Color Theory Beginnings

So, how does one go about learning more about color theory?  It is hard to know where to start.  I recently unpacked three books that I like to use but , believe me, you could walk into any bookstore, go to the art section and find many more possible choices.  These three just happen to be my personal favorites.  

The first title is The Enjoyment and Use of Color by Walter Sarget.  It is a Dover Publications book which are sold in many places.  The other two are Power Color by Caroline Jasper and Color Choices:Making Color Sense Out of Color Theory by Stephen Quiller.  He also has a color wheel that is a little different than what you normally find.  Although the Quiller book is specifically for water colorists, it is still full of glowing, inspirational uses of how to use color in interesting ways.  

One thing to remember if you are a textile artist, is that paint on paper "reflects" color in a more vibrant way than fabric will.  One way to compensate for that is to choose more vibrant, saturated colors when you are picking fabrics for a textile piece.  Or, use that knowledge to achieve a softer look.  You're the boss of what you make!

Always be on the watch for color inspiration all around you.  Once you start thinking about color, interesting combinations show up all around.  For instance here's a combo that just showed up on my cutting table while I was organizing and putting away thread spools.  Neat, huh?

Back to This Again?

Well, so much for posting more often this year.  Moving is quite a disrupting experience.  All the painting I did in the old house was fun and now I get to do it again.  These paint swatches are my latest test strips.

The two largest patches were colors I used in my former house.  They look so different now.  The yellow-green on the left is the Wasabi color that is shown in my previous post on paint colors.  The goldish color on the right was much more green looking in the old house but there was less light coming in the windows.  Also, isn't it interesting how the mint green behind the samples makes them seem even more yellow?

Learning about color is a fascinating study.  Just like any other skill, color perception and understanding can be learned and honed.  Even as a quilt artist, I take color classes whenever I can.  I also have a small library of color theory books for artists.  I often encourage others to learn about color and how they influence each other, and, even how they can influence human moods.  

I'm thinking I like the Wasabi color once again but I won't really know how it looks until the whole wall is painted.  Time of day and how it plays with the plant colors outside the window will be part of the final decision.  Fortunately this is only one small wall.