Design Challenge using Line and Elements of Color

The Quilters Studio – Art Quilt Challenge              2^nd Saturday of month 10:30 am (Sept to May)

Challenge #22                   Elements of Color and Line            Dec 10th /due Jan 14th    

Challenge:  Use the element of Line and the 3 elements of Color (Hue, Value, Intensity) in a design study piece.  You will need 2 inspiration sources:  one for line, another for color

Definitions: 

·         Line:  the basic element that refers to the continuous movement of a point along a surface, there are curved, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, zigzag, wavy, parallel, dash, and dotted lines. The edges of shapes and forms also create lines.

·         Hue:  the name of the color, also known as the color family.  There are 12 colors/hues/color families on the color wheel :  red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, violet (purple), and red-violet

·         Value:  the relative darkness or lightness of a color: light, medium, dark and everything in between

·         Intensity:  the relative brightness or dullness of a color: tints, tones, shades and pure hues

          Tints – white added to pure hue Tones – grayed hue   Shades – blackened hue

Challenge Instructions:

Step 1:  Design with Lines.  Find an image with appealing lines (architectural, nature, textures, etc).  Trace the lines.  Use a viewfinder/paper window to select an interesting portion of the traced lines. Trace the selection and enlarge if needed

Step 2:  Color Study. Find an image/source with an appealing color scheme (photos, art, magazines, fabric, nature, etc).  Identify the color families.  Add a zinger color if needed.  Make color chart with colored pencils, crayons, watercolor, fabric swatches or paper from magazines.  Arrange colors from light to dark.  Evaluate to make sure you have some of all of the values and intensities – light/medium/dark/pure hue/tint/tone and shade.  Add colors as needed to get the variety of values and intensities.  Decide on the proportions of colors to use.  Avoid equal amounts of colors.  Zinger amount should be no more than 10%

Step 3:  Make your small art quilt using the line design with the colors, values and intensities from the color study. 

Remember this important rule:  better done than perfect!    Don’t agonize about which image or color scheme to use, just choose one.   Make a small piece and/or use quick fusing techniques if you don’t have much time.

References:

·         Look at some of these texture websites for line images – the wood grains are especially interesting  http://www.cgtextures.com/    http://www.texturewarehouse.com/gallery/ www.mayang.com/textures

·         Look at some of these websites for possible color schemes  http://decoratinggallery.bhg.com/   http://www.colourlovers.com/trends http://www.nationalgeographic.com/  http://www.gettyimages.com/CreativeImages                                                                                               

·         Look at some of these design websites for  understanding the element of Line http://www.slideshare.net/ebrosnan/the-element-of-line http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/element/element.htm

·         This challenge is based on the Design Process exercise found in Jean Wells’ book, Intuitive Color and Design – page 68.  Here’s a trailer for the book   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GtHr6_qHg0    You don’t need to buy the book to do this challenge…all the info you need is above, but it’s a great book for design and also construction techniques and edge finishing.