color studies
first things first, yesterday kicked off a string of palindromic days this month: 1-20-21, 1-21-21… always enjoy a palindrome!
little bit of vamping for an intro that may be unnecessary. the title is a giveaway, right? simply put, continuing work on warning sign designs while studying color. here’s where i’ve been with that over the last couple of days:
at the start: stencils, color wheel, and construction paper
simple triad combo
triad: yellow, blue, & red
hi-yo! what better place to start than the classic primary triad of yellow/blue/red? seriously, it's the most straightforward so i really did want to start here. color seems really simple, which is usually the first indication of how complex something is.
i used the “hairpin turn ahead” graphic, i like it. looks like a “u-turn”, but it’s not. i think that’s because the momentum is up and to the right giving an impression of moving forward. like writing and reading. at least in a Latin/Greek influenced written language sort of way…
printed out some stencils that i made from my illustrator doc with other signs and stuff that i’ll get to later… anyway! printed some stencils and got to cutting.
kept the primary (yikes, punny) foreground color yellow, cause i like it; and because it’s evocative of the original warning sign design. then, cut the additional elements from the remaining colors to test which worked best as background/arrow/ring. having more cut-out pieces than needed gave room for experimentation with background, arrow, and border color. glad to have stuck around for a bit of swapping rather than just charging ahead. it allowed me to consider alignments and relationships i may not have otherwise.
i like how the blue arrow over yellow foreground looks like a cut-out in the foreground through to the blue background.
mock-up with red background and blue foreground arrow. i preferred the visual impact of the blue background and red foreground arrow.
now, cutting the little ring that borders the edge has bested me time after time. thought i’d gotten the technique down to where only one stencil could be used to make all cuts. not the case. what ended up working was to use one stencil for the foreground and background pieces and a second for the ring and arrow cut-outs. the stencil intended for the ring cut-out needs to have a bit more paper excess around the edges to allow the straightedge to keep the paper taut while cutting the thin strip. otherwise, if the stencil is cut too close to the design lines, the pressure of the blade on the paper pushes it down ending up with an uneven cut. these aren’t intended to be perfect, but i know myself better than to say i’d walk away happy from a roughly cut edge… i think i’ve gotten it down now.
i like all of the color combinations of this triad. the primaries are sort of fool-proof. they look good in any arrangement and working with them felt approachable and flexible.
using constriction paper in primary colors felt like bing in elementary school again - only now i understand a little more why they go together so well.
the ring of color matched the arrow here. when used in a split complementary or triad scheme, these elements appear as one “sign” kind of like they were offset screen printed over top. i dig.
the second study was violet/red-violet split complementary. using what colors i had from 12 included in the pack. this combination is reading between the lines a bit. the purple is taking the place of a more nuanced “red-violet” that may not even be available in construction paper of this quality… no matter, made do.
i like this one too. it’s not as bare bones basic as the primary combo, but it still feels familiar to me.
still using two separate pieces for the arrow cut-out. it was with this and the first r/b/y that i thought to cut away the arrow from the overlapping diamond to reveal the color behind.
“red-violet” split complementary: green, violet (should be “red-violet”), & yellow
so, a couple few things i noticed while working on the first studies yesterday:
when the background color and bottom arrow are the same, it appears as if the arrow is cut from the foreground. i hadn’t achieved it that way in the first two studies, i used two additive arrows
studies that followed had foregrounds with arrow shape cut from it
in the primary triad, the red ring is shifted left while the red overlapping arrow is shifted right. (that sentence reads funny. just scroll back up to see what it’s about.) this looks strange if the eye is meant to see the red ring and red arrow as paired together. however… the miss-match isn’t a deal breaker for me
i like the negative space around the overlapping arrows of the primary triad study. it feels like the right amount of breathing room in the main background/foreground offset and around the overlapped arrows
and probably some other things i forgot to jot down for later…
triad: green, orange, & violet
i do like this one as-is. maybe save for later.
worked on another triad of green, orange, and violet. there are two greens in my paper pack and i chose “yellow-green” for this, which should be accompanied by a “red-orange” and “blue-violet” according to my new, handy-dandy color wheel. in addition to the violet, i cut out a blue ring and arrow to test out as a stand in for “blue-violet”. with the orange it felt too New York Knickerbockers for my taste… no shade! went with violet in the end.
the violet gives this combo 1990’s Nickelodeon vibes. super into it. the simple study with green cut-out foreground and orange background is a fun one too.
first tetrad study testing out violet arrow with orange ring…
… or orange arrow with violet ring
tetrad: blue, yellow, orange, & violet
tetrad: pink, violet, yellow, & yellow-green
the last one for today was a tetrad of lighter colors. this, along with the other studies, looked instinctively harmonious once everything was pieced together, but i had my doubts… i wouldn’t have picked these colors on my own without the aid of a color wheel. realizations like this during the process of making each of these studies encourages me to continue exploring. i feel less intimidated by color after the last couple of days, and that feels empowering.
there are a couple of books that Sam has, and i’m borrowing, to help along the way. one is Josef Albers' ‘Interactions of Color’ and the other is Garth Lewis’ ‘2000 Colour Combinations’. i believe the Albers book has exercises in it which i’m excited to get into. i’m also cooking up project ideas that incorporate color studies experimenting in different mediums and techniques. hello appliqué!
this is only the beginning!
i had started to write a bit about yesterday’s presidential inauguration, but didn’t see much use. it is what it is. pomp isn’t really on the itinerary for me. i am glad i caught it in time to see Kamala Harris being sworn in as vice president. and to hear, and see, Ms. Amanda Gorman perform her poem ‘The Hill We Climb.’
continuing to observe and stay engaged. i am much more cautiously optimistic about things now than in the last four years. and, for lack of cheerfully enthusiastic words to raise a glass to, i’ll borrow a few from a fave: “to better times.”
