Challenge 31 - Planes/Masses with Saturated/Muted colors

Challenge #31 - Friday, March 27 , 2009 Hostess - Susan Brittingham

Working in Series: Continue in your series, start a new series, or whatever makes you feel comfortable

Color Concept: Highly Saturated colors combined with diluted or muted colors (TONES)
(high intensity color and muted color)

Color is always seen in relationship to the other colors surrounding it. When we place a highly saturated color next to a muted color, the saturated color tends to look even more vibrant than it would next to other pure colors. This interaction creates the illusion of luminosity.

We think of saturated colors as “pure” colors at their most intense concentrations. Highly saturated colors are undiluted by white, black or gray. They are vibrant.

Diluted or muted colors are neither pure nor intense but are grayed or toned. Tones are diluted by the addition of a combination of black and white (gray). These less saturated colors are closer to neutrals. Shades and tints are also less saturated than pure hues.

It is easy to use colors of similar intensity together, more challenging to mix low intensity colors with high intensity colors. http://studiochalkboard.evansville.edu/c-saturate.html
http://www.pomona.edu/academics/courserelated/classprojects/Visual-lit/saturation/saturation.html

JMW Turner is a master of Luminosity ttp://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2007/turner/index.shtm
My favorite example of luminosity in a quilt is Jenny Bowker’s “Hearthstones” http://www.jennybowker.com/hearthstones.htm

Composition Concept: Planes & Masses (Light & Shadow)
We can add dimension to our pieces by working with light and shadow to create the illusion of planes and masses. A plane is a flat surface. Flat planes adjacent to each other can form the illusion of mass when we use value changes to define them.

Edges softly rendered create the illusion of curvature, while those that are sharply defined by high contrast suggest hard edges. http://www.psychologie.tu-dresden.de/i1/kaw/diverses%20Material/www.illusionworks.com/html/illusion_in_art.html

Artist Julian Beever and other street painters create amazing 3-D sidewalk art using the mastery of planes and masses to produce a sense of space and dimension. http://www.moillusions.com/2007/12/julian-beevers-new-3d-sidewalk.html

Certainly many artists make use of light and shadow to create depth. One such artist is Giorgio de Chirico. There are countless images of his work on the web. Here are just a few:
http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Giorgio_de_Chirico_IVAM.html

In his work Piazza d’Italia and several other of his works, Chirico uses both the same color concept and composition concept as in this month’s challenge.

Andrew Wyeth is another master of light and shadow to depict planes and masses. Wyeth tends to work in a toned color palette, with occasional burst of purer color.
http://www.delart.org/exhibitions/something_waits.html

A number of examples of planes and masses expressed in quilts can be found here, in the gallery of Sue Holdaway-Heys, particularly in her architectural pieces. http://www.sueholdaway-heys.com/

This example has both the luminosity of greyed tones and pure bright color, plus the depth we get from the skillful use of light and shadow. http://www.sueholdaway-heys.com/GalleryStable.html

Esterita Austin is another quilter with a fantastic grasp of planes and masses. Visit her gallery here: http://www.esteritaaustin.com/gallerymain.htm and be sure to see “Ruins I”