List of Exercises
Sorted by cornerstone (below). For a guideline on how to proceed through the exercises, see our 2025-2026 beta test exercise series. Each exercise contains a self-contained lesson, with links to handouts, references and other resources.
Describing colours
Note: These exercises use the CLP Sorting Set - CHROMO - or you can print sets of 36 tiles from this PDF.
Sort coloured tiles any way you wish!
Learn how to identify and arrange hue families
Learn how to identify and arrange characters
Discover the differences between chromatic and achromatic colours
Sort hue families by the lightness/value attribute
Sort hue families by the chroma attribute
Naming colours in the sorting set
Identify and name the coloured tiles used in the CHROMO sorting set
What types of words do you associate with each colour character?
Sort household items into their colour characters
Map colour characters into hue planes and build a 3D model
3D Intermediate model - Placeholder
Relate colour characters to lightness and chroma and build a 3D model
Experiencing colours
Create a colour diary
Notice all the variations of colours in your surroundings
Find a range of colours in your environment
Notice and document how light influences the colours you see
Choose a range of colours that you associate with specific moods or emotions
Perceiving colours
Explore the nature of contextual colour
Explore the nature of contextual colour
Explore the effect of neighbouring colours
What happens to colours when we turn the lights off?
Build an orange cube and notice how light affects colour
Notice how changing the spatial context affects a perceived colour
How many colours are in the rainbow? If your response is ‘seven’ - take a closer look!
Create a spectrum, and see how many hues you can find!
Non-spectral colours & iridescence
Discover non-spectral colours when you experiment with iridescent materials.
How does looking at the world through a coloured filter change our colour perceptions?
Notice how perceived colours change under filtered light sources
Notice how perceived colours change under coloured light sources
Locate a part of your eye that does not detect light at all!
Create a visual demonstration for light’s wavelengths with a slinky!
Create colourful compositions with polarized light
Working with Colours
Explore the simple additive mixing process with coloured LED flashlights
Optical mixing using spinning disks
Create unexpected mixtures using spinning disks!
Optical mixing using diffusion filter
Create unexpected mixtures using diffusion filters
Subtractively mixing opaque media
Explore the subtractive mixing process using pastels and acrylic paints
Subtractively mixing transparent media
Explore the subtractive mixing process using filters and watercolour paints
Explore 3 types of colourant mixing, and see how they produce different results. Try with yellow and blue, or red and blue.
Did you know there is more than one way to define a set of complementary colours?
Choose a set of colours from an image and create an abstract visual equivalent
