Color Relationships 2, 2015 week 1

The first session of the Winter 2015 Color Relationships class was held on Friday, January 9. This series of lessons will address the visual phenomena of films, veils, volume color, white light, and colored light. We will explore how we perceive these phenomena, and what strategies we must develop in order to recreate them in our media. We reviewed concepts of arrays and halation that were fundamental to Color Relationships 1, held in the fall of 2014. Then the class was challenged to create an illusion of a black film, using only swatches of opaque gray. The solution was given and discussed, and a new challenge assigned for homework: Create the illusion of a colored film over two or more colors.

Color Relationships 1, 2014 week 5

The fifth session of the Color Relationships class for Fall 2014 was held on Friday, November 7. We tried to find Color-Aid swatches of equal value; discussed real-world observations of luminosity through equal value in an autumn forest scene with Kit Gentry; critiqued the warm-cool color transposition exercises and free color studies; and had a demonstration of creating luminosity in watercolors. This was the final session of the course so there was no new homework assignment. A six-week follow-on class will be offered beginning in January, covering the visual phenomena of films, veils, volume color, white light, and colored light.

Color Relationships 1, 2014 week 4

The fourth session of the Color Relationships class for Fall 2014 was held on Friday, October 31. We critiqued the third color deception assignment, making four colors appear as three. Gabe Mott visited and gave a preview of his Huedoku app, a game based on color matrices as developed by Dick. We practiced recognizing when two hues are of equal value, and saw examples of a special case, vanishing boundaries, which the Impressionists exploited to give their paintings striking luminosity. The new assignment is to transpose a set of four warm colors to a set of cool colors of equal value, in a specific format developed by Josef Albers.

Color Relationships 1, 2014 week 3

The third session of the Color Relationships class for Fall 2014 was held on Friday, October 24. We critiqued the second color deception assignment, “make three colors appear as two, or reversed grounds” and free color studies, as well as revisions of the first color deception exercise, “make one color appear as two”. The third color deception exercise was assigned: make four colors appear as three, showing how two colors can appear to be the same, yet are very different, in a unique format. An exercise with Color-Aid paper gave practice in recognizing arrays and the phenomenon of halation.

Color Relationships 1, 2014 week 2

The second session of the Color Relationships class for Fall 2014 was held on Friday, October 17. We critiqued the homework studies for making one color appear as two. We experimented with matching an arbitrary color by combining transparent primaries in the Trihue demo on this site. The new color deception assignment for this week is to make three colors appear as two, or reversed grounds, and a free color study was also assigned. Links to Illustrator tutorials and references are provided.

Color Relationships 1, 2014 week 1

The first session of the Color Relationships class for Fall 2014 was held on Friday, October 10. Through hands-on exercises, discussion, video, presentation, and worksheets, eleven students experienced the relativity of color and received their first assignment: make one color appear as two. Read the full post for details and class materials.

Color Relationships 2013 week 11

Class recap This was the final meeting of the 2013 color relationships classes. As a review looking back on the course, there was a quiz covering key topics. Students brought in their final projects for critique. It will take time and effort to start applying this new visual vocabulary in your work, and Dick advised…

An artist's "fence posts"

Color Relationships 2013 week 10

Homework You will set your own assignment for a final project. You could set your criteria from the eight “fence posts”. Here are two examples of free color study assignments. Luminosity, Lose a shape Class recap Critique – Assignment 9, Transposing colors of equal value Several students said this was the hardest exercise yet. Distinguishing…