palette. Instead I love to explore the entireColor Wheel and discover new and exciting ways to make the most of all the different color schemes.
The thing that most people find surprising about me is that even though many people consider me a color expert, I’m still learning something new almost every day.
So don’t feel bad if you find it difficult and confusing to learn how to pick colors that work together.
Understanding color is one of those mysteries in life. The more you know about the subject of color, the more you realize how much more there is to learn.
Here’s how I keep learning about color.
Before beginning a painting, I choose a Color Scheme. I then choose my specific paint colors – no more than three or four. Then I decide which color will be the Dominant Mother Color overall.
I then mix swatch samples of a wide variety of tints, tones and shades using these three or four colors. These are for reference as I paint. There’s no guessing because I always have my swatches to refer to.
This is THE most important step to creating harmony of color mixtures in a painting. Once I’ve made my color selection -they’re the ONLY ones I work with throughout the entire painting.
You see – the thing about me is that I like to keep things simple. Keeping my palette limited to only a few pre-selected paint colors magically creates a harmonious painting. I never worry about clashing colors. And that’s makes things simple!
Without a solid understanding of how color works I’d be totally lost. Mostly I’d just end up with muddy looking paintings.
Here are a few paintings from my ‘Horizon’ series
|
|
|
|
|
|
Here’s one of my recent acrylic paintings on canvas which measures 24″ x 24″. I’ve only used paint mixtures of 
This one is also acrylic on canvas measuring 20″ x 20″. Here my palette mixtures were limited to Yellow/Orange, 
This painting is a canvas measuring 20″ x 20″. Here I used the most basic of all If you want to see more of my paintings and learn more about me, go to ShirleyWilliamsArt.com
Have you ever wondered how artists make sense of the millions of color variations in the world ?
Color is all around us. We are influenced by the power of color schemes in every waking moment.
A whole new level of appreciation happens when you take the time to learn a few things about how color either harmonizes or clashes.
Simply by understanding the basics of a Color Wheel you’ll begin to understand color.
Suddenly you can pick a paint color for your living room with confidence. You can buy a sofa knowing exactly which color blue would work best and which would look terrible.
Color is so exciting. I want to share my thirty years of practical experience with you so you can have as much fun with it as I do.
Feel free to Contact Me if you have any suggestions, questions or additional information that others might find useful.
See my paintings, studio, videos and more about me at ShirleyWilliamsArt.com.