Use This Trick to Find Colors You’ll Love

Have you ever stood in front of your paints feeling unsure what colors to choose, or noticed that your work keeps drifting toward the same familiar palette?

There is a simple little exercise I use when I want to reconnect with the colors I naturally love. It has nothing to do with brushes or canvases, and it takes all the pressure out of the process. In fact, it feels more like play than work.

It starts at the paint store.

The next time you’re near a paint store walk in with one goal. Gather colors that make you pause. Don’t overthink it. If a color catches your eye, take it. Grab large paint chips, small ones, and the strips that show several shades of the same color. Pick up multiples of anything that excites you. You are not choosing colors that are trendy or “correct.” You are choosing colors that feel like you.

Back at home, spread everything out on a table. Cut the paint chips into a mix of small, medium, and large rectangles. Then begin arranging them into groups of three. Move them around. Swap pieces in and out. Some combinations will feel flat. Others will suddenly click and feel alive. When that happens, glue those three rectangles onto a sheet of paper and keep going.

What makes this exercise so powerful is that it quietly reveals your personal color preferences. You are working from instinct instead of rules. Without trying, you start to see patterns in what you choose. Certain hues repeat. Certain contrasts show up again and again. These little groupings become snapshots of your visual voice.

As your page fills up, you end up with a collection of color palettes that are uniquely yours. This sheet becomes a reference you can return to whenever you feel stuck or unsure. Instead of guessing what colors to use, you have a library of combinations that already resonate with you.

It is a playful, low-pressure way to explore color, and it often leads to palettes you might never have mixed on your own. Even better, it builds confidence. You begin to trust your eye and your instincts, which is exactly what we want in the studio.

I filmed a short video showing exactly how I do this step by step, from gathering the paint chips to arranging the final palettes. Once you see it in action, you will want to try it right away. Watch the video and discover how to create your own personal color library that you can use again and again in your paintings. Click HERE to watch the video.