How to apply bright and vivid hues
Avoid muddying your paints
1 Mix your paint on the palette not the canvas and always use a clean brush.
2 Reserve your brightest colours for your focal point and secondary focal point. Too many vivid hues will be jarring and nothing will stand out.
3 When applying paint be careful to limit yourself a few large brush strokes to avoid losing colour. Too many brush strokes will create a muddy effect.
4 To make one colour stand out put it against a grey or neutral background, or put it next to the opposite colour on the colour wheel, for example red agains green.
5 Use good quality paints. Artist paints have more pigment than cheaper student paints and will keep their colour. Oils usually keep their colour, but acrylics dry darker so go lighter when mixing.
Use colours opposite each other on the colour wheel, for example red flowers in a green meadow.
