Project 3 Stage 3 Ex 1

Recording colours accurately

I've had lots of fun mixing colours sometimes in a calculated way and at other times quite arbitrary.  First I used water colour paints.

Complementary colours

More arbitrary choices

More arbitrary choices

More arbitrary choices

Then I tried mixing gouache colours using only red, blue and yellow.  It seemed like I could have gone on forever.

I spent the afternoon reading Colour by David Hornung.  Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed my task it made me realise just what a huge subject colour is.  In fact the book is a course all on it's own.  I found lots of information that I'm sure is best absorbed slowly and in a taught class where questions and uncertainties can be addressed.

However there were parts that were really helpful.

Hornung demonstrates everything he writes about with really good illustrations.  If I was confused by the text the picture helped me out.  I found Chapter 4 about Colour interaction particularly useful.  This chapter looks at after images and optical mixing which is what my course is dealing with at the moment. Although I understand the concept of after images I have had some difficulty seeing them.  This time I met with some success and was amazed at the illusions created.

Page 70 sets students the task of doing square studies just like I have completed. Tomorrow I will go back to my squares and see how they look with my new learning in place.  Whilst my grasp of hue and value feels a bit shaky figures 4.31 and 4.32 make a lot of sense.

David Hornung, 2005, Colour - a workshop for artists and designers, Laurence King, London