Color Studies and Resources

When I began creating art quilts, I really had a lot to learn. While much of what I needed to know was the crafting of a quality piece, the most difficult element to learn was how to design a piece of art that I could feel good about.

One of the first aspects I studied in some depth was the use of color. Three different books made a tremendous difference in my comfort level with this aspect of the art quilt. This posting is on one of them. I will cover the other books in later postings.

The first book was one by Joen Wolfrom, The Magical Effects of Color, published in 1992. I have read it cover to cover several times, and when I want to obtain specific effects, I have often referred back to her discussions on how to use color expressively, or to create luminosity or other special effects.

This was my first color book and was a great place to start as she illustrated her points with quilts from many different quilters, both traditional and art quilts. She covered each of the primary and secondary colors and what they could do in different combinations. She also had excellent information on value and how to use it. This was the resource that taught me the difference in tints, tones, shades and hues.

A real eye opener for me was her discussion of the impact of tints that were somewhat grayed or yellowed, as if using a non bleached muslin for background.

Chapter 10 has exercises to help develop your eye for color and are well worth doing.

Dear Reader, please let me know if you find this review helpful and if you would like to see comments on other books that have been important in my development as an artist.

Thanks for reading.

Nancy