I know that I am a colourful character, maybe because I am always surrounded by colour and music. When you paint, your colour choices are important. They help to bring about the mood you are trying to convey. These can completely change your painting, giving the impression of heat or even a cold feel to them.

We all have our favourite colours. Mine just happens to be emerald green. This is what appeals to me, but whatever your choice, it is what may be central to you. This in turn may have effects on many things in your life and can even give you a feeling of space.

Even our homes are pretty colourful now. As an example, if you want a restful, cool area, what colours should you choose? Personally, my choices would probably be a mint green, pale blue or lilac.

If you are an emotional person like myself, you will love using all the brightest mixes of reds, gorgeous oranges and glowing yellows and golds to obtain intense vibrancy. This can evoke the feeling of heat to your art. Making your art interesting to the eye.

Vlaminck’s artwork was fantastic. We all have mood swings and sayings to reflect this. Yes, we have all been feeling blue at some stage, and yes, we have all heard these well known words. Your art can also benefit from complementary colours. Here the colours change simply by what colour you place next to them.

So you see a new colour in the shops you like the look of. Go ahead, give it a try and see if it works for you. Generally, white itself, is always an asset as you can mix with these or build your colours up with it. If you are wanting shadows, use different shades of browns, greys and white. You will realize that black really blocks out colour. Just remember some colours are permanent.

Now if you are doing watercolours, Paynes grey is a very good choice. You could mix it yourself on your palette. The mixture consisting of Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre and Mars Black. However, you can buy this ready mixed and because of its versatility, it is very popular with artists today.

So yes, artists alike, make their impact with colour. It gives them freedom.

We mix our colours in so many ways, but it can assist you if you have a full knowledge of the Primary Colours and the basic Colour Wheel. So I can only suggest you go to your local art supplier and buy a Colour Wheel.

I have touched on mood swings related to colour in my article, so now I intend to elaborate on this more fully. Certain colours can, for instance, bring a representation of say, for example, misery, doom and gloom. Now for me to achieve this, I personally would use probably a mixture of black, greys, both dark or light, definitely browns, or a very dark blue or maroon shade.

This is just my feeling on the subject. Fortunately this is not always applicable with these colours, it is down to what context they are used. Actually used on their own, any one of these named colours would make an interesting work, if put with white.

If you would like to read more "How To" articles about painting, then simply visit the online art community of contemporary artist [http://annameenaghanart.com] Anna Meenaghan. Anna, the author for this article, is a contemporary painter [http://annameenaghanart.com/index.php?p=1_5_contemporary_painter] of many years, great experience and operates a website for artists and art enthusiasts alike. There you can find more articles and also my own art. Comment by Michael Bruckner