I went with using Navy for the centre square using Cobalt Blue, Violet, Light Blue and Ultramarine Blue for the outside frames. First of all I notice that all the colours work well together, but I also notice that they perhaps don’t have a real impact when placed next to each other, they seem to blend and merge as one.
With the complementary colours below I noticed that they created a strong contrast with each other. But also the Cobalt Blue frame made the orange centre look as if it’s receding from the forefront. Maybe this is because it was mixed with White?
Last of all was the complimentary coloured frames and white frame with the neutral Grey square centres. I noticed that the white frame looked as if it was merging with the neutral grey square, but the complimentary colours had the opposite effect. The Orange frame made the Grey square recede, while the Dark Green frame made the square appear as if it was in front of it. These effects would be useful when you are trying to create perspective in paintings.
I did a few colour attempts in my sketch book below using oil pastels before starting this exercise. Just to get an idea of which colour combinations I wanted to use. It looks as though the warmer colours seemed to make the grey squares recede, while cooler colours bring it forward.
JenBavpaint 