🎉Fun Ways to Swatch Your Paint (That Don’t Feel Like Homework)

Swatching has a reputation for being boring little boxes. Neat grids. Labels everywhere.

Useful? Sure. Inspiring? Not always.

If you actually want to learn your paints—and enjoy the process—sometimes it helps to swatch in ways that feel more like painting and less like cataloging.

Here are some fun, low-pressure ways to swatch your paints that still teach you a lot.

◯ ◻︎ △ Paint Overlapping Figures

Instead of isolated shapes, paint simple overlapping forms:

• circles

• silhouettes

• loose figures

• abstract blobs

Where they overlap, you immediately see:

• transparency vs opacity

• how colors interact when layered

• which pigments muddy and which stay clean

It’s a swatch and a composition experiment.

🌫️ Atmosphere Swatches

Try swatching the same color in:

• a soft foggy wash

• a darker atmospheric layer

• a lifted highlight

• a dry-brush edge

One color, four moods.

This is especially helpful for atmospheric painters because it shows how far a pigment can stretch emotionally—not just chromatically.

🍂 Paint the Same Simple Object Over and Over

Pick something uncomplicated:

• a leaf

• a rock

• a bottle

• a cup

• a cloud shape

Paint it repeatedly using different colors.

You’ll learn:

• which colors feel calm vs dramatic

• which ones overpower a composition

• which pigments quietly do the most work

This is swatching disguised as observation.

✧✧✧ Swatch in Pairs or Trios

Instead of single colors, swatch relationships:

• two colors side by side

• overlapping pairs

• a limited trio used in one small sketch

You start to see:

• temperature shifts

• harmony vs tension

• unexpected favorites

Bonus: these often turn into accidental mini paintings.

✂️ Fragmented Pages

Divide a page into irregular sections—no ruler, no grid.

Each section becomes:

• a tiny test

• a mood note

• a color memory

This keeps swatching loose and prevents the “I must finish the whole page perfectly” feeling.

🖌️ Technique-Based Swatches

Instead of focusing on color alone, focus on how you apply it:

• wet-in-wet

• dry brush

• lifting

• glazing

• splatter

• edge control

The same pigment can look wildly different depending on technique—and that’s often more important than the color name.

🧠 Paint First, Label Later (or Not at All)

Sometimes the fastest way to kill curiosity is to label everything immediately.

Try painting first:

• respond to the color

• notice how it behaves

• let it surprise you

You can always label later. Or keep some swatches unlabeled on purpose—just visual memory.

🎨 Why Playful Swatching Works Better

When swatching feels like play:

• you’re more observant

• you take more risks

• you remember what you learned

You stop asking “What is this color supposed to do?” and start asking “What does it actually do in my hands?”

That’s where real familiarity comes from.

✨ The Takeaway

Swatching doesn’t have to be neat, finished, or impressive.

It just has to be honest.

If it teaches you how a color behaves, how it layers, how it feels in a painting—it’s doing its job.

Everything else is optional.