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Color Study 9: Rainbow
Well…..we’re almost to the end. And at the end is everyone’s favorite, the rainbow or full-spectrum. From kindergardners to grownups, there is something so inherently pleasing to the eye, that this color run is used far and wide. Here’s the color block side of the quiltlet:
Now, I guess I must have been living under a rock somewhere most of my life, because I was in my 40s before I learned the memory-trick of Roy G. BiV (which my oldest son learned, and therefore so did I, when he was in pre-school!). It used to be hard to remember what color was on the inside of a rainbow, and what was on the outside. Well, starting with the inside, you have
R–Red
then, in order
O–Orange
Y–Yellow
G–Green
B–Blue
i–indigo (not really, or only sorta, but it makes the mnemonic work)
V–Violet
or (drum roll for the dense, like me) ROY G. BiV! And since the colors run all the way around the color wheel, a circle as the symbol seemed the obvious choice.
If you’ve ever been to the mall…look at how shirts are arranged in stores like the Express Limited, or towels in the Department Store. They look good because even though each t-shirt by itself my be kinda plain, the color run is enticing—it calls out “buy me because I’m beautiful.” Harrumph! Anyway….back to color. Store designers *use* colors because they cause us to react in certain ways. Spas use soothing blues and greens and sea colors. Fast-paced, get-em-in, get-em-out restaurants use bright warm colors…it isn’t an accident that McDonald’s and Burger King both use red and yellow! There’s a whole ton of color psychology information out there, most of which I don’t know, but it sure is fun.
For my quiltlet, I used a diagonal grid composition in all the colors, and in the color progression, of the rainbow:
I didn’t put the medium toned gray into this one…yet. I may bind the center-sides with gray, just for comparison. I still haven’t decided how to finish the edges….couched yarn, gray binding, not sure…..need to quilt them first, then I’ll decide. Any suggestions?
I haven’t yet made any “brown” shades in these studies, nor have I really gone into the tints (add white), shades (add black) or tones (add gray) issue of colors, though I touched on it some in the earlier quiltlets. Should I add some of these or not?
Tomorrow, I’ll show a very simple sampler showing the impact of different colored threads on horizontal bands of color…think plaid made with cloth and quilting thread! Then I’ll yabber a bit about how I choose color, and how and when I leave the intuitive selection and use the color wheel to help me when I’m stuck. Thanks again for surfing in to visit!