Projet Color Theory: Mexican Rainbow

Sometimes color can really surprise you... It wasn't until doing the color study of this brilliant alley in San Miguel de Allende, México that I realized this photograph had a rainbow palette. When looking at the photograph I see orange, yellow, blue, and a little grey in the concrete. But when you look for actual colors in the photograph you see that the door is actually a redish hue and the underside of the awning an apple green. Not only can shadow change color like this but the mere placement of colors beside each other shifts our perception. Though, logically, I know that the door is probably stained wood (you can see the grain if you look closely) it appears orange at first next to the orange door jamb and then secondly I find that one of the colors of the door in the photograph is actually a brick red. Josef Albers is the king of this concept and you can read more about it in the revised edition of his book Interaction of Color.

This color theory stuff is crazy!

(original image by Katey Joy via sfgirlbybay)

Project Color Theory: Potted Cacti

Here is another one of my color studies... I've been working from this set (and the previous butterfly set) quite a bit in class lately.

I think that it’s really important to consider color theory in your creative process. As highly visual creatures, color acts as an incredible informer of our experience. By harnessing the emotional, cultural, and psychological associations of different colors and color combinations we can better inform our work.  In doing so it is not merely possible, but extremely likely that we will convey more deeply and completely the messages we intend for our audience.

That being said, allow me to ponder what the above color palette signifies to me.  To begin simply, various shades of green and yellow complemented by a terracotta orange evoke the earth immediately.  The terracotta color will forever remind me of the warmth and openness of the southwestern deserts as such bright greens conjure the fresh ferns of California’s coastal forests and the succulent gardens so popular in the beach towns along Highway 1. To me these colors represent my environment- past, present, and future.

In a more academic reading we have a set of tertiary colors that are complimentary. Because green and orange are near opposite on the color wheel we can say this combination has a certain amount of tension. Tension doesn’t have the negative connotation in color theory that it does in, say, psychotherapy. Here, the term tension simply means the not completely harmonious. Orange and yellow are warm colors associated with happiness and green is a cool color associated with growth and prosperity.  If I were trying to convey a sense of isolated angst, these colors wouldn’t work very well because their combination brings a sense of comfort, home, and cultivation.  The combination of warm and cool colors also keeps the combination from feeling strictly hot or cold. In a more functional concept, that could mean the colors would be appropriate for vessels that hold either cold or hot beverages. Does that make sense? 

Do any of you pay special attention to these concepts when surfacing your work?

(original image via sproutworks on Flickr)

Project Color Theory: Blue Butterflies

So I've been thinking a great deal about color lately. Perhaps it is the Surface Design class that I am taking at the moment or my adoration of Lauren Willhite's work over at Color Collective. It could be how much I'm struggling with color in my own work, I'm not quite sure of all the forces uniting on this one, but... they have conspired to force me into exploring color palettes via the ink dropper tool in Gimp (one of many free photo editing softwares available which are similar to Photoshop). Using some of my favorite images found on Pinterest, I've begun exploring color a bit more in depth.

After yesterday's workshop with Sharon Virtue and all the color theory talk that ensued there, I thought it might be nice to share with you some of my explorations and encourage you to try some of your own. It's actually quite fun.

P.S. More on Sharon's workshop coming up soon.

(original image via Metrolic)