Opining on Color

I have a new, favorite black.  And green.  It’s easy when you are working on a textile or an art quilt day-in and day-out, to become bored with it.  Perhaps “bored” isn’t the right word…it’s more like “meh” – where you have to dig deep, deep, deep to keep working on it – when what you really want to do is start a new project!  Fresh color!  New ideas!  Endless possibilities!

For weeks now, I have been sewing and sewing and sewing a piece that’s the first in a new restructured series, and I limited myself in color choices to push the envelope of design, without being distracted by multiple colors.  Sometimes color carries a piece of art.  Sometimes color detracts from what the artist is trying to say – think of crisp or moody black/white photos – where adding color would be a loss of design or focus or foreground.  In Ansel Adam’s work, color would just have made his photographs postcards or beautiful landscapes.  But in B/W, Ansel Adams made statements about the grandeur, the awe, the magnitude and majesty in nature.

A simple example from some kitchen photos:

Now you see texture, not the color

So, as I said, I have a new, favorite black.  It comes from AQS and is called “midnight” black, #978-1-232000.  It’s luscious!  Some dark blacks read almost blue – like Veronica’s hair in the old Archie comic books.  Don’t laugh.  They are a staple of my youth!  Some blacks have a gray/silverish finish or hue when turned just slightly to catch the light, while others are not a dark enough tint to really read black, but more like an intense, deep gray, almost blackish.  However, this ‘midnight’ black is just beautiful!  It’s like a walk in the dark, before the moon really starts to rise, or is just a sliver, and you’re away from the city, so no lights are within miles of where you are standing – looking up at the night sky as stars just begin to peek out.

My new favorite green – Cherrywood Citron.    It’s an acid green, without the annoying phosphorescence or other-worldly hue.  It’s delicious!  It’s more intense than a celery green, and more vibrant than a lime, but works beautifully with other shades of green, browns, yellow, and blues, without being garish, or shouting for attention.  It’s a very sexy color, but sexy in an assured and confident way – not a twerking sort of way.  http://cherrywoodfabrics.com/store/products/citron/

So I have taken a break.  Made a fresh pot of coffee.  Opined on my new favorite colors.  It’s back to the digging DEEP to finish a piece that seems like it’s 100 feet long, when it’s really only 5’ square, or close to it.  What I can say, is that I think this will be a significant piece.

Look for something which inspires you, everyday!

 Beth

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