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suzanne earley

You are here: Home / Color and Composition

February 18, 2007

Color and Composition

About a year ago, I got the book Color and Composition for the Creative Quilter by Katie Pasquini Masopust and Brett Barker.  At the time I did some of the initial exercises (blind and semi-blind contour drawings), but that was as far as I got.  Yesterday, needing something to get me going, pulled it out and did some more exercises — composing with line and composing with shape.

One of the hardest parts was to try to come up with my own compositions — I had to resist the urge to try to copy the examples in the book.

Day48

Today I did one of the other line exercises, this time using a Complementary color scheme.
Day49
The blue and orange one is hard to look at, isn’t it?  Are your eyes vibrating?

The first exercise was to use the complementary color scheme using a medium value of each color.  The medium values are the ones that make you eyes vibrate.  Very eye catching, but very tiring.

Part of my challenge to myself was to use a color I would hardly ever use — orange is definitely in short supply in my work.

The other 2 exercises were supposed to use the tints and shades of the main color, balancing the colors 80/20 — blue/orange and then orange/blue.  I don’t have any solids, and some of the fabrics were stretching the notion of being shades or tints, but I’m happy with how the pieces turned out.  Using the tints and shades is supposed to decrease the vibration — your eye is still caught by the complementary colors, but it is easier to look at.

We are heading out to see Night at the Museum, so I’d better get moving!

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About Suzanne

When I'm not editing, I'm spending time with my family, cuddling with my pets, knitting, quilting, or reading. I'm also a part-time secretary for my local school district.

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Comments

  1. Flippytale Quilter says

    February 18, 2007 at 7:35 PM

    Your compositions are great! I like to having my eyes vibrate with the blue and the orange … can’t tell how big they are, maybe not on a bed quilt, but Yeah! for a wall hanging! =)

  2. Debra Spincic says

    February 18, 2007 at 10:11 PM

    A bunch of us on the webring started a study of Katie’s book but like you, didn’t get very far. I think we got hung up on the 2nd chapter!

  3. Vicki says

    February 19, 2007 at 8:52 AM

    I have READ her book but haven’t actually done the exercises yet – looks like I need to! This is a great project.

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