Exploring Colour

Build your confidence and fill your sketchbook with colour...

  
Colour can often feel tricky - knowing which colours to reach for, how to mix them, or where to even begin. This course takes the mystery out of it.
 
Through clear demonstrations and practical sketchbook exercises, you'll build a real understanding of how colour works and the confidence to use it freely.
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A peek inside

Take a look at what's waiting for you inside Exploring Colour

 

 
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What's included?

Exploring Colour is a generous, well-structured online sketching course that takes you from the foundations of colour right through to a rich bank of practical sketchbook explorations.

  • A clear, jargon-free introduction to colour theory, including creating your own colour wheel and hunting for colour around your home.
  • A thorough introduction to watercolour and colour mixing.
  • A substantial bank of colour tutorials covering seasonal palettes, mixing from photographs, gouache, mixed media layering, and more.
  • Each lesson builds naturally on the last, taking you from the foundations of colour theory through to putting what you've learned into practice in your sketchbook.  
  • Videos are short, practical, and easy to follow - pause, sketch alongside me, and revisit whenever you like. This isn't about learning rules. It's about developing an eye for colour that stays with you long after the course ends.

Instant access - plus the lessons are yours to revisit whenever you like.

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Your journey through colour

Six thoughtfully structured sections, designed to build your confidence and fill your sketchbook with colour.

Introduction and Welcome

Before we pick up a single brush or pencil, we take a moment to settle in. This opening section introduces you to the course, explains why colour matters in a sketchbook practice, walks you through the materials you'll need, and gives us a chance to get to know each other. A gentle, unhurried start.

Colour Theory

This is where it all begins. We work through the foundations of colour theory in a way that is clear, practical, and completely jargon-free. You'll create your own colour wheel by mixing colours yourself, explore how tints and shades work, and begin to understand the different ways colour can be used in your sketchbook. By the end of this section, colour will feel far less mysterious.

Hunting for Colour

One of the most enjoyable parts of developing a colour practice is learning to really notice colour in the world around you. In these two tutorials we head out on a colour hunt, first exploring colour as we find it, then returning with a complementary twist that sharpens your eye further. You'll never look at a walk, a window, or a kitchen shelf in quite the same way again.

Working with Watercolour

Watercolour is one of the most beautiful and rewarding mediums for sketchbook work, and this section is a thorough, friendly introduction to it. We cover the basics of how watercolour behaves, create colour swatch studies, play with watercolour bubbles as a way of understanding how colours blend and interact, and finish by swatching harmonious colour combinations. Whether watercolour is new to you or you simply want to understand it better, this section will give you a solid, confident foundation.

More Colour Tutorials

This is the heart of the course: a generous bank of practical colour explorations to dip into at your own pace. We look at colour through the seasons, from the blues of a summer sky to the rich harvest tones of autumn. We mix colour from photographs, explore gouache as a medium alongside watercolour, layer mixed media to create depth and texture, and play with some wonderfully unexpected exercises including naming a colour, matching colour from an object, and the perennially illuminating wrong colour challenge. Each tutorial is self-contained, so you can work through them in order or return to the ones that speak to you most.

This is Just the Beginning

A warm closing to the course that celebrates how far you've come and points you gently toward what comes next in your colour journey. Because this really is just the beginning.

"The colour theory course is really fun and enjoyable. It’s given me time to think and observe. Colour theory has fascinated me, but I have found it complicated at times. This course keeps everything simple, and is thought provoking. I would recommend this course. Money well spent. Thank you Susan."

 
Liz Matthews

"This course has really expanded my knowledge of colour. I have lots of tutorials to repeat and to fall back on when needed. Thank you, Susan. You are an inspiring instructor!"

Sharon Adams

Exploring Colour

ÂŁ75

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  • Instant access to all 6 modules

  • Work through at your own pace

  • Yours to revisit whenever you like

  • Three bonus lessons included

  • Email support

Begin your colour journey

 

 Ready to see colour differently?

If you've ever looked at a sketchbook page and felt something was missing, colour is often the answer. Not more of it necessarily, but a better understanding of it. This course gives you that understanding in a way that is practical, enjoyable, and immediately useful. You'll finish with a sketchbook full of colour explorations and an eye that notices the world around you in a way it simply didn't before.

Join the course today for instant access to all 6 modules.

 

Is this course for you? 

Whether you're new to colour or you've been sketching for years, understanding how colour really works makes everything else easier.

This course is for you if:

  • You feel uncertain when it comes to choosing and mixing colours
  • You want to understand colour theory without complicated jargon
  • Your sketchbook pages sometimes feel flat or lacking in harmony
  • You want to sketch with more freedom and less second-guessing
  • You want to genuinely play in your sketchbook and have fun filling the pages

No previous knowledge needed — just a sketchbook, some art materials, and a willingness to experiment.

Hi, I'm Susan.

I'm a sketchbook mentor, author, and educator who has spent over fifteen years teaching people to find their creative practice and keep it.

My approach is warm, unhurried, and non-prescriptive: there's no right way to do this, and there's nothing you can get wrong.

I believe a regular sketching practice is one of the most grounding things you can give yourself, and colour is one of the most joyful parts of it.

"Susan's Exploring Colour course is a game-changer. Just hearing the words "colour theory" together used to make me cringe in fear, but her approach is so friendly, accessible and completely non-intimidating. Like everything else she teaches, she brings it back to the basics in a way that makes you actually want to explore and play. She also gets rid of so many of the excuses we tend to make because everything she teaches feels sustainable, attainable, and realistic time-wise."

 
Margie Woods, 2026

Why join me? 

Colour is one of those things that can feel instinctive for some people and completely baffling for others.

This course sits somewhere in the middle. It gives you enough grounding in how colour actually works to feel confident, then gets you straight into your sketchbook to explore it for yourself.

We move through colour theory, observational exercises, watercolour, and a whole bank of practical tutorials at a pace that suits you.

Every lesson is a video you can pause, rewind, and return to whenever you like. There's no rush, no deadline, and no right or wrong way to respond to what you find.

By the end, you won't just know more about colour. You'll see it differently.

GET STARTED TODAY!

Everyone’s journey is different. Find the right package for you:

PAY IN FULL

ÂŁ75

Access the course now

  • Immediate access to all 6 modules
  • Over 10 hours of lessons
  • Work through at your own pace
  • Bonus materials and lessons
  • Email support
  • Supportive community to share your sketches
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JOIN INSPIRE MONTHLY

ÂŁ30

Monthly subscription

  • Monthly sketching themes
  • Rolling tutorial library
  • Monthly live zoom class
  • Tea with Susan private podcast
  • Supportive community
  • Exploring Pencil course (ÂŁ75)
  • Exploring Colour course (ÂŁ75)
Find out more

JOIN INSPIRE ANNUAL

ÂŁ300

Best deal - 12 months access

  • Access to everything in Inspire Monthly plus: 
  • 2 months membership for FREE!
  • The Handmade Sketchbook course (ÂŁ55)
  • Tiny Moments sketching course (ÂŁ75)
  • A copy of the Sketch-A-Day Card Deck posted to your home.
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A Little Something Extra...

Additional lessons included in your course at no extra cost

Bonus 1:

Book Review - The Secret Lives of Colour

A book review with Susan exploring Kassia St Clair's beautiful deep-dive into the history and meaning of colour. Perfect companion for anyone wanting to understand colour more deeply.

Bonus 2:

A Behind-the-Scenes Studio Tour with Susan

A peek behind the scenes into Susan's creative space, where she works, what she keeps to hand, and how her studio reflects the way she thinks about colour and creativity.

Bonus 3:

Book Review - The Little Book of Colour 

A review of Karen Haller's guide to the psychology of colour, exploring how the colours around us affect the way we feel and how to use that knowledge in your creative practice.

I'm ready to explore

What you'll need 

Don't worry about having everything before you start. The exact materials for each tutorial are listed underneath the individual lesson, and I'll always suggest alternatives where I can. I never want the wrong materials to be a barrier to sketching.

For the course as a whole, it's helpful to have:

  • Sketchbooks in a couple of different sizes, including some watercolour paper
  • Pencils (at least one soft and one hard), a sharpener and eraser
  • Watercolour paints, gouache, coloured pencils and a basic range of acrylics
  • A selection of paintbrushes, a paint palette and a pot of water
  • Fine liner pens or a fountain pen
  • Masking tape or washi tape, scissors

Throughout the course, everyday objects will also be used as subjects - these are listed under each individual lesson.

14-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE

If you aren’t completely satisfied with your course, let us know within the first 14-days for a full refund. No questions asked.