Color is the visual perception of light. It is something we see but it is also something we feel.
Colors are true colors in all their vivid saturation and then we have color values, depths and tones.
Value means the lightness or darkness of a color. Different values create contrasts which allow us to really see the colors the dark stand out next to the light.
Balancing the contrasts of the values in the art piece create different moods.
In pieces where the depths of the values have a strong contrast
Light values create a happy bright feeling..
Medium values a strong, glowing statement.
Dark values create a piece reflecting a dramatic bold mood.
Where there is a milder, softer contrast
Light values create a gentle soft tone
Medium values a playful summery feeling
Darker values create a grey, serious mood
Color for me is usually instinctive. I like it or I don't like it. It feels "right" or not.
My usual manner of creating a color mix is to throw all the pieces that I am working with onto a large table and to detract and add pieces until I achieve the mix that speaks to me.
I challenged myself this time to work in a color that I don't like very much and see what I come up with. Orange.
Orange is a warm color, it is created by mixing red and yellow.. But what if one added other colors to it? All the colors of the rainbow? Well then, we would get a mix of different tones and values. It is a bright passionate color but its mood can be somber as well, depending upon what color is added to it.
Orange for me is usually used as an accent piece. Seeing as I had challenged my self I had to find enough different oranges to be able to create an interesting piece.
I started opening boxes. I went to the summer box where obviously I would find a huge selection of oranges. Bright, sunny colors.
Too much for me. I didn't see myself working only with those colors. So I sat back and thought about it for a bit more.
To me, all the seasons have all the colors of the rainbow but in different values and shades. So I opened up all of my season boxes, spring, winter and autumn.
I found orange pieces of different values in all of the boxes.
Spring had peach and pale salmon colors.
Winter had russet almost brown oranges
and Autumn had rust and ochre oranges.
I took out the oranges that spoke to me from each season and came up with this
Now I had a selection. When creating an art piece or a piece of fabric from other fabrics the colors have to balance, darks and lights. In order to see the dark pieces they have to be placed next to lighter pieces.
It feels just right! Now to begin creating.