COLOR STUDY GROUP EXERCISES: 1995-1996


VALUE and PRINTS

Readings:

- Value (Amsden, 59; Wolfrom, 20-21)
- Variety of prints (Amsden, 59-60; Beyers, 53)
- Seeing in black and white (Beyers, 54-55)
- Types of prints (Beyers, 56-57)
- Avoiding common mistakes with multi-color prints (Beyers, 60)
- Solids (Wolfrom, 52)
- Scale of print (Amsden, 59; Wolfrom, 53)
- Problem prints (Wolfrom, 53-54)
- Napped, piled, textured fabrics (Wolfrom, 56)
- Plaids, stripes, checks (Wolfrom, 56-57)

Exercises:

- Sort Xeroxed Fabrics by Value (Exercise 1)
- Used Xeroxed Fabrics to Construct Blocks (Exercise 2)
- How Much Variety in Your Prints (Beyers, Exercise 6: 55-58)
- Group Fabrics by Value (Amsden, Color Exercise 6: 54)
- Make a Value Scale (Amsden, Color Exercise 7: 54)


LIGHT AND COLOR

Readings:

- Spectrum (Cole, 6-7; Wolfrom, 18-19) 
- Additive primaries (colored light - television, computers)
- Subtractive primaries (pigments and dyes - paint, printing, dyes)


COLOR WHEELS/COLOR SYSTEMS

Readings:

- (Chijiiwa, 138)
- Ives (Wolfrom, 19)
- Munsell
- Goethe (Cole, 36-37)
- Natural Color System (Amsden, 51-52)
- Chevreul (Cole, 39)
- CIE
- Japanese (Cole, 48)
- Color science (Cole, 44-45)

Exercises:

- Create a Color Wheel with Fabrics (Exercise 3)
- Creating a 24-step Color Wheel (Wolfrom, Exercise 1: 91-92)
- Creating Your Master Palette (Beyers, Exercise 1: 16-24)


COLOR LANGUAGE

Readings:

- Glossary (Amsden, 50; Cole, 62)
- Hue (Chijiiwa, 10)
- Intensity or Saturation or Vividness (Chijiiwa, p. 10; Wolfrom, 21) 
- Value or Lightness (Chijiiwa, 10)
- Shading (Beyers, 15)
- Deep Dark Color (Beyers, 15)
- Accent Color (Beyers, 15-16)
- Secondary Colors
- Intermediate Colors
- Tertiary Colors
- Analagous Colors
- Complementary Colors (Wolfrom, 32-34)
- Split complementary Colors (Wolfrom, 34)
- Triadic Colors (Wolfrom, 35-36) 
- Monochromatic Colors (Beyers, 42-48; Wolfrom, 30-31) 
- Chromatic Colors (Wolfrom, 31-32) 
- Polychromatic Colors
- Background Colors (Beyers, 26)
- Shading Two Colors (Beyers, 27-33)
- Shading Pale Colors (Beyers, 34-38)
- Shading More than two colors (Beyers, 40-41)
- Proportion of color and value (Beyers, 48-52)
- Using many colors (Beyers, 63-69)
- Coordinating a palette with a multi-colored print (Beyers, 71-75)
- Eliminating exact matches from palettes (Beyers, 76-82)

Exercises:

- Create Texas Star Blocks in Different Harmonies (Exercise 5)
- Pick Swatches to Match Picture (Amsden, Color Exercise 2: 54)
- Examine Colors You Dislike (Amsden, Color Exercise 3: 54)
- Describe a Color (Amsden, Color Exercise 4: 54)
- Playing with Value (Amsden, Value Exercise 1: 31)
- Working with a Monochromatic Color Scheme (Beyers, Exercise 5: 48)
- Blending Colors (Wolfrom, Exercise 2: 92-94)
- Blending Related and Unrelated Colors (Wolfrom, Exercise 3: 95-96)
- Shading Two Colors Together (Beyers, Exercise 3: 39)
- Shading Three or More Colors Together (Beyers, Exercise 4: 41)
- Group colors in harmonies (Amsden, Color Exercise Five: 54)
- Selecting Fewer Colors from a Larger Palette (Beyers, Exercise 7: 69)
- Coordinating Fabrics with Theme Prints (Beyers, Exercise 8: 100)


COLOR SCALES 

Readings:

- Cycle (morning, noon, evening, night)
- Season (spring, summer, fall, winter)
- Scales (pure, tint, shade, tone) (Wolfrom, 14-17)

Exercises:

- Identifying Your Personal Color Preferences (Wolfrom, Activity 1, 98)
- Promoting Individual Color Visualization (Wolfrom, Activity 2, 98)


LIGHT EFFECTS

Readings: 

- Luminosity (Wolfrom, 37-38)
- Luster (Wolfrom, 38)
- Shadows and highlights (Wolfrom, 38-40)
- Time of day and auroras (Wolfrom, 40-41)
- Iridescence and opalescence (Wolfrom, 41-44, 55)
- Depth (Wolfrom, 45-46, 55) (Amsden, 27-28)
- 3-D Dimension (Amsden, 28)
- Flatness (Wolfrom, 46)
- Underwater (Wolfrom, 46-47)
- Reflections (Wolfrom, 47-48, 55)
- Transparency (Amsden, 29-30; Wolfrom, 48-49, 55) 
- Movement (Wolfrom, 49-50, 55)
- Mist and atmospheric color (Wolfrom, 50)

Exercises:

- Luster (Wolfrom, Exercise 5: 97-98)
- Create 3-D Effects with Value (Amsden, Value Exercise 2: 31)
- Creating Transparency (Amsden, Value Exercise 3: 31)
- Working with Transparencies (Wolfrom, Exercise 4: 96-97)
- Promoting Understanding of Illusions (Wolfrom, Activity 3: 99)


OPTICAL ILLUSIONS

Readings:

- Weight
- Size
- Simultaneous contrast (Wolfrom, 23-24, 29, 55)
- Optical mixing (Wolfrom, 24, 55)
- Successive contrast
- Afterimage (Wolfrom, 22-23)
- Adaption
- Dampness and dryness
- Smell
- Noise 
- Temperature (Wolfrom, 20, 29)
- Advancing 
- Receding

Exercises:

- Play with Afterimages (Exercise 4)
- Sort Your Fabrics by Temperature (Amsden, Color Exercise 1: 54)


HISTORIC COLORS



ARTISTS' PALETTES

Readings: 

- Ancient pigments (Cole, 8-13, 16-17, 22-23))
- Value of color pigments (Cole, 14)
- Color and space (Cole, 24-25)
- Restoration of color (Cole, 28-29)
- Light and Shadow (Chiaroscuro) (Cole, 30-33,)
- Color and music (Cole, 52-53)
- Abstract color (Cole, 58-61)
- Picasso (Cole, 50-51)
- Van Gogh, Muench (Cole, 46-47)
- Seurat (Cole, 44-45)
- Whistler, Gaugin (Cole, 42-43)
- Adams
- Wright
- Morris
- Monet (Cole, 40-41)
- Matisse (Cole, 56-57)
- Manet (Cole, 30-31)
- Klee, Miro, Kandinsky (Cole, 52-55)
- "Memphis"

Exercises:

- Influenced by the Masters


COLOR SYMBOLISM

Readings: 

- Wolfrom, Chapter 1
- Symbolism, Narrative (Cole, 15, 18-19)



THEMATIC COLORS 

safety colors
psychedelic
fluorescent
color analysis
mourning
therapeutic
kabuki
food
flag
cosmetic
cereal boxes (natural vs. others)
airline


FABRIC COLLECTION INVENTORY
- Extend your fabric palette (Amsden, 61-63)


ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

Readings:

- Line (Wolfrom, 86)
- Shape (Amsden, 35-36; Wolfrom, 86) 
- Size/Scale (proportion) (Amsden, 41; Wolfrom, 86-87) 
- Direction (Wolfrom, 86)
- Texture (Amsden, 43-45; Wolfrom, 87) 
- Color (Wolfrom, 87)
- Values (Amsden, 26-27; Wolfrom, 87) 
- Linear perspective (Wolfrom, 113-119)
- Symmetry and asymmetry (Amsden, 22-25)
- Repetition (Wolfrom, 87)
- Color Harmony or Schemes (Chijiiwa, 11; Wolfrom, 88) 
- Contrast (Wolfrom, 88)
- Discord (Wolfrom, 88)
- Focal point (Wolfrom, 88-89)
- Visual balance (Wolfrom, 89)


RESOURCES

Amsden, Deirdre.  Colourwash Quilts:  A Personal Approach to Design & 
Technique.  Bothell, WA:  That Patchwork Place, 1994.

Beyers, Jinny.  Color Confidence for Quilters.  Gualala, CA:  The Quilt Digest 
Press, 1992.
 
Magaret, Pat Maixner and Donna Ingram Slusser.  Watercolor Quilts.  Bothell, 
WA:  That Patchwork Place, 1993.

Penders, Mary Coyne.  Color and Cloth:  The Quiltmaker's Ultimate Workbook.  
San Francisco:  The Quilt Digest Press, 1989.

Walker, Anne.  The Patchwork Pocket Palette:  A Handy Visual Guide to Mixing 
and Matching Colored Fabrics.  San Franscisco:  Chronicle Books, 1995.

Wolfrom, Joen.  The Magical Effects of Color.  Lafayette, CA:  C & T 
Publishing, 1992.


Other Readings

Birren, Faber.  The Textile Colorist.  New York:  Van Nostrand Rheinhold Co., 
1980. 

Brown, Rachel and Cheryl McGowen.  The Weaving, Spinning, and Dyeing Book.  
New York:  Alfred A. Knopf, 1978.

This book includes a few pages on choosing colors, the properties of colors, 
and a project on hue, intensity and value.  Oriented towards creating a 
palette through hand dyeing of fabric, rather than through use of purchased 
materials.

DeBoy, Kathleen.  The Fiberarts Design Book.  New York: Hastings House 
Publishers, 1980.

Duncan, Molly.  Exploring Colours and Design for Handweavers.  Wellington:  
A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1978.

Howard, Constance.  Embroidery and Colours.  New York: Van Nostrand Rheinhold 
Co., 1976.

Justema, William.  Weaving & Needlecraft Color Course.  New York: Van Nostrand 
Rheinhold Co., 1971.

Lambert, Patricia, Staepelaere, Barbara, and Mary G. Fry.  Color and Fiber.  
West Chester, PA:  Schiffer Pub., 1986.

McClun, Diana and Laura Nowes.  Quilts, Quilts, and More Quilts.  Lafayette, 
CA:  C & T Publishing, 1993.

Has a chapter on Color Choices that describes background colors, the push 
and pull of colors, allocating colors to individual shapes, light source, and 
places to go for color inspirations (quilt shows, objects, seasons, historical 
styles).  Has an exercise for playing with fabric swatches.

McKelvey, Susan Richardson.  Color for Quilters.  Atlanta: Yours Truly, Inc., 
1984.

Olsen, Kirtin.  Quilter's Color Workbook:  Unlimited Designs from Easy-to-Make 
Quilt Books.  New York:  A Sterling/Main Street Book, 1990.

There is some discussion of the effect of colors next to each other and the 
properties of colors, but this book is mostly a workbook that's printed "in 
color" rather than a workbook that's focused "on color".  The author presents 
about ten color marker variations of 15 quilt blocks.