Color Vocabulary

The second edition of Intuitive Color and Design is out!  I have signed copies available exclusively at the Stitchin' Post.

There are so many ways to talk about color and what I have learned through the years that is most important is the relationships that colors have to each other in the composition. Simplifying that to a vocabulary list of descriptions have been very successful for me in the classroom.

Rather than naming a color if you think of it for the role it is playing then you will intuitive know if it is working or not. My vocabulary lis consists of :  Temperature (warm or cool), Intensity (dull or bright),

value (light or dark), Volume (weight - lighter or heavier).

In this little sample of strata (see strata assignment on p. 52) I played with the cooler lighter orange and balanced it with the bright intense orange. I made sure the brighter orange appeared in smaller amounts so it would not dominate the composition. As I look at this not the darker purple near the center is feeling a bit large but as I add more strips I can remedy the amount of darker purple in the whole piece. It really is about relationships and we certainly can feel if a piece is working or not.

Trust yourself!

I love to add bits of texture. From these scraps you can see how the textured fabric add another dimension to the piece. The grey section has bits of cotton as well as linens. The Essex linens from Robert Kaufman are part cotton and the hand is soft and plays so well with cottons.

Spirited Hues is the last quilt I made for the new book. I had collected the fabric for it for some time and it sat on my cutting table until I finished all of the writing for the book. My reward to myself was to get to sit down and design and sew the quilt. 

Happy Designing!

~Jean