It does seem a bit out of season to be talking about fall colors in the middle of cold temperatures and a snowy winter, but I guess that’s life this February. Today we’re focusing on warm shades—and without a doubt, these are the colors of fall. In this post, I hope you will enjoy seeing the subtle nuances created simply with black added to a warm pure color.

Last week we featured the warmest shades of all, yellow, golden-yellow, and chartreuse. If you did not get a chance to look at this post, do hop over there to see these pure colors’ amazing transformations when black is added.  Today we’ll look at the remaining warm pure colors and their luscious autumnal shades. Many of  these hues are very popular in quilts, paintings, jewelry, and interior design.

In next week’s post, you will see a selection of quilts that include warm shades. These quilts may give you some ideas as to how you may want to use shades to make your designs visually compelling.

Spring-green Shade Scale

 Pure spring green is the coolest of the warm autumnal greens. Many of these dark shades are the hues seen in evergreen forests.

Yellow-green Shade Scale

 Yellow-green’s shades are prevalent in fall and are the hues of many leaves and vegetation. These are very popular warm greens.  They are quite prevalent in fabric.

The Magic of Warm Rust and Brown Shades

When black is first added to the pure colors orange-yellow, yellow-orange, orange, orange-red, red, and blue-red, the pure color simply appears darker. As more black is added to the pure color, rust hues begin to appear. Eventually the rust turns to rusty browns and  then browns as more black is added to the paint, dye, or other pigment. It seems magical. I have made a shade scale of each of these pure colors, so you can see the subtle changes within each of the pure colors’ shade scales and so you can see the subtle color differences from one pure color’s shade scale and another’s.

When you are using brown or rust in your artwork or interior design, it is important to know which pure color these shades come from. By knowing this information, you can make necessary adjustments, if needed. Also, you will be able to select the partnering color or colors with more accuracy. Hence, your design will be much more visually successful.

Warm Shade Scales

Orange-yellow Shade Scale

Notice how warm these rusts and browns are compared to the other pure colors’ shade scales. If you feature this color in your project and you want to add another color, its most beautiful partner is blue.

Yellow-orange Shade Scale

As you can see, yellow-orange rusts and browns show much warmth. If you choose to work with hues from this palette and you want to add an accent or a secondary color, your best choice is cerulean blue, yellow-orange’s natural complement.

Orange Shade Scale

As rusts and browns go, these hues do not evoke a yellowish cast nor a reddish cast. Instead, orange’s rusts and browns appear to be “in the middle.”  So if you want strong rusts or browns that appear more neutral as far as temperature is concerned, this is the palette for you.  Turquoise blue/cyan is orange’s natural complementary partner. They are stunning together.

Orange-red Shade Scale

You can see red’s subtle influence on orange-red’s rusts and browns. They are gorgeous shades—and  hard to find in fabric. If your medium is paint, you can mix amazing rusts and browns with orange-red and black. Orange-red’s natural color partner is aqua blue.

Red Shade Scale

Blackened red provides us with glorious hues of reddish rusts and browns. Maroon is another variation of blackened red.  If only we could find fabrics to match the deep hues of the darkest shades in red…. For many of us, it’s a total surprise to find that the true natural partner to red is aqua green (not green). When you combine red with aqua green, you have an amazing marriage of two colors.

Blue-red Shade Scale

Although blue-red is fairly cool compared to the other warm colors shown here, some of our fall hues do come from blue-red. This pure color’s shades have a plummy feeling to them. Even the darkest hues can appear to be a deep plum-brown. If you want the perfect natural partner for blue-red’s shades, select blue-green. These two families of hues are awesome together.

Aren’t the subtle differences amazing?   Keep your eyes on the lookout for these warm shades. What’s your favorite?

A Call for Quilts, Fabric Art, or Fiber Art

Next week I am going to feature a few quilts using the warm shades—-the fall colors.  If you have a quilt that uses deep, rich warm shades, feel free to email me a jpg image of your quilt.  Include your name, the artwork’s name, and any other information you want to share.

I would like to add two or so more quilts to next week’s lesson, so I’ll be happy to see what you have available.   Talk to you next week.

Joen

 Text, illustrations, and photography copyright   © Joen Wolfrom

Joen is a color enthusiast who teaches and lectures on color. She has written three color books: Color Play, Visual Coloring, and The Magical Effects of Color. Her Studio Color Wheel is used to illustrate color concepts in many of these blog posts. She is also the designer of the 3-in-1 Color Tool. Her new book Adventures in Designis now available. Joen’s newest design tool, the Magic Design-Ratio Tool has just been released. All books and products are published by C & T Publishing.

Two thoughts before beginning this post’s color feature:

First, JWD Publishing changed servers last week due to the amount of space I am using on this blog (much too much I have been told). We  ran into difficulties during the transfer process, so I have been unable to access our blog until now. Patience has been the word of the week for me. I thank you for your patience.

Secondly, thanks to all of you who left comments in a variety of places about which patterns you like on the quilt rotation located on our JWD homepage. Thank you for taking the time to let us know what you think about the homepage, the quilts, and what brings a smile to your face. We want to send complimentary patterns to Barbara Bryan, Frances Hague, Peggy Hatch, Sarah Stevens,  Laura McGrath, and Evelyn O’brien. If you are one of these people, please email me your address.

 WARM SHADE TRANSFORMATION

In this post I’d like to focus on the shades from the warmest of all pure colors: yellow, golden-yellow, and chartreuse. If you have not had a chance to read the initial post about shades or the following post about cool shades, you might want to visit these posts before reading this post.

Whereas cool shades become darker versions of their own pure colors, the majority of warm shades differ greatly from their original pure color. Most warm pure colors make surprising changes when black is added. Because these shades differ greatly from their parent color, their names rarely include their pure-color parent. Therefore, eye recognition is an important factor when working with warm shades (using the color tool can be a handy substitute for eye recogniation). It’s helpful to know a shade’s color origin when the shade is featured in a work of art or a room setting, This knowledge allows you to make the best additional color selections for your project. That’s a huge benefit.

This post features the shades of the three warmest pure colors—golden-yellow, yellow, and chartreuse (yellow is the warmest of all). These three colors can be seen in the color wheel illustration below.

Pure Golden-yellow and its Shades

Pure golden-yellow is shown on the far left and in the top narrow strip in this shade scale.

Some of golden-yellow’s shades can be seen more easily in these long strips.

When black is added to golden-yellow, the color begins to change into a soft bronze. This bronze can have a slight olive cast. As more black is added to the color, the bronze turns into a warm “bronzey” tan. With more black added, these tans become warm “bronzey” browns. These browns are quite warm. Their warmth is accentuated when set against browns of other pure colors.

Color Hint for Golden-yellow

If you are featuring golden-yellow shades in your artwork or interior space and you feel the need to add a spark or accent to your design, consider using pure golden-yellow as an eye-catcher. If you prefer using another color, use one or more hues from the blue-violet family, as these two pure colors are natural complements. Blue-violet and its lavender tints are exceptionally beautiful with golden-yellow shades.

A Helpful Color Hint:

The pure golden-yellow color used in this shade scale illustration is the pure golden-yellow on the Ives Color Wheel (portion shown above). This pure golden-yellow lies exactly halfway between orange-yellow and yellow on the color wheel. This mid-point pure color represents all of the subtle variations of pure golden-yellow colors that lie between orange-yellow and yellow.

Each variation of pure golden-yellow will have its own set of shades showing subtle differences between its neighbor’s hues. For instance, if you are using a golden-yellow paint or fabric that lies close to yellow on the color wheel, then your golden-yellow shades will be slightly different from the mid-point golden yellow shown here. A golden-yellow lying close to yellow will have shades that include a subtle olive influence in their makeup too. However, If your shades are  from a pure golden-yellow that lies close to orange-yellow, then your shades will be slightly influenced by a tinge of orange-yellow’s makeup. You may be able to see some of these subtle golden-yellow variations in your paints, fabrics, or other mediums.

In addition, yellow and chartreuse will have their own subtle changes in their pure colors and shade variations, as subtly different pure yellows and pure chartreuses move along the color wheel toward a neighboring color.

Pure Yellow and its Shades

Pure yellow is shown on the far left and in the top narrow strip in this shade scale.

Yellow’s shades can be quite a surprise with its olive transformation. 

The first hint of black in pure yellow gives us a barely perceivable hint of darkened yellow. However, once more than a drop of black s added to yellow, this yellow begins an unbelievable transformation into an array of olive hues. As more black is added, the olive (or olive green) becomes more apparent. Eventually, deep, dark, rich olive shades are created. How amazing is that! The horizontal strips provide an opportunity to see more clearly some of yellow’s olive shades.

Color Hints for Yellow

If olive is your major color choice in an artwork or in a room setting, consider using touches of pure yellow for accents or as a visual pick-up color. Pure yellow and olives are beautiful together for obvious reasons. Use this tidbit of information advantageously when featuring olive in your art or in your home’s interior space.

Also, because yellow and violet are complementary partners, they create a beautiful partnership. Therefore, if you want to introduce one new color to your olives, pure violet or some of violet’s lavender hues (tints) would work extremely well. There are red-violet and blue-violet lavender hues too, but the lavender hues for olive are from the violet family. (We’ll talk more about complements in a later post.)

Pure Chartreuse and its Shades

Pure chartreuse is shown on the far left and in the top narrow strip in this shade scale.

A selection of chartreuse shades are shown here to illustrate more clearly some of its beautiful shades.

Whereas blackened yellow turns into olive hues, blackened chartreuse turns into shades of avocado. Notice the difference between the shades of these two pure colors.  When a drop of black is added to chartreuse, the new hue appears slightly darker. As more black is added, the avocado shades become more apparent. You can see how luscious the dark avocado shades are.

Color Hints for Chartreuse

If you are featuring chartreuse shades in your artwork or interior space, consider using pure chartreuse as an accent or as a visual pick-up color.. It keeps the color palette narrowly focused while adding a bit of excitement to the overall design. If you prefer to accent with another color, your best choice would be red-violet, it’s natural complement. Red-violet hues are glorious with chartreuse.

Training Our Eyes

It’s important to begin training our eyes to see the subtle nuances of colors. It just takes some practice. To begin, find ways to “see” differences through a variety of exercises. Here are a few that may interest you. Have fun while training your eyes.

• Be on the lookout for shades of yellow, golden-yellow, and chartreuse during this week.  You might find examples of these shades in dinnerware, cars, signage, jewelry, clothing, vegetation, flowers, advertisements or artwork.
• Look over your fabrics, paints, yarns, fiber, etc. Can you find shades of these pure colors in your medium?
• If you have the color tool, use it to help verify the origin of the shades you find. (Remember, you’re not trying to match swatches on a pure color’s page. You’re trying to find the color page that the shade looks like it belongs to.
• If you have time to share your experiences with with the rest of us,  do comment on your experience hunting for these shades in the world around you.

Note: it’s worth remembering that our monitors do not always give us accurate color readings unless they have been recently calibrated. The colors you see on your monitor may differ slightly from my monitor. Regardless of that, you should be able to see differences between these three pure colors and their shade scales. These illustrations will still give you an idea of how black influences these three warm pure colors. If does not really matter if they veer a little to one neighboring color or another.

Happy coloring! Have a great week.

Joen

Text, illustrations, and photography copyright   © Joen Wolfrom

Joen is a color enthusiast who teaches and lectures on color. She has written three color books: Color Play, Visual Coloring, and The Magical Effects of Color. Her Studio Color Wheel is used to illustrate color concepts in many of these blog posts. She is also the designer of the 3-in-1 Color Tool. Her new book Adventures in Designis now available. Joen’s newest design tool, the Magic Design-Ratio Tool has just been released. All books and products are published by C & T Publishing.

 Greetings Everyone!

First, before thinking about color, if  you are a quilter, I want to share something that excited me this week—-besides snow! A few days ago I clicked onto our JWD homepage  and found a SURPRISE awaiting me—–something I have been wanting for a very long time.  To celebrate my happy-day feeling that’s lasted all week long, JWD is giving  patterns to 5 happy quilters. If your’re interested, go to our homepage to see what I am so excited about—and see why I picked 5 happy quilters. Then let me know what you think of our new feature ……….and if you want one of those patterns, which one? I’ll announce the pattern recipients in the next post.   (By the way, if you are a quilter and want to receive all of JWD’s blogs, do become a fan.) 

Also, one more thing—-I’d love to hear what has made you really happy this week—-big or small.  Thanks for letting me share with you.  Happy smiles to you! 

Now on to color! 

Celebrating Shades

We have been talking about cool color shades these past two weeks. Now it’s time to explore a selection of these shades on your own.  Select  2-3 pure-colors that you really like—pure colors that fall within the cooler section of the color wheel.  So, any color from green to blue to magenta will work. Consider selecting pure colors that do not lie too close to each other on the wheel. For instance, you might choose a green such as aqua green, a blue like cerulean blue, and purple. By spreading out your choices, you’ll see how the shades differ throughout the wheel.

One of the best ways to really understand color, so that it belongs to your creative soul is to play with paints. More specifically, playing means mixing paints to see what happens.  It is an amazingly beneficial activity. It’s well worth the time.

Since most of us have not played with paint since elementary school, you may be reticent about painting, but it’s fun.  In fact, after mixing paints for 15 minutes or so, you’ll feel like an expert. In this exercise, you will mix black paint with a pure color that you have chosen. It’s easy and fun to do. I hope you will take advantage of this activity. You will not regret it. 

If possible, try to do this painting shade scales within the next 2-3 weeks. I know you’ll have fun. Your shade scales will be beautiful. Below are the instructions for obtaining the paints, getting started, painting, and making you pure-color shade scale sample.

PLANING YOUR PAINTING DAY

First Steps

1.  Decide whether you want to paint by yourself or if you want to invite a few friends to have a painting day with you (so much fun!). By working in a small group, you can share color swatches, so each of you have samples of each other’s colors.

2.  Determine your painting day and put it on your calendar. 

3.  Look at the color wheel and determine which 2-3 colors you would like to make shades from. Select 2-3 PURE COLORS that you absolutely love. Choose your pure colors from the range we have been discussing—-something between green and magenta.

4.  Purchase your selected pure color paint from a college book store, an independent art-supply store, a large craft chain store, or an online website. Use Liquitex paint or another brand. Purchase paint in a tube, not a jar. Besides your pure-color paint, also select a strong, clear black paint  (e.g. Mars Black).  Also purchase 2 inexpensive paint brushes and a couple of packages of unlined index cards.

 I have found many paint color names have mysterious names. It can be hard to figure out what color they really are. If purchasing at a store, use your eyes to determine your color—not necessarily the name.  Your selected pure color should be vibrant, rich, and clear. It should not have any graying quality to it; nor should it have any whitening or blackening. When selecting your paints at a store, carefully open the lid to make certain the paint color is a pure color.  (The Liquitex’s tube name for turquoise blue/cyan  is brilliant blue and magenta is medium magenta.) If you purchase online, select paints that appear brilliant and pure.

For your information: Liquitex offers several types of paints. For our purposes, we want to use paints from the professional paints category. The specific choice for us within this category is heavy body acrylic paints or more specifically, heavy body artist acrylic paints. In an earlier post (August 9, 2011) I posted additional information about Liquitex paints that may be helpful, if you are curious about different types of paints or if you are having trouble finding the paints.

PAINTING DAY

Getting Started

1.  Gather together your paints, brushes, index cards, a large sheet of paper to protect your table, a coffee stirrer, paper towels or a cloth, water, paint container, toothpicks, white construction paper or tag board, gluestick, ruler, pencil, scissors or rotary cutter and mat.

2.  To begin, number index cards from 1-20. Paint in a sequential order. Begin painting with card #1.  This first card will be the pure color. The second card will have the first addition of black, etc.  The number of cards used will depend on the pure color you are working with and how large your painting increments are. Number additional cards as needed.

Painting

3.  Select the pure color paint you want to begin painting with. Place 1-2 tablespoons of  this paint in your paint container. Add a few drops of water to the paint, so the paint is of good spreading consistency. Be cautious when adding water, as you do not want the paint to be watery. Paint an index card with the pure color. Clean the paint brush.

4.  With a toothpick, add a small drop of black to the pure color. Blend thoroughly with a stirring utensil. Then paint an index card with this new color. Clean the paint brush.

5.  Continue adding a tiny bit of black to the blended paint, painting an index card after each mixing. You can slightly increase the amount of black added, as your paint gets darker. Continue adding black to your mixed paint and painting an index card after each addition until your blended paint is almost black. Lastly, paint an index card with black. 

6.  As you work, set the painted cards aside to dry. Once dried, gather in order of painting, place in a pile, and put a heavy book on top of the pile.

Making Your Shade Scales

7.  Once cards are flattened, cut a 1/2-inch strip off of the short end of each index card, working from the pure color to black.  Then with glue-stick or some other adhesive, place the colored strips in a straight line on construction paper or tag board, moving from the pure color to black. When gluing the strips onto the paper, overlap them slightly, so there is no background paper showing between the strips. The number of shades in your pure color’s shade scale will depend on how dark or light your pure color is.  If your shades are from a light-valued  pure color,  you’ll have many more shade strips than if your pure color is dark. 

8.  Take a break. Then repeat the process for your other pure-color shade scale(s). 

9.  If you are working with friends, divide your index cards, so that each person has samples of each shade scale. If you are working alone, place the remaining parts of your painted index cards in envelopes. Place these in a safe place to be used for another painting project sometime down the line. Keep your pure color paint tubes, as you may be using them again too.

 See you next week.  Happy Coloring!

Joen

 Text and photography copyright   © Joen Wolfrom

Joen is a color enthusiast who teaches and lectures on color. She has written three color books: Color Play, Visual Coloring, and The Magical Effects of Color. Her Studio Color Wheel is used to illustrate color concepts in many of these blog posts. She is also the designer of the 3-in-1 Color Tool. Her new book Adventures in Designis now available. Joen’s newest design tool, the Magic Design-Ratio Tool has just been released. All books and products are published by C & T Publishing.

Sometimes it’s the little things that excite us and give us a happy smile on our faces. That is the case for me today. I clicked on the JWD homepage this morning and I found a SURPRISE awaiting me—–something I have been wanting for sooooooooooooooooooooo long.  (Thanks David & Christina.)

To celebrate my happy-day feeling at JWD, I want to give 5 happy quilters a free pattern. If your’re interested, here’s what you do:

Go to our homepage to see what I am so excited about and why I picked 5 happy quilters rather than 4 or 1 or any other number. Then go to the JWD Comments and tell us what you think of our new feature (please do rave!) ……….and tell us which one of these you would like to have.

Then tell us what has made you really happy this past week—-big or small. The winners will be selected on Friday.

Happy smiles to you!

Joen

Greetings!

I hope you have had fun searching shades in your stash and at your favorite fabric store this past week. If you did this little exercise, you have probably come to the realization that shades are sparse in your collection.  If you missed this earlier post about shades, do visit this first shade-scale post. I suggest you head for it either before or after you read this post, preferably beforehand.

As mentioned in the earlier post, all shades belong to the shade scale—a group of colors that are made in the same way: by mixing black with a pure color. In this post I show a range of shades made from a selection of pure colors that mostly lie on the cooler side of the color wheel.  Also I used a simple traditional quilt block design to illustrate a few concepts when using shades as your artwork’s featured color scale.

Let the Color Wheel Guide You

The placement of pure colors around the color wheel is an important factor when thinking about using shades. Here are some hints:

1. The pure colors along the top of the wheel are the lightest colors. These pure colors have more shades in their families than any other colors do.
2. The pure colors along the bottom of the wheel are the darkest colors. These pure colors have less shades in their families than any other pure colors.
3. Colors that lie in the middle section on either side of the color wheel, such as red and aqua green, are middle-of-the-road in their lightness and darkness. They have about the same number of shades as they do tints (whitened colors).
4. A pure color’s placement on the color wheel gives you hints on how you can use your colors most effectively.
5. Most warmer, lighter shades will provide more brilliance and vibrancy than those shades that are cooler and darker.
6. Cool, darker shades create richness and deep shadows. They also help to ground the design.

A Sampling of Shade Scales

In each of these samples (below), the pure color, a range of shades, and black (or black with a touch of the pure color) has been included. When working with a design featuring shades, do consider using the pure color to give a little extra spunk of brilliance or vibrancy.

Extra note:  If you are working with a really dark pure color, such as violet, blue-violet, or red-violet, consider adding a few of the pure color’s darker tints too. This will give you a wider value range. You will see why this would be advisable when you see the darkness of the violet shades in my little designs at the end of this post.

 GREEN

As these shades darken, they are usually called dark green. Pure green and the lightest of its shades can appear luminous next to the darker shades because green is relatively warm fairly middle-valued. 

TURQUOISE BLUE/CYAN

The pure color turquoise blue/cyan is a middle-value color. As the darker shades appear, teal is created. Dark teal appears as more black is added to the pure color. The pure color and its lightest shades will be luminous next to the teals and dark teals.

CERULEAN BLUE

 Sky blue is another name for cerulean blue. This blue has beautiful warmth to it. Because cerulean blue is darker and less warm than turquoise blue/cyan, its lighter shades will not be quite as vibrant or luminous as turquoise blue/cyan.

On the other hand, cerulean blue is warmer and lighter than blue, so its lighter shades will be more vibrant and luminous than blue’s ligher shades.

BLUE

Blue lies near the bottom of the color wheel. Notice the lightest of these shades will not provide the same brilliance or vibrancy as the light shades of cerulean blue, turquoise blue/cyan, or green.

VIOLET

Violet, the darkest pure color in the world, has extremely dark shades. It takes very few steps to go from violet to black. The violet shades above have very small incremental changes. A design using violet’s lightest shades will not provide vibrancy or brilliance. They are far too dark.

Purple

Pure puple is lighter than violet and has more warmth in its nature. Therefore, its shades can be more vibrant and luminous than violet’s shades. (BTW, purple lies halfway between violet and magenta.)

MAGENTA

I thought you might like to see the contrast in shades between cool color families like blues and greens and a color that is relatively warmer. So I have added magenta for contrast.

In the co0ler pure-color shades, the shades are fairly predictable. For instance, a blackened blue is basically a darker version of pure blue. Blackened green looks like a darker green. However, the warmer the makeup of the pure color, the more variation there is in that family’s shades.

Often the shades of warm pure colors have little resemblance to what the pure color looks like.  Magenta and its shades are an example of this. Look at the four darkest magenta shades. If you saw them in a paint tube or on a bolt of fabric, would you have guessed they are a darkened version of magenta? What a glorious family of shades magenta has!

BTW, by knowing these luscious hues are a variation of magenta, I can look at the color wheel (or the color tool) and see what colors will work best with them.  

PLAYING WITH SHADES

I wanted to play with these colors to give you a quick idea how this selection of shades play together. I made color blocks with most of the pure colors selected here. Each color block uses its pure color, a range of shades, and almost black.

I have varied the position of the light-to-dark color movement within each design. These three designs are very simply put together in a  few minutes (5 minutes or less)—-they are a first draft. In the first two designs I used color blocks from green, aqua-green, turquoise blue/cyan, blue, violet, purple, and magenta.

Design Play 1

Can you see the warmer and lighter the pure color’s placement on the color wheel is, the more luminous or vibrant it’s shades are? Notice how violet doesn’t do well with vibrance, but it gives the design visual strength with its dark richness. The blue and purple blocks emit less brilliance than the green and magenta blocks do.

The colors are set in a very systematic way in this design. They move in their sequential order from green through to magenta. Also I have rotated the blocks around from one row to the next. It’s a simple way of working.

Design Play 2

These blocks are placed in sequential order in this design too. The design is created by flipping every other row. I think this design has more dimensionality, but less luminous play.  Also, because green and magenta are at the beginning and ending of each row, my eyes are pulled out toward the edges rather than in a nice directional flow or in the center area. So, in my second draft, I would rearrange the blocks in rows, trying to find several different ways to improve the flow of the design. However, I like the variation of vibrancy that happens when colors of different values and temperature are used.  

Design Play 3

I limited my palette in this design, omitting purple and magenta. The colors are not sequential. I made sure each color block was in each horizontal and vertical row.  I used green, aqua green, turquoise blue/cyan, blue, and violet. If I were to enlarge this design, I would play around with 7 or 10 block rows. The latter would be easy, as each color block would be shown twice in each row. The former would take more playing. It could be quite interesting because the design is more unpredictable.

TAKE SOME TIME TO PLAY

If you have an illustrator program, make up your own simple designs or use mine as a starting point. Use pure colors, shades and black as an option.  Work with colors that are within the green to magenta range.  (Do not play with any colors between magenta and yellow or yellow and green.) 

I would love you to send me a jpg of your design via email, if you want to share it. It would be fun to see what you do.  Don’t be concerned about having a perfect design. Instead, concentrate on the shades and how they can be used strategically or randomly to create designs. Dramatic designs can be created when you use the full range of shades. 

In the Hunt

If you have a quilt that features shades in the cooler colors (within the range we have been discussing), and you don’t mind sharing, please send me a jpg of your quilt. If it fits with our discussion here, I’d like to show a few cool-colored shaded quilts. There can be some lighter hues than pure, but the quilt should be featuring shades. I hope someone out there has at least one.

 Have fun…..and happy coloring!

Joen

Text and photography copyright   © Joen Wolfrom

Joen is a color enthusiast who teaches and lectures on color. She has written three color books: Color Play, Visual Coloring, and The Magical Effects of Color. Her Studio Color Wheel is used to illustrate color concepts in many of these blog posts. She is also the designer of the 3-in-1 Color Tool. Her new book Adventures in Designis now available. Joen’s newest design tool, the Magic Design-Ratio Tool has just been released. All books and products are published by C & T Publishing.

I am writing this extra Playing with Color post because today I went to one of my favorite blogs,  See How We Sew,  and was delighted to see a post by Laura Nownes on how to select fabrics for a quilt by using the 3-in-1-Color Tool.   Wow!—-Laura’s explanation was so clear, concise, and easy to follow. Since I have not yet discussed this tool on the Playing with Color blog, I thought you might like to read Laura’s post  Choosing Fabircs and Colors—It’s as Easy as 1-2-3,  

Win a Color Tool

C & T has given Laura a color tool to give away. If this interests you, hop right on over to her post to see how to win this tool.

A Few Other Tidbits about the Color Tool

Personally, I love using the color  tool, as it’s so easy and quick to use (I hope you don’t mind me saying this). Besides artwork, I use it for home decor, gardening, and other unexpected activities.

The color tool is 11 years old this year. There are 3 editions out in the world today (we’ve tried to improve on each one). No matter the edition, they all do the same basic color tasks. The one shown here (white background) is from the 2nd edition.

The 3rd edition has a cover with large colorful circles on a black background. This tool includes CMYK, RGB, and HEX  formulas to match the color swatches. Therefore, you can key into your illustrator program the formulas for the swatches you want to use for your quilt, fabric art, or other artwork. This newest edition has a few other changes too. For instance, I re-worked the swatch ratios to eliminate all fractional percentages. Consequently, the swatches are slightly different from the earlier versions, as the ratios used are slightly different.

If you are interested in purchasing this tool, mostl quilt/fabric stores carry it. Also you can purchase the 3-in-1 Color Tool at the C & T Publishing website or from many other Internet sites.

If you are a quilter or sewer ——–

Do venture over to the blog See How We Sew.  I think it is the best quilting/sewing blog on the Internet. It’s both well organized and well-written AND it has a wealth of projects, activities, and ideas to be shared. It is a bi-weekly blog written by four quilters and sewers: Laura Nownes, Darra Williamson,  Jennifer Rounds, and Christie Batterman. They each have their own flair, interests, and specialties. If you subscribe, the post will come into your mailbox on Tuesdays and Fridays.

I’ll be posting later in the week when we continue our discussion about shades.

——Joen

A RARITY—-LUSCIOUS, RICH SHADES

The Shade Scale

There are four color scales in the world of color: pure color scale, tint scale, shade scale, and tone scale. During these next two weeks we’re going to investigate the shade scale.

A shade is created when black is added to a pure color. A shade can be slightly darker than its pure color, almost black, or it can be a color that lies anywhere between these two extremes. Every color that is a shade belongs to the shade scale.

An Important caveat: A shade NEVER has gray in its makeup—even a tiny bit.  If there is any hint of grayness in a dark color’s makeup, it is not a shade. It’s a tone. Only black and a pure color can be present in a shade.  Don’t be fooled into thinking a dark color is a shade because most darkened colors have a hint of grayness in them.

The Changing Colors

When you first add a touch of black to a pure color, the pure color becomes a bit darker. Also it begins to lose its intensity. It is not quite as brilliant as its pure form.  As each bit of black is added, the color lessens its intensity and increases its darkness. Eventually the color will appear almost black—-with a hint of the pure color as a subtle  influence.

You can probably see the effect of the black added to this green.

The color is darker than its pure color, but not dark enough to call it dark green. 

No grayness is found in shades. Instead, they are a combination of the pure color and black.

Shade Names

Whenever the word dark or deep is placed in front of a color name, it indicates the color is a shade. Such examples are dark blue, dark violet, dark purple, dark green,  deep violet, deep blue, deep green, and deep purple. Loosely speaking, relatively cool pure colors have shades that are fairly predictable in their darkened forms. They simply look darker. These most predictable shades come from the colors that move around the color wheel from green through the blues, violets, and on to magenta.

Shades that move from spring green to yellow to orange and on to blue-red are less predictable in their shaded form. In fact, shades of these warmer pure colors can be quite surprising. These shades rarely use dark or deep in their names, although occasionally you’ll find it used, as in dark red or deep red, Usually these shades have unique names that do not indicate their pure color origin. Examples are rust, brown, olive, avocado, and maroon,

Other shade names that you are probably familiar with are cranberry, grape, raspberry, teal, navy blue, and ink navy.

Pure colors are shown on this color wheel. All shades are darker than their pure colors.

Shades in Your Medium

If you are a painter, it should not be a problem to paint with shades of color. Simply begin with a pure-color paint and a clear, deep black paint with no hint of gray. The amount of black added will determine the darkness of the paint. Also, you can purchase a tube of shade paint. Either way, the paint should be rich in color.

It’s more difficult to find a shade if you are a quilter, weaver, fabric artist, or fiber artist because you are at the mercy of the manufacturer that dyes your material (cloth, yarn, etc.). To create a shade, the coloring process begins with a pure white material. This means the fabric must be bleached white before applying the dye.

Most fabrics begin their dyeing process in their natural unwhitened state. When the dye is applied to a non-white fabric or yarn, the result is not the same as when a bleached white fabric is used. This is because the natural hue of the gray-good influences the way the color looks on the fabric. It results in a gray cast to it. The more grayness in the natural color of the material, the more the color grays. If the original material is only slightly off-white, its influence will not be so great and the grayness will be subtle. Because most fabrics are dyed on unbleached fabric, most fabrics are toned—with a slight gray cast to them. This is why it is difficult to find fabrics that read as shades.

Making Do

 Northern Lights  by Joen Wolfrom

Whenever I find a shade fabric in a fabric store, I purchase it, as I never know when I need it. When I can’t find a beautiful, richly colored shade that I want (or need), I use a dark, slightly toned fabric as its substitute. There just aren’t enough shaded fabrics in existence, so substitutions are needed. In the Northern Lights quilt (above),  I have used dark toned fabrics because I couldn’t find the appropriate shades. If you need to substitute a dark toned fabric for a shade fabric, select the fabric that is the darkest and richest of your possibilities. .

Below is a closeup of this quilt, giving you a better look at the darkest substitute fabrics used. Notice the darkest, least toned (grayed) fabrics provide interest. The fabric closest to being a shade is the dark blue one. Although I would have preferred using shades, I actually don’t mind the tonal variations of the darkest fabrics used. I try not to get too hung up on my inability to find a shade that I want. I have learned to buy them when I see them; then I can use them as needed—-that’s my hope anyway. I end up using more substitutes than shades, as you can well understand.

The Beauty of Shades

Using shades in your artwork provides visual strength and beautiful richness. Shades contrast well with tones and pure colors. Meredith Annett’s quilt Northern Lights (below) provides us with an example of how shades enhance  a design with their deep, dark beauty. When you use shades, be certain to include light-valued colors in the design too. This will assure that your design can be clearly seen from a distance. Meredith did this so beautifully.  I absolutely love this quilt with its rich beauty. (If you have the book Adventures in Design, you will find Meredith’s Northern Lights quilt in it, as well as other quilts of hers.)

 Northern Lights by Meredith Annett from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

If you want to explore shades:

1.  If you have a fabric stash, consider doing the following:  Purchase a half-yard piece of the blackest black cotton fabric you can find.  Next pull out your darkest fabrics from your stash. One at a time, place a dark fabric on the black fabric, so that you can see both of them clearly. Does the dark fabric look strong and luscious against the black fabric? Or does the dark fabric look slightly drab or veiled beside the black fabric.  Does it lose its strength? If the color holds its own, it’s a shade. If it appears weaker, grayer, or not as intense as the black, it’s a tone. See how many shades you have in your stash.

2.  If you work with fabric, yarn, or other fiber, go to the store and see if you can find a shade. Use your black fabric to help you determine whether a fabric is a shade or a tone. If you find a shade and you like it, consider buying it for later use. You may be surprised to find that your favorite store has no shaded fabric or yarn on its shelves.  If you are a painter, did you find any shades amongst your tubes?

Let me know what you find in your stash. See you at the next post—more about the shade scale then. …..

Happy coloring!

Joen

 Text and photography copyright   © Joen Wolfrom

Joen is a color enthusiast who teaches and lectures on color. She has written three color books: Color Play, Visual Coloring, and The Magical Effects of Color. Her Studio Color Wheel is used to illustrate color concepts in many of these blog posts. She is also the designer of the 3-in-1 Color Tool. Her new book Adventures in Designis now available. Joen’s newest design tool, the Magic Design-Ratio Tool has just been released. All books and products are published by C & T Publishing.

My New Year’s wishes to you:      Have an uplifting, colorful, and creative  2012!  

Also—–May you challenge yourself to at least one new idea or medium to explore this year.  

Today I am sharing a challenge I made to myself several years ago. I hope my sharing will give you the impetus to begin your own new creative journey in 2012. It doesn’t matter how you challenge yourself or in what format. The important thing is to make a commitment to yourself to explore an idea or subject that will excite you and expand your horizons—-or take an idea or subject that you are enthusiastic about to the next level.

My New Year’s Wish to myself a few years ago:      Rather than the usual New Year’s resolutions I had made in the past, a few years ago I challenged myself to learn photography. I took the plunge by signing up for a one-week workshop across the continent. I was like a duck out of water with almost everyone else in the class being professional or very serious amateur photographers. What an eye-opening experience it was! The week was invigorating to say the least. It charged up my creative battery and it  forced my brain to activate in new ways. Without a doubt, it expanded my creative horizons. Ever since then, I’ve been going on yearly photographic workshops to learn more and to further challenge myself.

This New Year’s Eve I am posting a selection of photographic images. Some were taken during my maiden-journey workshop. Others have been taken since then—-one, Almost Home, was taken decades ago. Admittedly, they are not quilts, but I hope they will inspire you to take your own challenge.

Almost Home

The Pier

A Night to Remember

Night Lights

Harbor Lights I:  Incognito

Harbor Lights II:  Incognito

Evening’s Last Light

Woodland in Reflection

After the Rain

An Afternoon Stroll in the Old Churchyard

The Mountain is Out

Daybreak

Misty Morn

Iris Beckoning

A Solitary Rose

In case you are wondering,  I have used standard everyday photographic picture-taking, as well as double exposure, multiple exposure, zooming, deliberate camera movement, and some other non-standard creative methods that I have been playing with.  (I have not yet gotten into Photo Shop, which is a whole adventure in itself.)

If you have comments,  questions, or want to share your idea for a challenge to yourself, please make a comment below (our blog’s comment section is below the Facebook comment area). 

Again, happy new year!  See you soon for the first color lesson of 2012.  I can hardly wait!

Joen.

Text and photography copyright   © Joen Wolfrom

Joen is a color enthusiast who teaches and lectures on color. She has written three color books: Color Play, Visual Coloring, and The Magical Effects of Color. Her Studio Color Wheel is used to illustrate color concepts in many of these blog posts. She is also the designer of the 3-in-1 Color Tool. Her new book Adventures in Designis now available. Joen’s newest design tool, the Magic Design-Ratio Tool has just been released. All books and products are published by C & T Publishing.

It’s a beautiful time of year with the anticipation of all that December has to offer. I am madly attempting to finish a project by Friday noon. I assume all of you have your own deadlines and seasonal stresses to deal with too. Recognizing that we are all maxed out on time and energy, there will be no color lessons this week or next.

In this post I am featuring another  group of quilts that caught my eye at the Houston IQA show this fall. They are each amazing in their own unique ways. Whenever possible, I have added links to the quilt artists whose works are shown. I hope you check out their pages when you have time. (Again, you’ll find black stands with white papers, ribbons, and other distracting objects in front of some of these quilts, which couldn’t be helped. Photos are informally taken with my little Nikon point ‘n shoot.)   Enjoy!

Summer Fantasy by Joanne Baeth, Susan Massini, Dona Ford, Cheryl Carbone, and Louise Page

I absolutely love this quilt.  When my eyes fell upon it, it reminded me so much of a delicate watercolor painting. Later I learned this quilt was a recreation of a watercolor painting by Bev Barmore, Joanne’s cousin.  Summer Fantasy was created by a five-member art group from Oregon. A photo of this painting was divided into five sections. Each member completed one section. Joanne pieced together the sections and then quilted the artwork.

I find this a fascinating group quilt, as it’s not an easily divisible image at first or second glance. Without a doubt, this art group is both talented and skilled. Perhaps this quilt will entice others to create a different group quilt—one that is both challenging and fun.

Now for those of you who love pieced quilts based on traditional roots, this next quilt is a real delight!

All Geared Up by Mary Bauer, Crestwood, Kentucky

What a fantastic quilt this is. Mary was inspired by one of John Flynn’s quilts. Although I am not certain which of his many quilts was this quilt’s inspiration, I assume it is John’s Snail’s Trail quilt. However, John has many amazing contemporary quilts that have historic roots.

I really like  the way Mary has stretched these trails. She has created movement and a sense of dimensionality through overlapping. I am enthralled with traditionally-based quilts that are ingeniously transformed into contemporary statements. This quilt was paper pieced.

Congratulations on the great quilt, Mary.  I can hardly wait to see what you come up with next.

Lift Your Eyes to the Hills by Pat Durbin of Eureka, California

Pat Durbin is noted for her beautiful landscape quilts. Each year she creates at least one quilt that celebrates the beauty of our world. This quilt was inspired by a Glacier National Park (Montana) scene. Her husband Gary took this photo, which Pat used as her inspiration.

Pat wanted to replicate the mood evoked from this setting. She used many techniques to create this imagery, including painting, machine applique, free-motion machine embroidery, thread painting, machine quilting, and piping. This looks like another winner, Pat.  It’s beautiful.

Sakura I: Hanaogi Views the Cherry Blossoms by Megan Farkas from  Sanbornton, New Hampshire

Megan Farkas’s Sakura I: Hanaogi Views the Cherry Blossoms is an elegant quilt that evokes a sense of subtle gracefulness in a land of yesteryear. This quilt was inspired by a Japanese woodblock from the 1790s.

Having made seventeen kimonos a few years ago for a school play (for one of my grandson’s class), I was especially interested in Megan’s beautiful kimonos. I loved seeing the variations in her kimono designs. Megan also took time to add silk cherry blossoms to the scene, which added an extra touch of springtime ambiance.

It’s such a delight to see a large hand appliquéd quilt such as this. It also includes embroidery, hand quilting, and some outlining with black marker. Megan used cottons, Hobbs Polydown batting, cotton threads, embroidery floss, “silk” flowers, and beads.

Megan received a special award at the IQA Show. Congratulations, Megan, for receiving the Future of Quilting Award. This special recognition is given to talented young quilters—–they have to be young enough not to be eligible to be a U.S. president (just in case you live in another country, that would be under the age of 35). Do check out Megan’s facebook page to see some of her other quilts.

Reflections by Carol Swinden from Cape Traverse, PEI,  Canada

This quilt is so novel and refreshing.  Carol Swindon took a picture of a neighbor’s 1959 Cadillac. The title of the quilt has two meanings. A nearby tree is reflected many times on the car’s shiny surfaces. This quilt reflects back on the 50 years since this classic car was made. Carol created this quilt with machine piecing, raw-edge appliqué, and machine quilting;  She used cottons, tulle, organza, and satin. As often said in the 50s, this is really cool!

Cape Cod Window by Sara Sharp, Austin, Texas

This lovely Cape Cod window has been photographed often over the years by Sara Sharp when on vacation. Overlooking Cod Bay from this rustic cottage, this scene feels so natural with the use of many illusions. It is a feat to create illusions through color change in fabric. The luster on the apples, the reflections on the wine bottles, and the shadows on the counter top add such richness to this window setting. Cape Cod Window is pieced,  fused, machine appliquéd, painted, decorative machine stitched, and free-motion stitched.

Be certain to check out Sara Sharp’s website (link above). You will be treated to some amazing artwork.

The Hues of Amber by Karlyn Bue Lohrenz from Billings, Montana

Karlyn Bue Lohrenz’s The Hues of Amber has a luscious vibrancy that creates beautiful visual drama throughout the design. Karlyn loves amber and used this quilt to explore the many color nuances within this gem. Having spent some time in  the Baltic region where amber is so highly regarded, this quilt really attracted my attention. Its beautiful flowing movement and undulating colors are captivating.

I have put a link to one of Karlyn’s U-Tube videos above. It gives an excellent overview of her quilt journey.

Gossip Garden  by Debbie Martinez from Hobart, Indiana

Debbie Martinez’s Gossip Garden symbolizes the many facets of gossip, but most particularly the idea that gossip starts with just a little comment and grows larger as it moves  from one mouth to another. Notice how cleverly Debra has illustrated this concept, as the mouth sizes increase as they move farther away. Debra’s quilt is filled with clever details. Gossip Garden is a quilt with an important  message brought to us in a light-hearted way. You can see a few additional quilts by Debbie in the link provided (above).

As you can see, the creative spirit is alive and well in the quilting world. Aren’t these quilts wonderful? If you want to leave a comment, feel free to do so. FYI, our blog comment space appears after the Facebook comment area.

Merry Christmas and  Happy Hanukkah!  I hope this week brings you joy and offers you the opportunity to add many more loving, happy memories to your memory bank. I can hardly wait for Saturday to arrive!

Joen

Text and photography copyright   © Joen Wolfrom

The copyright of the quilts shown in this post remains with those artists who created these works of art.

Joen is a color enthusiast who teaches and lectures on color. She has written three color books: Color Play, Visual Coloring, and The Magical Effects of Color. Her Studio Color Wheel is used to illustrate color concepts in many of these blog posts. She is also the designer of the 3-in-1 Color Tool. Her new book Adventures in Designis now available. Joen’s newest design tool, the Magic Design-Ratio Tool has just been released. All books and products are published by C & T Publishing.

It’s a busy season and much of our energy and time are taken up this month with the holidays, family, special friends, and the celebration of Christmas and Hanukkah. So this is a good time to share a few more photos of quilts from the 2011 Houston Quilt Festival.  No doubt, the actual quilts are more beautiful in real life than what you see in my informal snapshots. The colors shown may not be true to the quilt, but I think the quilts still look great. Enjoy!

Autumn Splendor by Noriko Endo from Tokyo, Japan

If you have been in the quilt scene for a few years, then you will be well aware of Noriko Endo’s glorious naturescapes. They are filled with exquisite textures, subtle colorings, and enticing imagery.  Autumn Splendor fills the bill. It is amazing. Standing in front of this quilt brings you into the scene. The realism is extraordinary.  This particular quilt really speaks to me, as it’s a scene reminiscent of many years of woodland walks. This original design is created with cotton, tulle, and luminescent fibers. If you would like to create your own woodland scenes filled with textures, or if you just want to be inspired by Noriko’s beautiful creations, consider purchasing her book Confetti Naturescapes.

Crested Barber by Barbara McKie

I had written in my notes that this little guy was created by Terri Gavin, as part of her John Jay winter park series, but  then I realized Terri’s quilt looks quite different. So after a plea to viewers asking if they knew who created this delightful quilt, several people provided me with the answwer.  Barbara McKie is the artist who created this wonderful work of art. She did a fabulous job with this bird’s detailing and coloring. He is such a bright contrast compared to the toned hues of the stone he is standing on and the background. What an amazing bird he is!

Now I love this little bird, but the first things that come to my mind because I am thinking winter is this:  Why is this glorious bird sitting on a cold stone in the middle of winter when he should be lounging leisurely somewhere in the south?  Did he not get the message as to when his flock was departing? Is he a perky individualist that thinks he can persevere through any situation and doesn’t realize what New York winters are like? Was he too lackadaisical to fly south? So many questions…..and no answers. All I can say is that I am shivering for him. (Of course, now that I know he wasn’t sitting on a rock at the John Jay Park, I can hope he is lounging in a bit warmer weather.)

Notice that this bird is looking right at you, the viewer. This is a very important detail when creating an artwork that features a bird or an animal. Eye contact is necessary  for there to be a strong visual connection between bird and viewer. This little guy is such a charmer!  Barbara McKie has many other amazing works of art on her website, so if this little bird pulls at your heartstrings, check out her website..

Rare Birds by Rachel Wetzler from St. Charles, Illinois

Speaking of birds, I couldn’t help pausing to enjoy this wonderful quilt. It’s made by Rachel Wetzler who is one of my favorite quilt artists. She is so versatile and talented.  Not only does she do whimsy so well, but she creates stunning traditional and contemporary quilts too. BTW, Rachel has a blog that you will enjoy visiting:  A Bit of Yellow.

Each of these birds represents a quilt personality within Rachel’s  quilting group. Denise Havlan, a quilt artist who is inspired by Native American art, is found sitting atop the totem pole. Rachel, a lover of both yellow and sewing, is that cute little yellow bird balancing on her favorite pair of scissors. Then Annette Hendricks, a painter who loves purple, is the purple bird on top of the paint brush and palette.  Beth Gilbert, nurse extraordinaire, talented contemporary quilt artist, and hostess with the most-est is ready for company with a pot of tea in hand, her purring cat, and her house warm and welcoming (Beth’s hospitality is noteworthy—I know, as I’ve stayed with Beth and her husband and it was wonderful). Ann Fahl, a lover of flowers and cats, is the bird with her kitty close at hand on top of a beautiful flower.  The last bird represents the energetic Robbi Eklow, a talented quilter who is always ready to share  yet one more story.  What a clever quilt this is, celebrating friends. It’s a fun, beautifully executed quilt.

This original design uses fused applique, foundation piecing, painting, colored pencils, and machine quilting. Commerical and hand-dyed fabrics, WonderUnder Fusible, Hobbs Heirloom Premium 80/20 batting, fabric markers, pencils and paints were all used in this quilt.

Fall ‘n Star by Jan Mathews and Brandy Rice from Houston, Texas

Jan Mathews and Brandy Rice created this gorgeous quilt using Judy and Brad Niemeyer’s pattern Hawaiian Star.  It was difficult to take a full picture of this quilt, so I have included a closeup (below). I think this was one of the most beautiful traditional quilts exhibited in the show. The colors are softly muted and the workmanship is exquisite. The quilt was made with paper foundation and micro machine quilting. Batik fabrics, silk and wool batting, and silk thread were used in this quilt.  This is a beautiful interpretation of  the Hawaiian Star pattern.

Close-up view of Fall ‘n Star by Jan Mathews and Brandy Rice

Sunlit Circles by Ann Petersen from Aurora, Colorado

Since I love blue-violet, I am always attracted to quilts using the complements blue-violet and golden-yellow. Hence, I naturally gravitated toward Sunlit Circles.  The stars are beautifully done and it was fun to see the variety of mariners’ compasses displayed in this quilt. I really enjoyed Ann’s color and value play. Ann stated that this design represents sunlight peeking through starry windows. It is paper-pieced and machine pieced.

Weeping Dorothea by Ann Harwell from Wendell, North Carolina

Ann Harwell’s Weeping Dorothea is a quilt honoring a 100-year old weeping cherry tree at the Dorothea Dix Hospital, which was founded in 1856. This was the first hospital in North Carolina dedicated to the treatment of mental illness.  This tree sits on a hill overlooking downtown Raleigh.  The hospital is currently being decommissioned, but Weeping Dorothea is alive and filled with a century of a multitude of life’s secrets. Weeping Dorothea was machine pieced and quilted.

Of Cabbage and Kings by Norma Schlager from Danbury, Connecticut

I was entralled when I saw Of Cabbages and Kings in the Houston IQA. It is stunning. Also, I was very delighted to see this was an original design created by Norma Schlager, a very talented quilt artist. In fact, two of her quilts, Fiesta and Blue Ginkgoes, are featured in my design book Adventures in Design.

Here’s Norma’s cabbage story:  I went to an Emily Dickensen  exhibit at the NY Botanical Gardens and took a picture of a cabbage in her vegetable garden.  When I got home and saw it on my computer monitor, I knew it had to be a quilt.  I toyed with the idea of doing it in applique with my hand dyes, but for some reason I thought I would try painting it.  I took my photo to a copy shop and had it enlarged. Then I traced the outlines onto PFD fabric with a Sharpie and just painted away, using acrylic paints out of the tube, thinned with a little water.  After the paint dried, the traced lines were still visible and I free-motion satin-stitched over them with several different shades of Sulky rayon thread.

Norma’s first cabbage quilt was juried into the New England Quilt Museum where it sold. Because Norma was so happy with the results of that quilt, she made another. This second one is the one exhibited at the IQA show.  These  were the first whole-cloth painted quilts that Norma has done.  Great job, Norma!

Artichokes in Bloom by Andrea Brokenshire from Round Rock, Texas.

A show-stopper for me was Artichokes in Bloom by Andrea Brokenshire. This quilt is simply amazing. It was inspired by artichokes growing in a friend’s garden (Nina—beautiful artichokes!).  Andrea used hand-painted silk, raw-edge applique, a confetti-style background, thread painting, and machine quilting. Her materials include 100% cotton fabrics, silk charmeuse, batiks, cotton batting, and rayon, polyester, and cotton threads. This quilt is so realistic, you feel as if you could reach in and touch the blossoms and petals. I have heard that the quilters from Round Rock are a wonderfully talented group, and by looking at Andrea’s quilt, I must agree. I LOVE this quilt!

Give Us Your Comments

I hope you loved seeing these quilts. There are such a variety of techniques and materials. It’s amazing how far the quilting world has come in the past forty years in expanding the use and look of a quilt.

Enjoy.  If you have time, let us know which of these quilts inspire you to try a new challenges in 2012.  See you next week.

Happy coloring!

Joen

Text and photography copyright   © Joen Wolfrom

The copyright of the quilts shown in this post remains with those artists who created these works of art.

Joen is a color enthusiast who teaches and lectures on color. She has written three color books: Color Play, Visual Coloring, and The Magical Effects of Color. Her Studio Color Wheel is used to illustrate color concepts in many of these blog posts. She is also the designer of the 3-in-1 Color Tool. Her new book Adventures in Designis now available. Joen’s newest design tool, the Magic Design-Ratio Tool has just been released. All books and products are published by C & T Publishing.