<h3>Bringing a surface to life with colour</h3><p><strong>Painting</strong> is the art of applying colour to a surface — paper, canvas, board or even a wall — using brushes, sponges, palette knives or fingers. Painters express ideas, emotions and scenes through colour and technique. The same paint can give very different effects depending on the tool: a sponge <strong>dabbed</strong> on the surface can make trees look leafy and clouds look soft, while a flat brush gives smooth, even strokes.</p><p><strong>Analogous colours</strong> are colours that sit directly next to one another on the colour wheel, such as <strong>yellow, yellow-green and green</strong>, or <strong>blue, blue-violet and violet</strong>. Because they are neighbours, they share a common colour and blend smoothly, creating a peaceful, unified feeling. To classify them, you locate a base colour on the wheel and choose the two or three colours immediately beside it.</p><p>Colour also controls <strong>mood</strong>. Warm colours — reds, oranges, yellows — feel lively and energetic. Cool colours — blues, greens, violets — feel calm and restful. Knowing this lets an artist plan exactly how a painting should make the viewer feel.</p><div class="callout"><strong>Kenyan context:</strong> To paint a Lake Victoria sunrise, choose analogous warm colours — yellow, orange and red-orange — for the sky so they blend into a glowing, harmonious dawn. Switch to cool analogous blues and greens for a cool Aberdare forest scene to create a calm, shaded mood.</div>