I was looking forward to doing the English Patchwork/Colour Exploration activity as soon as I saw it. I chose a photo by TIO, a New York photographer. He has kindly allowed me to use his vibrant image of a Santeria dancer. (I only know him as TIO.) This is the link to his picture. http://www.flickr.com/photos/66179962@N00/1840462551/
Objective: Observe and note colour gradations, patterns, textures, accent colours and proportions of colour in an image that has strong appeal.
Colour Observations: Yellow was predominantly warm (some red) with a small proportion of chartreuse (yellow with a smidge of its complement (violet). The chartreuse lifted the vibrant warm yellow even more. Blue-violet gradations are in the scarf. The head wrap was a mix of blues: blue tinted with white (highlights) and a lesser amount of blue shaded with black for the folds. The skin was where the challenge lay. Red/brown highlights. Green/brown shadows. Black brown heading to black in the darkest area.
Pattern: There are no strongly patterned areas. The texture relies on shadows and highlights. The skin has many nuances and colour changes in a small area.
Fabric Abstraction: Initially I followed the pencil crayon abstraction in selecting the fabric, but found I was loosing the life and vibrancy that attracted me to the image. The picture became my colour reference…for a while. At some point I abandoned the picture and responded to the dynamics of the fabric as more pieces were added. I tried adding the accent colours, the whites of the eyes, the lips, and the ear ring but found they were too representational for this abstract. I see in the picture that a few pieces are upstaging the others and the black is quite harsh in the corner. At this point I am leaving the pieces as is and starting in on the hand piecing.
Objective: Observe and note colour gradations, patterns, textures, accent colours and proportions of colour in an image that has strong appeal.
Colour Observations: Yellow was predominantly warm (some red) with a small proportion of chartreuse (yellow with a smidge of its complement (violet). The chartreuse lifted the vibrant warm yellow even more. Blue-violet gradations are in the scarf. The head wrap was a mix of blues: blue tinted with white (highlights) and a lesser amount of blue shaded with black for the folds. The skin was where the challenge lay. Red/brown highlights. Green/brown shadows. Black brown heading to black in the darkest area.
Pattern: There are no strongly patterned areas. The texture relies on shadows and highlights. The skin has many nuances and colour changes in a small area.
Fabric Abstraction: Initially I followed the pencil crayon abstraction in selecting the fabric, but found I was loosing the life and vibrancy that attracted me to the image. The picture became my colour reference…for a while. At some point I abandoned the picture and responded to the dynamics of the fabric as more pieces were added. I tried adding the accent colours, the whites of the eyes, the lips, and the ear ring but found they were too representational for this abstract. I see in the picture that a few pieces are upstaging the others and the black is quite harsh in the corner. At this point I am leaving the pieces as is and starting in on the hand piecing.
