The Bates College Musuem of Art presents

Tools of the Trade:

Palettes of Colors and Words

If the artist’s palette is the tool with which specific color choices are made, what tool does a writer have to help with word choice? A thesaurus is analogous to the palette.

Word choice is very important to writers. For instance, many people often confuse “anxious” and “eager.” Do they mean the same thing? Similarly, people often confuse “bright” and “light” when referring to colors. How are they different? Bright colors have a great deal of intensity or chroma. Light colors are simply higher in value. A color could be very light, but not bright at all. Conversely, a bright blue or red is quite dark in value and not light at all.

Color is a very important and powerful tool at an artist’s disposal. Color can be used to help create unity in a picture, or to draw the eye to a particular detail. Painters often have dozens of tubes of paint that they can use to make a painting, and they also have a tool, called a palette on which they mix colours together to create new, specific hues. There is a big difference between tones, tints, and shades.

Take a look at what colours are in this painting by Philip Barter:

Or, maybe you prefer this one by Dahlov Ipcar?

Make a list of all of the different hues in this picture. Be as descriptive as you can. For instance, indigo (the color of unfaded blue jeans) is very different from cobalt blue (often used in glassware) or turquoise. Try to describe the difference between one blue and another. Try using specific names of colors. Is a red crimson, scarlet, or ruby? Or is it even red at all, but really pink? Or magenta? Or brown? Are the colors “amazing” or “fantastic,” because there is a difference in what those words really mean. If one is trying to accurately describe this picture and reactions to it, choosing the right words will be very important.

Another good exercise is to name colours by things they remind you of, like “straw yellow.” Or, one can use metaphor and/or simile to create associations with colour, like “The blue hue is like summertime’s deep, midnight skies.”

Next, add words to your list of colors to make sentences based on the picture.