If I thought finding the primary and secondary colours was hard this exercise proved even trickier. Not only did I need to find specific colours but I had to think about them in a particular relationship to each other and also had to make some sort of composition that worked visually.

I’m not necessarily convinced I managed to get exactly the right ratios for each shot but the exercise certainly gave me a feel for the way complementary colours can work together. It was as we were taking down the Christmas decorations that the red and green idea came to me. I had moved the small artificial tree into the kitchen and as soon as I saw it against the red wall I grabbed the camera and started to play with different angles.

The blue and orange image started with me thinking about what I had in the house that was pure orange. I thought if I started with the orange I would then find a suitable blue to work with afterwards. I had several pieces of fruit and peppers but nothing that really inspired. I then remembered that my carrot, apple and ginger juice always came out very orange. This made me think of the jug and voila! The image should possibly feature more of the juice but this was the version that I preferred in terms of composition.

Finally, and the biggest challenge of all, was the violet and yellow. The inspiration for this one came some time after the others when I had to use the yellow cotton for something else. I wondered about using it in a close up with something, possibly some fabric but couldn’t find anything suitable. Then the peonies on the windowsill started dropping their petals and I just played with them and the cotton until something emerged. After much fretting about what to do this was the image I was happiest with of the group.