There are so many gorgeous colors out there, how do you create a work of art that looks rich and satisfying without being cloying and hurtful to the eye.
Oh but the lure and seduction of color!!!
Nature does it so well...but it's so easy to get it wrong in one's art work....
Have you ever seen an image (painting, photograph...) where the selection of colors was so beautiful that you just wanted to eat in it, bathe in it, surround yourselves with it???
And here's another one...these are just in our garden by the way....
The first one is a complementary color scheme...colors opposite on the wheel...all those lovely pinks contrasted with the greens....the second one is largely monochromatic...with a neutral added which not only makes the yellows glow but gives you the needed dark value.
Above is an image from winter...no color? Look again, my friend!!! see all those pinks and purples and silverly sage grey...oh so delicious...
So from nature we can extract the most gorgeous schemes...but we can also analyze them and see how they are working...and how we might enhance them...deepening saturation, increasing the spread of values etc...
And each wonderful combination has a different "feel" or mood or ambiance to it...
Above a cold wintry morning over the neighborhood pond...analogous plus black...color used as the focal point ...high contrast....and oh so gorgeous!!!
So many people, when you ask them what inspires them, say "oh color, colour, colour is what I love!" (no matter how you spell it!)...... the right colors really work to attract, nay, seduce!, people...
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On the other hand, I've noticed that when I'm teaching, and ask people to bring images from which they'd like to work to design their quilt, the photos or prints etc they show me often have gorgeous colors and it's really hard to get beyond that to see the "bones" of the design. Very reluctantly, some can be persuaded to photocopy the image into black and white ..so we can really see what's what. And some look great in grey...others just disappear into a moosh of flat nothing!!
It is hard to get beyond color, its siren song is so powerful.....
Some artists are strong on color, some on the basic design... a few can manage both.
I advocate one step at a time...it works for mountain climbing! First, decide on the shape of the mountain! Then go into color...and a lovely way to choose colors for a project is to work from those gorgeous photos you've collected over the years.
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| Color Immersion |
But, one of the problems for our medium, when it comes to color, is actually finding cloth in the right hue/saturation/value/temperature - even knowing what to call the colors is difficult sometimes!
Much easier with paint, thank goodness!
If you look at the picture above, the turquoise on the left is in several different values...and it also shifts from a cool to a warmer blue. The pink on the right goes from a warm orangey pink, through a slightly greyed pink to a blue-pink and then into mauve. And then what color is that shadow? What kind of a grey is that? Is it important to the image?
Want to know more about color and how to use it? Well, I'm just about to start a new Color course at www.academyofquilting.com
The class covers basic color theory in videos and text with simple examples - You can learn about the 4 properties of color, how to use them to enhance your artwork, how to choose great color schemes and visual effects...and how to generate specific moods with the use of color.
Think about it! wouldn't it be great to make no more expensive mistakes with cloth, or having to start over on a watercolor? and the basics are easily learned and very straightforward and with a little practice you'll develop an intuitive sense of color that will serve you well.
Please ask any questions in Comments! or email me - there's a link on the sidebar at the top....
or: elizabethyork100 AT yahoo.com will work too!
And, if you have been, thanks for reading! Elizabeth
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