Coloricombo 2025

“Colours speak all languages.”

Joseph Addison

What is Coloricombo?

Coloricombo is a free weekly creative prompt of colour where I’ll share a palette chosen from colours that have caught my eye, maybe a flower growing in the garden, something I’ve been reading about or chosen from an artwork.

“Colour is something I am passionate about, mixing and exploring combinations is my jam.”
— Esté MacLeod

  • "I appreciate very much the fact that you continue to search and explore new ways of expression - for one. But truly, your colour explorations and watching and imitating your search for the colour 'recipes' is a real learning tool.

    Victoria

  • I’m a fan of color! You work very hard to teach not only about color but also about art history too. The classes sooth the soul, they’re inspirational. Even though I’m not an illustrator when I look back at work I’ve created while following you I realize how much I have learned and I think, hmmm not so bad.

    Jeannie

  • "You share so much truly impressive research, imagination, and technical expertise in these essays and demos. Grateful for the opportunity to participate in your teaching and follow your creative path! You change the way I see the world."

    Ellen

  • The beauty/creativity that you bring to bear to your courses and teaching is, in my experience, quite unusual.

    Nancy

  • You really do demystify colour mixing and I do appreciate your clear demonstrations

    Miranda

  • "You inspire me in my new found love of art. I can see the time and effort you put in to Coloricombo. .I do not want to miss out on anything associated with it as I still need spoon feeding with my creativity. Your fab demos (and courses) are unmissable for me! Thank you Esté. You really are an amazing teacher. "

    Georgina

FAQs

What is Coloricombo?

It’s a weekly creative prompt of colour. I curate a selection of colours from featured artworks created by artists and designers from the past. I’d love to invite you to join the thousands already subscribed to Coloricombo which, in 2025, is entering its fourth year.

Where did it all start?

Colour is something I am passionate about, mixing and exploring combinations is my jam.

I started doing creative colour challenges on Instagram back in 2019 and these grew into something bigger with the incredible response from participants.

How do I generate a new selection of colours for the weekly prompt? It’s a happy coincidence that apart from being a colour nerd, I’m also interested in history and in particular the lives of artists and creatives of the past.

I love doing the research and sharing these bite-sized instalments of fresh colours every week together with a back story of these mostly more obscure and lesser known artists (with extra attention paid to female artists who were overlooked in their lifetimes).

This simple but effective concept is a great way to connect creativity, colour and a bit of arty history on a weekly basis to be used by anyone as they like, to make something colourful.

Join this program of fifty two colour prompts delivered to you in weekly emails, subscribe for FREE now available on Substack.

How does it work?

Use the limited selection of colours to create something in any medium or art form, and with any topic you like. There are usually four colours and you can add a neutral light colour (like a buff or soft grey) and a darker contrasting colour (like deep blue, brown, grey or black) to your creation.

You can create in any way you like, whether it’s a little drawing or a doodle in sketchbook, an entry in a journal or a more elaborate artwork. You can choose to sew, knit, crochet or work in 3D in any other media you like that’ll suit your time and pace of working.

Accessing Coloricombo

Prompts are sent out via email every Monday morning UK time. You’ll also be able to access previously weeks prompts on Substack.

Support Coloricombo

You can access the archive of 2022 and 2023 prompts on my course platform where they can be purchased for £15 each. Please consider acquiring these since it will help to cover some of the costs of time and hosting online.

I’m also looking at how I can add additional content for subscribers supporting me directly via Substack.

Posting online

Coloricombo originally started in 2020 as an Instagram challenge and I encourange you to post your work, please tag #coloricombo and #estemacleod. Take a look at some previous creations here.

There’s also the private Creative Prompts Facebook group where artists, both professional and amateur post regularly, it’s a great place to see what others do with the weekly batch of colours.

Find me on Instagram and my YouTube channel where I post artworks and processes linked to the coloricombo

Why Substack?

We made the decsion to move Coloricombo across to Substack at the beginning of 2024 as it was becoming tricky and quite expensive to manage almost 10,000 subscribers on my Kajabi-based course platform. Substack is a fantastic platform for writers and creatives and the way it works really suits the weekly format of Coloricombo.

Moving to Substack allows me to separate Coloricombo from my courses, gives you more control over your subscription and makes it easier for you to see previous weeks prompts.