Practical aspects of colour science in the educational process. Using a limited palette

Abstract

The paper presents the practical aspects of colour science in the context of the interaction of colours and obtaining certain shades. As a practical teaching methodology, the use of a limited palette of three primary colours in several modifications has been offered. The given individual author's observations and conclusions formed in the process of teaching painting in the higher art school. The paper presents some of the author's observations and conclusions emerged in the process of teaching painting in a higher art school. A practical problem is the shallow knowledge of the physical features of colour, the standardization of the educational palette, the absence of an individual artist's palette. To avoid those problems, the students were asked to use a limited palette instead of the standard one. It is based on three primary colours in different versions. For each task, two options of a basic paints set were offered with the condition that other ready-mixed paints would not be used. The painting task prompted the creation of a wide scale of cold and warm colour tones. Relying on the colour theory, the students had to create their own palette of complementary colours (purple, orange, green), as well as their shades. In the course of work, it turned out that the very fact of the finished palette absence was the most difficult for the students. The first attempts to mix the main colours took a lot of time, but at this stage they began to be more attentive to the properties of paints, to notice the difference in shades, to vary the saturation of colour. Almost all the students have achieved the effect of a wide range of ochre and brown colours and have created a fairly wide palette. The resulting colours have turned out to be easy to reproduce and convenient to use. The results of the work prove that practical tasks with a limited palette use are informative and useful in teaching painting. An empirical research of the interaction of pigments will help students to learn and successfully embody their own painting intentions.