Terre Verte Art & Jewellery
Gayle Howard Designer
Tips and discussions from My Art Book
Colour
Colours can be foreign to us and we many need to get to know them, kind of like getting to know our new neighbor or getting to know a new colleague at work. To get familiar with different types of colour we need to form a relationship with the colour wheel.
The mystery is that colours can have relationships with each other. Sometimes we can clearly see that some colours are not best friends.
For example, some colours are strident, angry and just don't get the point of getting along but we can use this fight to our advantage. Do we have something really "strong" to say? Remember all Visual Art work has a dialogue and something to say, at least it should.
So let's start with the emotions of colour. Colours can affect our mood and they can tell stories or leave messages to us and others. They can influence and push themes and be loud or soft. Colours surround us and talk to us every day. Here are some ways they talk to us.
* Red - is dominant and draws your eyes to it, it is hot, bold and can be gruesome
* Blue - is cold, calm, wet, and we have physical sensation when we think of blue
* Green - is food, earthy, comforting and is the most common colour in the world and comes in many shades, tones, and depths.
*Yellow - is bright and sun like, draws the eye, but can be harsh and dominating.
*Orange - tries to get along with others, it is highly individual and appetizing and it can be sweet, thrist quenching, but it can be a pure blast to the eye.
*Purple - dark and spooky, purple can be the royal colour or a mourning colour, it is serious and authoritative. Violet though can be wimpy and sad.
*Brown - almost dead, brown is associated with dirt, tree trunks and it is a sister to black (which techniquely is not a colour) takes on the roll of blender and background or elder brother to green. Brown is a blend.
*Grey is another sister or brother to many other colours and accents or shadows the best bright colours.
Colour is POWERFUL....for example, I like the green that my favourite grocery store uses. I want to go to that store and it seems fresher, calmer, and more relaxing therefore it gives me a fun experience. Another grocery store I go to, uses orangey reds and yellows and very bright light. (The kind of lighting changes the colouring of everything.) I react to this store by getting out as soon as I can and the place makes me feel very tired. I hit that store for the bargains only.
So, in summary, we can think of these emotions when we want to start a work of art and this knowledge can give us a good jumping off place when we are planning our pieces.
Everything is here to tell you about contrasts (this is a sample and not my art G.H. )
Tips from my Studio
#1 Whatever medium you are working with, it is important to be generous in your use of colour. Also use as much paint or coloured pencil, chalk and as is required. It does not look good for a picture to look "cheap", just be liberal with your medium it will pay off.
#2 When it comes to organising your composition always look out for spaces that are too even or similar in size. For example, creating objects that are in threes or matching sizes of elements are like the 3 little pigs in a row, so do not use this in your composition unless it is for a purpose. I have trouble with using too much symmetry. I have to force myself to arrange things in my pictures to look random. Nature is random, still life will be more interesting to the viewer if it emphasises 3 or 5 or maybe even 7 objects of different sizes or forms.
#3 If you know how to draw with pencils, learning to draw with coloured pencils is easier and the use of colour can generate excitement and energy into your drawings. Read about how to use the lines in different directions and see how quickly you can fill in spaces in every colour imaginable.
What is holding you back?............ I mean do you want to design or sell or just paint?
When you look at the video above you will see things that I have made, constructed and designed. Believe me these fashion items came from one inspirational idea.
I found a set of jewellery in an art museum in Phoenix Arizona. It intrigued me. A woman from the local area did amazing detailed coloured drawings of local wildlife and she used beautiful colours. The drawing were too expensive for me to purchase at the time but when I came to the counter to look for small things I could afford I saw that she had pendants and earrings with prints of her wonderful animals mounted on heavy cardboard pieces. The earrings were about 3/4" square and simply mounted with hooks. The Pendant was simple too with a bale hooked on the top side of the square print and it was about 2.5" x 2.5". It had a simple chain for wearing around the neck.
I instantly thought that I could do something like this with my art Prints and the rest is history.
I think you get my point, don't overlook all the Art Galleries you could visit or the Art and Creative books you can read. It is not copying if something pops in your mind and you use it as a spring board to jump into something new.
One other thing I must encourage you about, is to work at the design and be prepared to add new elements to your projects. That is what I do I just change things up a little bit and another new look emerges.
You know I really like Quotes, so here are a few..........and a couple suggestions.
Austin Kleon is a writer, artist and New York Times Best Seller and one of my favourite books is...."Steal like an Artist" 10 things nobody told you about being creative.....