3 in 1 Color Tool by Joen Wolfrom

Here is another in my series on color tools. This one was suggested by several readers. It is an impressive combination that should be helpful for a variety of decisions that quilters need to make. Compact enough for the handbag, it can easily be carried to the fabric shop or to class.



If one is not interested in investing in the Color Aid cards, this provides a wealth of color chips very compactly. Each color chip has a scale from the pure color in the center to increasing tints to the left and increasing shades to the right. And on the other side of the card and especially fascinating are the scales for tones. There is a scale of shade + gray to the left, a scale of pure color plus gray in the center and then a scale of tints plus gray to the right. You can see them in the blue and blue violet cards displayed.



I was particularly pleased to see the variety of pure colors used.

There are five color cards for blue, ranging from blue-violet, through, blue, cerulean blue, turquoise to aqua blue. you can see these on the second photo.



On the back of the color cards are the colors that will provide different color plans. The third photo shows the back of the cards.


It is interesting to compare adjacent color cards to see the very fine differences in that occur in the analogous colors and complementary color plans. If your quilts are not having the color punch that you want, you might consider checking these color plans out.































Several readers have written into the Quilt Art list that they do not need or use a color tool, that they use the colors that feel right to them. That is great, man, how I envy them. Some artists do have an amazing sense of color and what colors go with other colors to convey their message. My ex had a wonderful, intuitive, untrained sense of color that was far beyond mine.



I love color and find that I am always learning more about it. My intuitive sense is fair, but I find that I may need to tweak my color usage to better convey what I am trying to say. And then the tools are great. So if you don't need them, don't use them. But if you are like me, and are still learning, give some tools a try out and see if they help develop your comfort level with choosing colors.



Another tool at the back will be good for quilters who piece in small squares, circles and triangles to try out different patterned fabrics to see what they will look like in small amounts. This is another tool that can be very useful to the quilter who is just learning about fabric choices.


And then there are value finders in red and green that can help determine contrasting values without color confusing the decision making. All in all, this is a great little tool that is published by C&T Publishing for less than $20. Check out your local quilt shop. You can probably find it there.
May glorious color fill your life,

Nancy

Mockingbird's Larder

Mockingbird's Larder was a real joy to create. I started with photographs of the deciduous holly trees taken at the Mint Museum in Charlotte. The berries hold onto the branches late into the winter long after the leaves drop. Looking closely at the junctures of the berries to the stems, there are these interesting little knots at the base of the stems. Seems to me that they probably are where berries have been in the past. And then there are little leaf buds along the stems as well. The tree's past, present and future is visible right there. Love how this really portrays the continuity of life.

Here in the Southeast USA, the Mockingbird likes to find a source of winter food and stand guard over it, running away any competition for the berries. But just as the berries ripen in the winter, a flock of Cedar Waxwings, or American Robins will descend and strip the berries before moving on -- raiding the Mockingbird's larder. Such is life.

Just had the quilt photographed by Deidre Adams. She was able to get the full piece well lit and professionally pulled out of the background, skills I have yet to master.

Telling it All at Mint Hill Arts

Mint Hill Arts, Mint Hill NC, invited me to talk about my work, show some of it and then demonstrate how I create my work.

Folks there are not very familiar with textile art, so it should be fun.

I am bringing some of the wonderful seeds that are my inspiration, some of my newest work and will be showing how I work create my stencils and work with inks.

This is Tuesday 7-9 PM January 25 2011.

if you are in the area hope you will come by and participate.

Nancy

Creating Depth - VII -- It's in the Blues

We have examined a number of ways of creating depth that artists use to create dimensionality on a flat surface. Some other techniques for creating depth were not needed in Rose Has Got Some Hips. So I will use other examples to illustrate.

Here is a detail shot of a new piece where I challenged myself to create layers of depth with greens. It is easy to see the use of warmer greens and cooler greens. But I also moved the greens in the back to blue-green to push them further back. There is also shading and it also goes to the blue-green end of the spectrum.

One spike needed to be forward of the blue-green back spike and behind some of the more forward yellow-green spikes, so I reduced its intensity by using some gray over the blue-green. Less intense (grayed or shaded) colors will also recede.

My friend, Holly, does tapestries of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and often uses these blue-greens and blue-grays to move the mountains back layer by layer on the visual plane. As we look through the air towards a distant object, the most distant ones will tend to go more blue and blue gray so the phenomena is called "atmospheric" perception.

Another element of depth we have looked at already is relative warmth and coolness of colors. Normally the reddish purple of the background around these spikes would be considered warm, but next to the yellow-orange background and stem areas, it is a cool color and recedes behind the stems and spikes.

Color is a lot fun, and provides lots of challenges. Part of the reason I love working with Heidi Stoll-Weber hand-dyed fabrics, is that the existing colors will always give some challenges in creating my designs on top of the fabric. It is more of a challenge, because the Tsukineko inks are basically transparent, so the background of the fabric will come through.

Happy quilting and thanks for reading,

Nancy

Creating Depth - VI - Quilters' Tools

Creating Actual Depth

Quilters' have the opportunity to create depth in several different ways. One technique I use is trapunto. Here is the reverse side of the top. Once the piece is quilted, these padded areas will have a definite additional dimension to them.




The two rose hips and just the tip of the small bent leaf have one layer of batting. I pinned a layer of the batting to the back of the top and sewed around the hips and the tip of the leaf.




I wanted some dimensional work inside the hips. I sewed between the two hips and then at the end of the hip where there is an indentation where the stamens were. I can increase the depth of these areas by sewing them again when they are quilted, or leave them unquilted for only small indentations.




Quilters can change the amount of depth by choosing some areas that are left unquilted and some areas that are densely quilted. We have more options that some other artists do for creating a sense of depth in our work.



The impact that the quilt line gives is largely why I love quilting rather than painting.



Nancy

Creating Depth with Color- V

Power with Warm and Cool Colors

Different colors have an amazing property that makes some colors come forward on the picture plane and some drop back, or recede on the picture plane. Artists can use these properties to select colors to convey what they envision.

Reds, oranges, yellows are warm and will jump forward visually; think of yellow jonquils, orange pumpkins, red and orange fall leaves. Blues, greens, purples will recede, think watery depths and deep blue skies. Note how the word Warm pops out and the word Cool recedes in comparison.


The rose hip on the left comes forward in part because it is a warmer red than the right hip. There is some orange in the left hip, especially in the area that is closest to the viewer. There is a bluer tone to the right hip. Even red can be more or less warm or cool as in this example. Using this can really help put objects or elements in the art in the right visual plane.


On the photo of the leaves, I used the coolest colors (blue green with some violet) on the bottom leaf and that helps it to visually recede. The warmest colors (orange) are on the top leaf to help it pop forward. The middle leaf is moderately warm (yellow green).

Note that I also used a change in warm and cool colors for the shadows to further differentiate between the bottom two leaves.

The little leaf on the rose hip is helped to convey the bend in the leaf by creating a cooler color (blue green) on the leaf next to the hip and the point of the leaf is much warmer ( yellow green) than the rest of the leaf.

Readers, thanks for reading and your comments and questions.


Nancy

More Color Resources

Angela R McIntyre wrote me that she had researched color schemes, color theory and color wheel sites and tutorials. She was kind enough to share these and to give permission for me to share them on my blog.

Here is her memo. Please send her thanks.

Nancy

--- On Tue, 1/4/11, AMcQuilts@aol.com wrote: a while back I did some research on color wheels, online color theory classes and tutorials, and color theme generators.

Here are a few sites I found that you all my be interested in:

Real Color Wheel by Don Jusko, new page Color Scheme, Colour Scheme Chooser Tool - Monochromatic, Analogic, Complimentary, Split Complementary, Triadic, Double Contras kuler color themes

Art Deco Color Palettes - Art Deco Era Color Combinations Color Scheme Designer 3 this is my favorite, and they have upgraded it too!

Multicolr Search Lab - Idée Inc. this is actually to search for images with a predominant color theme, quite useful!

Color Theory Tutorial by Worqx good info

Basic color schemes: Color Theory Introduction lots more good info there is SO much on the web, we are very lucky to be able to access so much information right at our fingertips! hope this is helpful to some of you.

Angela R McIntyre Laughing Cat Designs Website Laughing Cat Designs Blog