TWO-VALUE STUDIES CAN HELP WITH COLOR PLANNING

Untitled design,  Lori LaBerge  2018

This week included work on design and color planning. This has led to plans to create a grouping of black and white works from 2-value studies.

Here is how thoughts developed for two designs using sketchbook and Photoshop:

A design was drawn from a previous sketch. A half circle was added to the left hand side which can be seen in the photo at the top of the post. This balances out the work and detracts a bit from the large section of white. If you put your finger over the half circle you can see how the eye first focuses on the yellow rectangle and is then pulled to the left by the white. If you view the work with the yellow half circle, you can see how it brings the eye down from the white, so the eye is not stranded at the top of the work.

As color planning was developed, I began by separating the design into 2 values so I could clearly separate the light areas from the dark areas. It helps to think about shapes when working with these studies.

I decided on a calm, relaxing feel to the work. The light areas consist of white and sage green while the darker areas were filled with turquoise, navy and yellow. The darker colors were broken down into light dark, medium dark and dark. A black line was added to the rectangle to emphasize the focal point.

Untitled design,  Lori LaBerge  2018

Here a light center is surrounded by dark sides. It can be seen how the design also changed a bit  with the black rectangle enlarged, the right side being extended all the way to the top and a horizontal rectangle added on the right.

The eye is clearly drawn to the lighter center of the work with the bright pink rectangle the focus.

WORKING WITH VALUES

"Curve Ahead" in progress on the work table

The latest work deals with values in progression from dark to light. Three more sections of the five piece work were hooked this week, while the smallest was hooked last week. One left to go. 

The middle section above is the brightest and seems to stand out the most. This sometimes leads to the thought that it is strongest in value. Value refers to dark and light, not dull and bright (intensity). It is the area where I seem to find most of my corrections need to be made in works.

By converting a piece to black and white one can more easily see the values involved. The values above range from high(white in the lines) to low (black). Where these two meet are the highest contrast areas in the pieces. The highest contrast is usually where the focal point lies.

In these works, however, the focal point is the arrow shape. This clearly leads the eye from one work to the next to follow them in descending order.

Close-up of what will be the third section in line

If you look back at the black and white version of the piece above, there is little contrast in values between the rose color and the lightest gray. The brightness of the rose makes it stand out more than the value does.

Yarns were pulled out of their bins to see what will work for whipping the edges of each piece.  

Each of the yarn colors will be mixed with a dark gray.  I am not going for a perfect match to the color of the arrow shape, but something a bit off.  A dark pine green with specks will go with the yellow green while a rust orange will go with the rose. These will also range in value from dark to light.

Two more yarns chosen for other sections

Books placed in order from light to dark

I often find myself looking at colors and trying to determine their values.  Are they lighter or darker than the colors next to them? I also play Blendoku on my ipad. The game is an excellent exercise in determining color value and gets more difficult as it progresses. 

Art exercise--

Try games like Blendoku, collect color chips from paint stores and try placing them in order of value, look at things around you and see if you can determine which colors are lighter or darker. Values close in relation become more difficult to determine. Challenge yourself.

WORK WITH COLOR VALUE, SAUDER VILLAGE CLASS

There was quite a bit of activity in the studio this week.

"Missing Glass" in progress,  Lori LaBerge  2015  

Monday:  

A while back I had found a small swatch of green on the shelves that I wanted to use to replace the teal green in "Missing Glass".  The teal green is too close in value to the blue. The swatch was not enough to replace it so I decided to dye some extra this week.  The darker shade, shown above, will provide a better contrast against the blue and give a better overall balance to the piece.

Tuesday:

I decided on a tentative color plan for another design.  You can see the colors above being used in the design below.

"Detour", Lori LaBerge  2015

Wednesday and Thursday morning:

Hand therapy is going well and I can now use a traditional hook for short periods.  I decided to start on a piece I have not yet titled.  It was originally based on orange barrels on the roads, but I did not want to be so literal and changed the barrels to a lilac color. The upper lilac against the light gray will in all likelihood need to be darkened a bit. The bottom half of the piece will be a mix of dark grays. Metal will be added later.

I noticed the use of hit and miss in the last design "Mountain Reflections" did not seem to fit in with the "Road Series" work.  It seemed separated from the other work due to the mix of wool colors.  This has led to a new series called "Parkway". These pieces will all have a hit and miss use of wool in them.  This is a good example of how one thing leads to another and is basically a series within a series.

Thursday afternoon:

A color plan was developed for another "Parkway" work.  The black and white photo shows the variety of mediums, lights and darks chosen.  I'm finding the "Parkway" series pieces more difficult than the "Road" series as I am placing lights on the top and darks on the bottom leading to problems with other colors showing up on both of these. This is leading to a new focus on using various values of the same color on either the light or dark background areas.  I'm interested in seeing where this takes me.

Friday:

I worked on plans for the class "A Creative Approach to Working in a Series" that I will be teaching at Sauder Village in August.  There will be lots of activities and discussion to enhance the understanding of series work. You can find information on the class here.  I encourage everyone to think about joining us or taking another of the many classes that will be offered at Sauder this year.

As mentioned, I am facing the dilemma of values with both a light and dark being used as a background. Think about the dilemmas you face in your art, welcome the challenge of working with them and have a great day.

RUG PUNCHING, NEW DESIGNS AND ADMITTING COLOR VALUE ERRORS

One last post before I'm off for two weeks:

What could this be for?

 I am figuring out ways to continue working with only my left hand.  The actual punching is not bad, but threading the punch became a dilemma.  I hammered a nail through a piece of wood to set the punch on top of. This allows the punch to remain stationary so I can thread it with my left hand.  Much better! 

Here is the result of rug punching practice.  The loops will need slight adjusting but it is going fairly well so far.

I wanted to get some new designs for the "Road Series" on linen this week.  The two items above led to two different designs.

"City Block", design process, Lori LaBerge  2015

The doorplate inspired this design.  A friend I used to visit in college had a wonderful old doorplate on her city home, so with this memory in mind I knew where the design was going. There is something beautiful about the sparkle and glow of never ending rows of windows lit up throughout the city.  I did not want the windows to be symmetrical, they needed to be slightly off.  A half window on the far left and at the bottom create balance without matching the other windows.  The actual doorplate will be placed in the rectangle on the left.

   "Detour", design process, Lori Laberge  2015

The washer pictured earlier will go in the middle of the upper area of this design. We seem to have constant road construction on our main highway.  There are detours, delays and endless orange barrels.  This design includes a line through where the washer will go as a signal not to enter and a small and large orange barrel.  Again, the design is slightly off with the large rectangle further to the left than the right.  Color will also be used to create balance in this piece.

"Broken Glass" in progress,  Lori LaBerge  2015

I have finally had to admit to myself that the turquoise green in the upper section of "Broken Glass" was not working.  I was finding it just too boring.  Brighter blue was used to randomly outline, dark green pieces of yarn were hooked in, but it just was not helping the piece come together. The turquoise green value blends in too closely with the blue next to it. The decision to change it to a darker value has been made.  The contrast will create a better overall feel for the work.  The new value will be slightly lighter than the dark green piece of wool lying on top of the work in the above photo.

I also dyed over a blue plaid.  This wool will be hooked in with the black, brown and other dark values going into the bottom section of "Broken Glass".

Find what inspires you to create new designs, never be afraid to admit that change may need to be made and have a great day.

"ROUNDABOUT" COMPLETED, "COASTAL ROUTE" STARTED

"Roundabout"  20 X 20,  Lori LaBerge  2013

Metal parts were added to "Roundabout" this week.  I used clear thread, but may change this as I tend to like the made by hand feel that comes from seeing yarn attaching the metal to the fiber.  Not being patient enough to wait for the 3" washer I ordered to show up at the door, I trotted over to Lowe's again to search for something new.  

It is always interesting to see reactions when you are in the plumbing or electrical aisle, are asked if you need any help, and tell the salesperson you are just looking for items to use in an art piece.

I found the perfect 3" circular item hanging on a rack.  It is a rigid conduit locknut.  I also picked up a 3" galvanized steel floor flange because who knows when a piece may just cry out for one.  The locknut called for "Roundabout" to have a design change as it is quite a bit slimmer than the 3" washer.  The center area was filled with some nuts and a washer representing the common plants and center statue seen in many roundabouts.  The washers to the right side depict vehicles traveling the roadway and balance out the piece nicely.

Another work was started this week:

   "Coastal Route",  20 X 20, rough sketch

The wavy roadway lines sketched through the piece were changed when the design was transferred to linen as I was not happy with the presentation.  Care had to be taken where the wavy lines themselves intersect as well as where they cross with straight lines.  The wider horizontal stripe will be hooked with various shades of blue which have yet to be dyed. 

"Coastal Route" hooking started

I decided to hook randomly in each two inch square.  This is time consuming as the squares need to be kept as straight as possible.  I find myself hooking looser than I normally do to give each square a place to rest and to prevent bulging.

Placing colors in order from light to dark sounds easy.  I had some difficulty as a few of the grays I dyed were very similar.  Look at the far right column in the above photo.  Which is darker, the first or third section?  They are both blue grays, but the lower one is darker than the top one.  This led me to search for a site where you can practice this.  The site is x-rite and you can take their color challenge.  Have fun!

Look closely at the color values of objects around you, decide whether they are light, medium or dark, look at them in relation to similar colors and have a great day.