Colour filling and blending

The governing design principle is colour unity through a limited palette and deliberate repetition. Select a related family of hues, then echo some colours or tones in more than one area so the eye can find connections across the composition. This keeps variety without visual fragmentation. Adding more unrelated colours increases disorder, black removes useful relationships, and covering everything with one colour sacrifices variety rather than organising it.

The governing concept is visual hierarchy: the focal subject needs a stronger or more selective contrast than its surroundings. Reduce saturation, brightness or colour intensity in supporting areas while preserving the subject’s important accents. This creates quiet zones that direct attention without destroying the whole palette. Reducing the subject weakens the intended focus, making every colour equally bright removes hierarchy, and a grey wash may flatten the painting.