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Excerpts from the July 2009 Margie’s Muse
"Snake Goddess" from Beading Her Image
Minoan culture–especially its art–has fascinated me for decades. What I love about the society is its partnership: the equality of women and men. Even though the society was matriarchal and the Goddess revered, neither gender was elevated above the other: women and men worked in harmony. And nature was sacred and respected. This is evidenced in the joy and exuberance of their art. I show photos of frescoes on pages 40-41 and 66 of The Beader’s Color Palette…
So when I designed “Snake Goddess,” yet another tribute to this beautiful culture for my book Beading Her Image: Images of Women Portrayed in 15 bead Patterns, I naturally used colors similar to those of Minoan frescoes. I updated them, of course, to appeal to contemporary eyes accustomed to clearer, brighter hues.
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t its core this palette is a primary triad based on the red/yellow/blue pigment wheel: red, gold as a substitute for yellow, and three shades of blue. Variations of this primary triad, often muted and darker, are found all through Egyptian murals. The essence of Egyptian color usage is three-to four-color combinations hinged on red or yellow… Add a verde green…and you have the full palette for most Egyptian wall paintings, and the famous Minoan bull mural. Heidi Kummli designed a pendant project (below) for The Beader’s Color Palette based on this 4-color palette.
Heidi Kummli's Minoan Pendant from The Beader's Color Palette
Let’s talk about triads, specifically, the primary triad.
Basic triads are composed of three colors equidistant from each other on the color wheel, or every fourth color on the wheel
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Primary Triad
Triadic combinations exhibit bold, energetic and striking contrasts because the members of the group, spaced as they are on the wheel, are neither analogous nor complementary. Basic triads contrast strongly in both temperature (warm and cool colors) and value (light and dark colors). Because of its bold directness, the primary triad of the traditional pigment wheel—in its purest red-yellow-blue state—is often used in children’s toys and graphic design.
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Challenge yourself to create an innovative scheme based on this powerful trio whose roots reflect a society who celebrated what was most important: joy, nature, partnership, and beauty.
One of the best illusions I’ve ever seen that proves how relative color is when we view it:
from the June 2006 Margie’s Muse
While I appreciate and learn from all colors, its the saturated colors, those vibrant royal jewels, that make me swoon.
Brew the components of value, hue, and saturation together and you’ve got color. Of these three properties, saturation is the seasoning, enabling you to concoct a dynamic range of palettes.
Saturation, also referred to as intensity, is the amount of hue that is in a color. From the subtlety of neutral colors to lively, tangy super-saturated palettes, the overall flavor of what you create derives much of its impact from the saturation level of your palette.
Neutral colors are characterized by a lack of saturation: black, white, and grays.
Black and white photos exemplify a neutral palette. Lacking hue, they must rely on value – the degree of lightness and darkness – to convey form and spatial relationships.
Semi-neutral palettes wield a low level of saturation. Classic sepia and warm-toned images come to mind. Delicate and nuanced, they impact us in more subtle ways.
Fully saturated palettes are representational; they depict they way most of us view the world. Straightforward color photography uses the fully saturated palette.
Advertising graphics, fabrics, plastics, and contemporary paintings use super-saturated palettes to arrest attention and delight or shock viewers. Think of Matisse’s paper cut outs or Gauguin’s tropical paintings.
There are many degrees of saturation for a color and for a palette in general. You can step closer to color mastery by choosing your saturation purposefully.
Download the June 2006 Margie’s Muse to read the full article.
“The Glamour” from the technique and pattern book Beading Her Image by Margie Deeb which features patterns for peyote, brick, and square stitch, and loomwork. Design by Margie Deeb. Loomwork by Frieda Bates.
This is an excerpt from my June 2009 Margie’s Muse column. Read it in its entirety here.
In the January 2009 Margie’s Muse Making Your Monochromatic Magnificent, we focused on how to make strong monochromatic color schemes. Let’s turn our attention to them again, this time honing in on their most powerful ability: that of evoking emotion.
What thrills me most about color is its emotional impact. One color lifts my mood and energizes me, another flames my passion, while another reminds me of who I really am, speaking to my heart in ways no words can. Experiencing this mystical power is color’s magical spell. And I’ve been spellbound my entire life.
Because they feature one color, monochromatic schemes express emotions associated with that color and are psychologically powerful. They are strong communicators of mood, eliciting palpable reactions. If blue is your choice, your piece will speak either of peaceful reflection or of melancholy, depending on how you deal with the color properties.
Let’s look at two monochromatic seed bead patterns I designed for my book, Beading Her Image. (The book contains the peyote, loom, brick, and square stitch versions of the patterns.) In “The Glamour” (above), varies values and bead finishes of pinkish coral are combined to create a sensual, feminine impression.
Now, look what happens (below) when the main color is changed. The piece elicits a totally different emotional reaction. The sensuality that the soft pinkish-corals evoked is gone, replaced by emotions the other colors bring forth. What do you they make you feel?
Read the rest of “Shift the Color, Shift the Mood” in the PDF version of the June 2009 Margie’s Muse at http://www.MargieDeeb.com
Color for Bead Artists 