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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.
A
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 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
Pepper
In language, the juxtaposition of contrasting images creates powerful metaphors. In music, contrast (of dynamics, chords, modes) creates sublime tension. In relationships, contrasting ideas, opinions, and perspectives can bring out the best in us (sometimes opposites attract). In weather, what would we do without the contrast of seasons? Without contrasts, everything is dull and boring (Muzak and corporate wallpaper come to mind).
I’ve been having a love affair with black and white my whole life. It shows in my choice of dogs: I’ve had a Dalmatian for the last 21 years. Pepper is our second.
But lately I had been thinking about the beauty of black and IVORY instead of white. While musing over this in the car one day, an ivory and black mini-Cooper stopped next to me at the light, as if confirming the track of my thoughts.
Replace white with ivory (or off-white), and you have a combo less stark and more elegant… slightly warmer in feel, yet still powerful in its force and presence.
This classic palette has been around forever, but having been blinded by winter-white-and-black for so long, I am just opening my eyes to its seductive beauty.
So I am experimenting with ivory and off-white tones in my neutral, high-contrast palettes these days.
However… as beautiful as this combo is, I will never dye Pepper’s fur ivory.
Ivory & Black Bathroom
A drawing from one of my sketchbooks is featured in the JetPens.com Gallery (JetPens.com is one of my favorite sites on the web, because they have the best pens around-many unavailable in the US- and I am addicted to excellent writing and drawing instruments). To see the ink & Prismacolor drawing, click the link and scroll down a bit. https://www.jetpens.com/jetpics.php
If you are curious to see more of my non-bead art (painting and drawing is my first love, color my second, and beads my third) here you go:
Sketchbook:
http://gallery.me.com/margiedeeb#100201
Paintings & Charcoal Drawings:
http://gallery.me.com/margiedeeb#100178
Watercolor
Green is definitely the color of spring 2009. According to Pantone® it will invigorate us and our wardrobes with three distinct tones: Vibrant Green, the calmer and sophisticated Dark Citron, and clean, clear Lucite Green (which you met in the February 2009 Margie’s Muse).
Yellow-Green and Fuchsia... does color get any livelier than this?
When spring and summer arrive, I can’t resist variations of lime-greens and yellow-greens. I draw and paint with them, bead with them, wear them.
They are quintessential spring, the first greens we see popping out of the ground in stalks.
Sometimes shocking, always playful and lively, these are the warmest of greens because so much yellow comprises them.
They combine beautifully with their analogous color wheel neighbors, blues and yellows.
But the most fun you can have is by combining them with their complements: magentas and fuchsias. Look at these earrings!
Learn more about pairing yellow-green with spring and summer colors in the March Margie’s Muse edition (its FREE download). Until then… how do you like your yellow-green?
Color for Bead Artists 