Oh Color!

I love knowing stuff. I have an insatiable curiosity about all kinds of things, and color is right up at the top of the list. I remember listening (over 30 years ago,) to the then technical expert at Winsor & Newton in the US tell me about the Cochineal Beetle and its story of RED!

No, I haven't read Kassia St Clair's book The Secret Lives of Color, but I will.

I HAVE, however, read Victoria Finlay's Color, A Natural History of the Palette, which is pretty definitive, and her The Brilliant History of Color in Art (This one was written for teenagers and the Getty Center and it's got lots of pictures.)

Finlay wrote a fascinating book about Jewels too, which led me to give my diamond ring to my son for when he found "The One," because no jewel is blood-free (and they're getting to the point where experts can't tell the "real" gems from the man-made.)

Philip Ball's Bright Earth talks about "the invention" of color and its use through the ages. It's rather dense reading and it helps if you know your Art History, but I do, so...

After hearing about the Cochineal Beetle (it's not a synthetic and to this day if you want RED lipstick, you are getting ground up Cochineal Beetles. Hey, it's natural and organic!!), I had to read A Perfect Red.

I've also read MAUVE, and The Rarest Blue.

PINK, The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color is on its way to my house. (This should surprise no one.)

Black, Green, Blue and Yellow, each my Michael Pastoureau are on my waiting list. (Actually Yellow will be released in November 2019).

I read these because I love to paint and I like knowing how my paints work and where they came from. Most of these are pretty in-depth, but there's a lot more to color than you think.

I should warn you, however, knowing ABOUT color may not improve how you WORK with it. Generally, color sense is inborn, and can't be taught. I remember once at a quilt show I was at a vendor booth and I was choosing fabric to buy. The lady behind the counter said to me, "You don't have any trouble with color, do you?"

"Nope."

Then, there are these:

 The great Mac Daddy of them all, The Interaction of Color by Josef Albers and this little one, Colors, the Story of Dyes and Pigments. I used the little one a lot when I was planning my Nine x Nine quilt.

When Julie and I were at the MFA in Boston five years ago, I bought this:

which is by no means scientific or definitive.

While I almost never wear any color like this one (Amberglow), I am pretty sure none of my friends would disagree with at least TWO of the attributes at the top of the page. Different and Daring definitely defines me.

And yeah, when I go over the top, I keep going.

As you can tell.





If you want to make free pieced letters, like the ones in my Nine x Nine quilt, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download, so you can get started right away.