Color Theory
Part I
by Patricia L. Cummings
In the past, I have taught Color Theory, so am sharing information from a few of my teaching notes here.
In this photo of me, sitting in my parents' living room in 1973, you see my very first still life painting on the right. I painted this in oils when I was 12 years old, tutored by my older sister who painted the piece on the left.
To master any of the needlearts or to be a good painter, one has to understand the relationships between colors. This file is being set up to introduce you to some of the basic concepts of color interrelationships. A cardboard Artist's Color Wheel, now sold in miniature at any art store or quilt shop, is a helpful aid that can assist you when choosing your fabrics.
This is a model of a Charles Ives Color Circle that I constructed for my own reference. I have used gold letters to denote the colors. In this wheel the primary colors are yellow, turquoise and magenta. Made by Patricia Cummings
More than one color wheel has been created, over the years. One that I enjoy consulting is the Charles Ives Color Wheel. The colors included are: yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, turquoise, blue, violet, purple, magenta, red, orange, and yellow-orange, placed in that order, in a circle. In technical terms, the wheel includes the primary colors of yellow, turquoise and magenta, placed in a equidistant manner on the wheel; the secondary colors of green, violet, and orange; and the tertiary colors of yellow-green, blue-green, blue, purple, red, and yellow-orange.
Neutral colors are white, black, or a combination of the two colors to yield gray. Beige is not a true neutral as it is a mixture of orange and black and is a "shade." If more gray is added, beige becomes "taupe."
In my diagram above, you will see the rainbow colors. These colors never vary. They include the sequential colors of violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, seven "hues" in all. Sir Isaac Newton created the first color wheel of seven colors.
Note: In the diagram on the right side, I forgot to add in the color indigo (dark blue) between violet (on the botton) and blue. One can create the effect of rainbow colors with the used of white light filtered through a prism.
In this color wheel that is a simple paste-up with fabrics, we see the "warm colors" placed side by side, as Analogous Colors,.The "cool colors," on the opposite side, are also placed in an analogous order. Red, orange, or yellow are warm colors, and blue, magenta, or purple are cool colors. If you think about it, this concept relates to the natural world.
What are the Attributes of Color?
Hue: just another name for "color"
Tone: a color with gray added
Chroma or Intensity: the brightness of a color
Value: the amount of lightness or darkness in a color
The Affects of Color
Color can carry mood or affect it. I recall an actor once saying that he loved the color Black and wanted everything in his home that color, even the walls. What do you think of when you think of the color Black?
Mystery? Sadness? Mourning? Elegance? Tuxedos? Hearses? Other Things?
Often, colors that do not quite "go together" can be set off from each other with black and white colors between them, as the common denominator.
Saved Quote
The Buddhist symbolism tells us the fundamental element of life is expressed by colors, gold for the earth, green for wind, red for fire, and blue for sky and water. These colors used in a Mandala (design) are supposed to be the graphic expression of truth.
The above quote was saved from a 1995 Maine Pine Tree Quilters' Show in 1995 where there was an invitational exhibit in which a Mandala quilt made by Kimiyo Tsutsumi of Tokushima-Shi, Japan was on display.
Color Schemes
Let's look at basic color terminology.
Chroma is the Greek word for color.
Monochromatic means the use of a color scheme that is all one color, but may include neutral colors of white, black or gray.
Achromatic = only neutral colors (black, white, or gray)
Analogous colors lie next to each other on the color wheel.
Triadic color combinations feature colors that are equidistant on the Color Wheel, for example, yellow, blue and red.
Complementary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel, for example, red and green, on a standard color wheel. One color is always "cool" and the other "warm."
Primary Colors - do not have to be mixed with any other color to achieve their hue.
Secondary Colors - If mixing paint, then blue and yellow are mixed to create green. Red and blue are mixed to create violet. Yellow and red and mixed to create orange.
Mixing a primary and a secondary color yields an intermediate or tertiary color.
Color Aid Papers
This is a third color wheel that I constructed with Color-aid papers and Prismacolors Pencils. It is just another model, with the primary colors in the center, yellow, red and blue; the secondary colors in the second row, and possible other combinations. I find these theoretical models to be very helpful.
This is a long file, and as I said, only an introduction. I hope to add more files. Do not be afraid to use color. I particularly like this little strip in which the colors repeat, in a purchased fabric:
As expected, yellow, like the sun, is always seen highest in a color scheme or composition. Otherwise, the color will suffer from the visual perception of weight. In this swatch, three warm colors are contrasted with three cool colors. I have to smile to see the color "red" almost in the middle as it makes me remember the statement by quilt artist, Freddy Moran, who once said that "Red is a neutral."
Have fun!
See Color Theory II
Copyright 2009. Patricia L. Cummings, Concord, NH. All rights reserved. pat@quiltersmuse.com