Reading instructions

Altered Book Lover is continuing the tutorial for altering books. 
The last session was on colour.  I started experimenting with colour and my results are here. 

While I was waiting for my drippage (sp???)  experiment to dry I reread the homework.  Oh my!  I only needed a colour wheel that was made from magazine images.  Yikes!  I totally missed that. So I left the warm and cool pages to continue drying and looked for some magazines.  I'm simplifying so I don't have too many.   I actually found that harder to do than the fabric one I did a couple of years ago and the watercolour wheel I did a few months ago.  

I'm not 100% happy with it but it is all adding layers of understanding to my colour and design abilities.

I received my new Gelli plate in the mail complete with  directions.  I also got a set of rubbings and 2 script stamps.  I better read the instructions before  I do anything fancy.  I am hoping that the rubbing plate can also be used for mono printing on theGelli plate.  More colour experiments coming up!

Colour my world

There is a wee bit of colourful language as I pick up the momentum to organize more of my supplies.  I'm dealing with books and paper at the moment.  There was a few things that were shoved under my bed  in a moment of exasperation but I am determined to quit kicking stuff from room to room so I shamed myself colourfully  and I'm going back at it again.

I separated all my colours into groups and I'm trying them all on a cheap sketch pad paper.  This is a good exercise as I differentiate between colours.  Who knew that Phthalo Green was a blue shade and Phthalo Blue is a green shade???  I also determined that no matter how much water you put on neopastels they won't do much. lol  Now Neoart water soluble pastels are wonderfully juicy with the addition of water as are Derwent Inktense pencils.  And I think I like gouache paint better than watercolours.

The standard colour wheel is what I would be sharing with beginners in my remedial art class.  There are 3 primaries and three secondaries.  I probably need to try some custom mixes to get the last sections in place.

But the colour system that 'speaks' to me is the Munsell colour System.  It has five primary colours, red, yellow, blue, green and purple.  This of course changes complimentary colours but I do like it.   But first I got my examples of the five colours down on paper and I'll be giving the secondaries a try next.

A thought?  I wonder if I should be trying this exercise on fabric as well?  hmmmm

Colour Wheelies

I need to get all my colour wheels spinning in the same direction. lol

There will be four sessions in the upcoming colour classes. They should be basic, not overly complicated. My intention is to enlighten, not overwhelm. But such a big subject!

I want more than a binder, I want a pretty (as in smashing) journal. I may be trying to twirl before I can spin. It looks more like a scrap book. I need to learn how to blur edges and blend.

But back to class content. This isn't about journalling. It is about making colourful quilts with confidence and having fun with a colourful stash that is full of useful options. The economy being what it is, we should at least have 75% of our stash budget invested in fabric that earns its keep.

I spent a lot of money and time accumulating my stash. It was fun but I do wish I'd understood colour principles better and resisted more of those 'buy me, I'm purty flirty' fabrics. Colour is so much fun to play with I find it painful to listen to quilters who are anxious about 'what goes'. So I'm happy to share what I've learned and I enjoy teaching because it forces me to clarify what I know. Hopefully it'll be a win/win time for us all.

Having the grandson over for the weekend and seeing that he is perhaps not too young to join in playing is certainly going to help me loosen up and enjoy this very colourful journey. But if I don't keep track of those pencil crayons, I'll be the one doing wheelies! ;^)