JWD Publishing Blog

As with the other colors on the color wheel, the three pure colors from the violet spectrum have their own traits and personalities.  This small color range has more than its share of interesting history (more later this week).  In general, the name violet can refer to both the color violet and the violet spectrum, which includes blue-violet (#12), violet (#13), and red-violet (#14). Looking at these three colors, they have a similar tale as Goldilocks and the three bears: one color appears cool (blue-violet), one color appears warm (red-violet), and one color appears neither warm nor cool, but fairly neutral in temperature, relatively speaking.

Here are a few fun facts about these violet colors:

1.  Historically, all of these violet colors were exorbitantly expensive and difficult to process. Consequently these colors were originally reserved solely for kings and other heads of state. As the process became less difficult and expensive, the laws regarding the violet colors became less restricted. In England, for instance, it eventually became legal for the king’s or queen’s spouse, mother, father, aunts, uncles, siblings, and children to wear violet.

2.  Later, as the violet pigments became more accessible, religious leaders of high status were allowed to join the royalty in wearing this regal color.  Today violet is used in religious ceremonies and events throughout the world.

3.  Today violet still exudes a sense of  high birth, wealth, power, and importance. You see this color used in advertisements for luxury products, such as high-end cars, expensive jewelry, elegant clothing, etc.

4.  Violet exudes a sense of enlightenment and wisdom. The violets that promote this sense will be more in the blue-violet and violet range rather than the warmer red-violet range.

7.  Violet is thought to be a spiritual color that promotes meditation. Leonardo de Vinci believed  the flowing violet light from a church’s stained-glass window was more conducive to meditation than any other color.

8.  Historically, violet has been used as a softer-than-black mourning color.

10.  With England’s long-time association of only royalty using violet, it has become a commercial tradition to have many fine chocolates and other specialty eats wrapped in violet paper or cloth.

Today let’s take a closer look at these three unique violet colors.

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As promised last week, here is a small group of quilts that use the green and blue analogous color plan to create their designs. Each is quite different in design and color use. I have featured a quilt by Margarete Steinhauer from Estes Park, Colorado and one by Jane Hall from Raleigh, North Carolina. I love both of their quilts and I hope you will too. There are two additional images in this post, both showing analogous colorings in this selected blue-green range. If you are a lover of blues and greens, perhaps you have made your own quilts with this color combination. It’s a beautiful color span to work with and it’s probably the most popular color combination. Enjoy!

Tsunami by Margarete Steinhauer, Estes Park, Colorado

In Tsunami, the subtle color changes appear to move from chartreuse to turquoise—–and  perhaps a smattering of cerulean blue too. Besides the beautiful color blends, this is a masterpiece in design. Margarete’s use of line, direction, color, and texture make this a stunning design. Tsunami was created in 2006. It is 43″ x 41″.  By the way, this quilt is featured on its own page in my new book Adventures in Design. I guess you can tell that I absolutely love this quilt!  I am simply spellbound by it. (Photo by Joe Ofia, Arlington, Massachusetts)

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