Firstly, I’d like to state that I know very little about colour theory. In fact, what little I know, I learnt a long time ago in high school art class. I’m just telling you what I do when I get into a colour rut.

A colour rut… I am pretty sure a lot of us have been in a colour rut at one time or another. Where you find yourself using the same colours over and over again, or you just can’t find the right combination that pleases your eye.

So, what to do?? There are several options available to you…

Colour Wheels - there are many variations of colour wheels available on the internet these days. They give you various combinations of colours, where you pick one colour and it will give the contrast colours, complimentary colours, etc, etc. These colour wheels follow the ‘rules’ of colour theory that has been established over many years.

Paint Swatches - you’ll find paint swatches where most paints are sold, e.g. hardware stores, paint stores, etc. The companies that manufacture the paints have put these together to help people to choose colour schemes for their homes. They tend to use schemes in warm, cool and neutral tones with feature colours. These can be very useful for selecting colours in your chosen art. Some paint swatches also have varying amounts of colour, so you can follow these for which colour to use as a base or main colour, and which to use as highlight colours.

Fabrics and Papers - there are millions of different fabric prints available for you to use as inspiration. Many stores that specialize in selling fabrics have scrap bins, these are perfect to rummage through to find pieces that offer you combinations of colours to use. Just pick the colours out and go! As well as fabrics, there are also papers, like the type used for scrapbooking or the beautiful chinese papers.

Product Packaging/Branding - companies spend a lot of money on getting their packaging and branding right. They know that the colours used can make or break a sale. Check out the packaging of your commonly used items, you’ll find a wealth of colour combinations that you can use in your own designs.

Nature - nothing can beat nature for drawing inspiration from. Look out the window at the flowers in your garden, or even your holiday photos. There are many photographs available online that you can browse. Also, don’t just look at the ‘big’ pictures, check out the close up’s, the macro shots. You’ll be amazed at how many different hues can be found in a single flower petal, or on a tropical bird.

Paintings - check out the art gallery. See what colours the old and new master’s used. You can break down the paintings into their main colours and use them in your own art. For example have you ever noticed that people that use various greens and purples together often end up naming their pieces after Monet?

I’m sure there are many other things that you can gain some colour inspiration from. Just look around and you’ll discover the magic of colour around you.

If you’re unsure how to break an image into its various colours, here is what I do using the Adobe Photoshop program.

• First, I load an image into photoshop. Here i’ve used Monet’s ‘Impression: Sunrise’.

• Then go to Filter and click on Filter Gallery.
• Under Artistic, you will find Cutout, click on that.
• Play around with the sliders until you get blocks of colour that you can use to make a colour palette with. You can choose as few or as many colours as you please. If you decide to use only a few colours, you will have much more contrast between them. Whereas if you use alot of colours you will get more blending and colour flow in your creations.

• To pick out the colours, you can use the eye dropper tool. Then just block the colours together to make a palette. It’s as simple as that!

Remember, you don’t have to use equal amounts of each colour either. It’s amazing how much difference it makes when you use more of one colour than the others.

I’ve used the above techniques in both my lampwork beads and my jewellery. I’m sure you can use it in any medium.

So, play with colour and most of all have fun!!

I finally got a chance to play with the new Terra glass.  This glass is one that is packed with silver and changes into rainbows of colours when worked in the flame.

I got some beautifully subtle colours of blues, greens, tans and even some hints of purples.

So.. here they are!

 

al-Uzza… Desert Goddess of the Morning Star