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"Color Blocks" pattern available in "Out On A Loom" by Margie Deeb
What happens when you remove one color from an analogous color scheme?
Analogous schemes involve colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel. These schemes can have as many members as you like, as long as they are color neighbors. I’m often asked, “If I use all 12 colors on the 12-step wheel, is it an analogous scheme?” Yes! As long as you haven’t skipped any members along the way.
But what happens when you do skip a member?
I thought it would be fun to explore the results of an almost full-spectrum analogous color scheme.
Using my quilt-inspired split-loom necklace, “Color Blocks,” (pattern available in my book, Out On A Loom) watch what happens when I remove a major color member from this 10-member palette. (I’ve kept the intensity of the colors the same). The original color scheme is the one above left.
In version A I’ve removed all purple and violet.
In version B all blues have been removed.
In version C reds and oranges are gone; pinks have taken their place.
I like observing my own reactions. When I compare each of these versions to the original, I immediately prefer the original. Full-spectrum schemes are so satisfyingly balanced and whole. However, when I stop comparing and sit with the other versions individually, I get to know them better. Within a few moments I can “hear” their voice separate from a full spectrum scheme. They then begin to appeal to me in different ways.
Version A seems more quiet and stolid without the violet/purple/lavender family. I’m not drawn to it, but its interesting to note how the lack of these colors dramatically changes the tone.
Version B, with its emphasis on greens and lack of blue seems younger, much younger than version A.
And C is absolutely delightful. All that bright pink makes it so effervescent and playful.
What happens in your eye-and in your mind-when you look at these 4 palettes? Which do you find more appealing and less appealing?
"Color Blocks" in 3 different color palettes
(Excerpt from Margie’s Muse May 2009 Edition)
Imbuing your beadwork with the essence of springtime has as much to do with bead surface finish and the overall texture of your piece as it does color. Color is only one ingredient of the spring palette. I’ve focused on spring color, especially greens, in the last two Margie’s Muse editions, lets explore these other properties.
Spring is a colorful profusion of life and activity. Its colors are warm with golden undertones, as if bathed in sunshine. Hues gently shimmer and hum, never shout. Keep the palette light: no low-intensity, shadowy colors. Pastels are part of the spring bouquet, but you want to avoid the chalky, over-whitened, sacharrine look that too many pastel colors can produce. So use a vivid tone or two for contrast. And be sure to add some sparkle.
A full spring palette. Notice that even the brights aren’t screaming, and the tints aren’t washed out. Clear color abounds. Think of the shimmer of the Impressionists’ palettes to string the spring into your beads.
Not only do spring colors need to be high-key and light, they need to be clear. They must look fresh, as if washed by the rain or melting snow. There’s no better finish for springtime palettes than transparent glass, which creates dewdrops of liquid color. Light passes through transparent beads, illuminates them from within, and tosses back rays of color.
Include finishes that augment the clarity of transparent beads. Silver-lined finishes flash like reflected sun. Color-lined beads look like morsels of color suspended in drops of dew. The softness of transparent luster, opalescent, and pearl finishes furnish a soft glow with a little less color, so use them for necessary contrast. Judicious numbers of tiny cut-beads add lively sparkle—but don’t overdo.
Click to download the free PDF and read the rest of this Margie’s Muse edition
Learn how to work with Pantone’s palette in Margie’s Color Report for Bead Artits Spring/Summer 2009
