Because why not?

Let’s be real for a moment… Colour “rules” may look official on paper, but in the studio? They’re more like gentle suggestions. Creativity doesn’t want to sit neatly in the corner. It wants to wander, explore, and create little bursts of joy along the way.

For decades, artists were told which colours could be friends and which ones should stay far, far apart. But the moment you stop worrying about doing colour “right,” something shifts. The magic starts to hum.

Picture this: you’re staring at your palette, and instead of reaching for the usual suspects, you let your instincts lead. Maybe it’s hot pink with lime, or turquoise drifting into a moody orange. Colours that shouldn’t work – but somehow do. Suddenly, the painting feels alive, expressive, and completely yours.

Sometimes you follow the colour wheel. Sometimes you let it spin wildly and see where it lands. And occasionally, yes, you create mud – but even that teaches you something. Every experiment is part of the creative adventure.

That’s the heart of bold colour: letting go, being curious, and trusting that little spark inside you that whispers, try it anyway.

Here are some colour-breaking tips for you to try:

• Start with a strong base:
  Highly pigmented colours give your layers something solid to build on – especially helpful in mixed media where you’re combining paint, pencil, ink, pastels, stencils, and who knows what else! Strong base colours stand up beautifully beneath all the playful layers that come later. One of my favourite is phthalo blue!
• Know your colour wheel… so you can break it:
  When you understand why certain colours work together, you gain the confidence to deliberately challenge those pairings. Whether you’re blending acrylics, collage papers, or inks, knowing the basics lets you bend them with intention.
  If you ever struggle with colours then go back to this blog post – it has the most amazing colour tool I’ve ever seen! I promise you will love it 😉

• Embrace contrast:
  Contrast is your greatest ally when you want something to pop. In mixed media, this could be a neon scribble over a dark background, a bright acrylic patch next to a muted pencil mark, or gold sparkles dancing over deep blues. Contrast creates instant movement and energy.
• Build depth through layers:
  Mixed media shines when you allow your layers to play together. Try adding transparent glazes, stamping over paint, scribbling over dry layers, or blending pastels on top of textured marks. Depth doesn’t come from one perfect stroke – it comes from letting your colours evolve.
• Play with temperature:
  Warm colours can feel bold, joyful, and full of life, while cool colours bring balance, calm, and fresh air into a piece. When you use both, your artwork starts to breathe – especially helpful in art journaling and intuitive painting where atmosphere matters as much as detail.

• Test without pressure:
  Instead of risking the “oh nooo” moment on your main page or canvas, do quick, messy tests off to the side. See how your acrylic blends with ink, or how an unexpected colour behaves over a textured layer. Treat it like a no-judgement play area!

  And if you want a fun place to play with colour ideas before you put anything on the page, the Adobe Color Wheel is brilliant for testing combinations without the mess 😉

• Explore mixing techniques:
  Mixed media offers endless ways to blend — wet-on-wet for dreamy transitions, dry brush for scratchy texture, glazing for depth, smudging for softness, even using your fingers for a more intuitive, hands-on feel. Each method shifts how colours meet and mingle.

   

  And if you’d love to explore some of these techniques with me step by step, my Mixed Media Playground eCourse is packed with simple, joyful exercises that help you build playful backgrounds 😉

• Keep harmony in mind:
  Breaking the rules doesn’t mean creating chaos. A tiny touch of the same colour repeated in three places can tie everything together. You can use marks, splatters, shapes, or subtle layers to weave harmony across the page without losing your bold, expressive vibe.

Bold colour mixing isn’t about being fearless – it’s about being curious and breaking the colour rules!
Follow the joy, trust your instincts, and let the colours take you somewhere wonderfully unexpected.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below – I respond to every message with pleasure 🙂

x Mimi