Working with colour - Sarah’s four palettes

Working with Colour - Sarah's Four Palettes

I have always been driven by colour and have a deep emotional connection to it. Whenever I am creating an arrangement or making a new flower patch in my garden I always design with colour in mind, so that I can create a space that is relaxing, peaceful and calm.

Personally, I think that throwing colours together randomly can look a little chaotic and makes it difficult to pick a complimentary colour palette when you are trying to build a bouquet.

To make sure my colours work together, over the years I have created four distinct colour palettes that always work well together, but can be mixed up to create interest, tone and variety. I use coloured candles to help me visualise my palette and work out which colours would go well together.

These candles are an easy and long-lasting way to experiment with colour and learn to understand which palettes you enjoy working with the most.

The Dark and Rich Venetian Velvet Palette

This palette is made up of rich, organic colours which are naturally strong in pigment. Featuring deep red and dark purples, by planting these shades together and then picking within the palette you can create majestic arrangements.

The Boiled Sweet Palette

This palette is full of the bright and the bold, but with so many primary colours involved, you need to be careful your arrangement doesn't end up looking like a children's toy box.

These are high saturation colours and one of them can really perk up an arrangement of the dark Venetians if you find that your display is starting to look a bit sombre.

The Cashmere Jersey Palette

Just like a luxurious Cashmere jumper, these colours are warm and soft. Often used to make bridal displays, these colours can sometimes look a bit sickly if left on their own, so recruiting a gatecrasher from the stained glass or Venetian palette can perk things up a bit.

The Champs-Élysées Palette

The final palette is the light and cool palette, where you'll find the light blues and whites. These colours are precise and crisp and are also often used to make bridal displays. To inject some warmth into them though, consider recruiting a helper from another palette.

Mixing the Palettes

Borrowing colours from other palettes can brighten up a bouquet or calm another one down, depending on the look you are going for. Try spending some time with your palettes so you can work out what colours you like the best and how you would like to mix them up.