Module 1 Chapter 5 Colour Study

Observational Study

I took four photographs of support structures in the garden. A slice was cut out of each and replaced by a strip of matched colours produced using paint, crayons and coloured pencils.

5.1 Plant Stem damaged by slugs/snails

5.2 Bamboo Canes

5.3 Concrete post

5.4 Plastic/metal plant support

I decided to use the colours of picture 5.1 for further exploraion.

Preparation

I coloured sheets of paper in the identfied colours. I tried seeing whether i could use garden related materials. I coloured one sheet using earth from the garden and also tried using leaves and grass.

5.5 Paper coloured using earth.

5.6 Paper coloured with leaves and grass.

Colour Wheel

I placed the colours (except the two browns on a colour wheel.

5.7 Colour Wheel

It is noticeable that all the colours except one are grouped together on one side of the wheel with three analagous colours. There are no discordant complementaries, the nearest is the violet tint with the gold shade.

5.8 Deep gold with pale violet.

Colour Contrasts

Small squares of each colour were placed on strips of paper from the colour scheme. This highlights the way different colours are seen when viewed with other colours.

5.9 Colour contrasts

I noticed when looking a thumbnails of the photos that the contrasts are more easily seen when the picture is reduced in size.

5.10 Thumbnail of photo 5.9. The pale blue really stands out against the darker colours to the right of the picture and the dark green stands out on the pale colours on the left. Strip 6 is the one with least overall contrast.

Different backgrounds were also tested. This was useful because of the lack of primary colours in the scheme and because of the bias towards just one area of the colour wheel.

5.11 Mixed Backgrounds, newsprint, brown wrapping paper, red, blue, metallic silver, metallic gold, black and white.

5.12 Thumbnail of 5.11.

The black, red and blue backgrounds provide a strong contrast and almost all colours clearly standout. The newsprint and silver backgrounds reduce the contrast.

I also looked at the colours against a tonal range of black to white.

5.13 Colours against a tonal range.

5.14 Thumbnail of 5.13. The pale blue gradually disappears as the tone gets lighter. I think that strip 3 appears to be the one where all colours are least defined.

Colour Temperature and Tonal Range.

I sequenced the colours in order of colour “temperature” from the warmest to the coolest. I considered one of the browns to be cool and the other, which had more red in it to be warmer.

5.15 Colours graded from warmest to coolest

5.16 Colours graded from lightest to darkest.

I made two strips using the colours from the extremes of the two ranges above. I placed coloured squares over the two halves of the strip to see what the effect would be.

5.15 Strips made up of the extreme values of temperature and tone.

5.16 The thumbnail shows that in places the image becomes blurry, indicating where the contrast is lost.

Proportions

This section explores the effect of how proportions of a colour can affect a colour scheme. The top strip in 5.17  is made up of each of the colours in the approximate total proportion of the section of the original photo. The greens dominate eith only tiny slices of the pale blue and deep gold. The lower strip in 5.17 shows the proportions reversed, ie. What was the smallest area is now the largest. This gives the strip a completely different feel.

5.17 Colour proportions.

How colours are split up and arranged can also affect how they are viewed. 5.18 shows examples where equal proportions of colour are used but cutting and re-arranging them can change the visual effect. The further away the samples on right are viewed the more the colour merges into one overall colour. This can be seen in the thumbnail 5.19. The top row uses different shades of the same colour. The middle row uses a cool pale and warm deep colour combination and the lower row uses two pale cool colours. The merging effect seems to be mosts pronounced in the bottom row.

5.18

5.19

Tonal Values

The picture5.20  below shows how changing a colour tone can affect the overall look. I took the pale violet and the dark brown as the two base colours and showed the effect of using either a pale or dark green. The placement of the colours in relation to each other is also important. For example the violet frame section in the bottom right sample really stands out but in the middle left sample it is the centre brown square which stands out.

5.20

Other Materials

I cut strips from materials which are either associated with the garden or suggested by my theme and tried placing my colours against them. From left to right in 5.21 below, Green house shading, wood, open weave hessian (suggestive of trellis) and pond lining fleece. The green house shading is dark green and the other materials have a neutral colour.

5.21 Other materials

5.22 Thumbnail of 5.21. As expected the colours show up better against the dark green and dark grey.

I also tried placing coloured squares against an A4 copy of the original photo.

5.22

The stem in my original photo was from a red hot poker plant and I thought I would try my colours against a picture of a flower head. The flower is orange rather than red and I think the red might have provided a greater contrast.

5.23

Papers to be used in design work. These are all A3 in size.

Module 1 Chapter 4 Shape and Pattern Study

LINEAR OUTLINE

Different shapes taken from my sketchbook.

4.1	4.2
4.3	4.4
4.5

SOLID FORM

This shape was taken from a verbena bonariensis flower.

The shape was replicated in various sizes from different types of paper, such as newsprint, painted paper, maps and brown paper.  I also made stamps and stencils  to use in the design exercise. Each design is on A5 paper which was painted and then had the cut out shapes randomly applied. The following photos show how the shape was used to create designs.

From left to right above:

4.7  A collaged sheet was pleated irregularly and then rubbed with wax crayon over sequin waste and over painted.

4.8 A human figure was drawn over a collaged sheet. The figure is filled with cross hatching.

4.9 Outlining the collaged shapes, considering all shapes as one entity.

From left to right above:

4.10 Collaged sheet with strips of coloured paper stuck over the top.

4.11 Four shapes with the same part folded over and then arranged in a circle.

4.11 Four shapes with the same part folded over and then arranged in a circle.

From left to right above:

4.13 Splodges created with a paintbrush outlined in crayon and then over painted.

4.14 Outling collaged shapes, each shape being treated separately.

4.15 Diagonal lines in crayon drawn on collaged sheet and then over painted

From left to right above:

4.16 Collaged sheets rubbed over sequin waste with wax crayon using a stencil. The waxed part was then stamped.

4.17 Collaged shapes rubbed over sequin waste with wax crayon.

4.18 Painted sheet rubbed over sequin waste before shapes were applied.

From left to right above:

4.19 Collaged sheet with large diamond.

4.20 Collaged sheet cut into 8 pieces and reassembled in a different order.

4.21 Collaged sheet with solid and broken diagonal lines.

From left to right above:

4.22 Outline shape drawn in crayon over collaged sheet and then overpainted. The sheet was then pleated diagonally and crayon rubbed over the edges. This was repeated in the opposite direction.

4.23 Collaged shapes with diagonal lines.

4.24 Pieces of torn paper applied in a linear pattern.

From left to right above:

4.25 Lines of white crayon drawn onto a painted sheet and then over printed with a stamp.

4.26 Collaged sheet with single strip of paper stuck to it.

4.27 I drew my initial over a collaged sheet and coloured it with crayons.

From left to right above:

4.28 The outline design created in 4.11 was drawn and colour was added in counterchange.

4.29 A mask in the shape of a diamond was placed over a collaged sheet and paint and patterns applied.

4.29 A mask in the shape of a diamond was placed over a collaged sheet and paint and patterns applied.

From left to right above:

4.31 Drawing round my hand onto collaged sheet. Hand shape is painted and outlined.

4.32 Splodges created using a paintbrush on a collaged sheet.

4.33 The left hand third of a collaged sheet was folded over and a new design was stamped, outlined in crayon and painted. Then it was unfolded.

From left to right above:

4.34 A collage sheet was pleated and shapes printed on the pleats. The shapes were outlined in pastel.

4.35 Collaged sheet folded into tucks horizontally and vertically and then overprinted with a stamp.

4.36 Page of collaged shapes folded. shapes  stamped over folds and outlined with crayon and then more colour applied.

From left to right above:

4.37 A rectangle was cut from a collaged sheet (white area) and the cut out piece was stuck to another area of the sheet.

4.38 Rectangular shapes painted on collaged sheet.

4.39 Shapes were cut from a collaged sheet and stuck over another collaged sheet.

From left to right above:

4.40 Collaged shapes outlined in crayon. New shapes added in crayon and then over painted.

4.41 Outline shapes drawn over collaged shapes and then filled with lines.

4.42 Outline shape drawn over collaged shapes in pencil and filled with diagonal lines. Pencil lines then erased.

From left to right above:

4.43 Collaged shapes outlined in varying thickness of line.

4.44 Outline shapes drawn in crayon over collaged shapes and then painted.

4.45 Pieces of torn paper stuck down and outlined  in the chosen shape.

Above:

4.46 A shape was cut from the edge of a collaged sheet and the cut out stuck to another area.