My attraction to color is what initially drew me to painting. It has also been my biggest headach. Early on, I faced frustration with color. Creating color harmony in my compositions felt impossible. Despite my fascination with vibrant, saturated pigments, I struggled to balance them in a way that allowed the viewer's eye to rest in the scene I was trying to depict. My dissatisfaction grew as I admired my favorite painters—all of which are brilliant colorists. Their skill in balancing harmony and discord in their color compositions has felt out of reach—until I started using the Color Aid card system.
These Color-aid cards have been the key to building my confidence with developing my own color pallettes. The set contains 314 colors, each representing a specific hue, value, and intensity within the color spectrum. The set uses an annotation system on the back of each card, which includes a specific code for identifying the color. This code helps understand the color’s hue, value, and intensity, aiding in comprehending how each color relates to others within the spectrum rather than showing the exact orientation on the color wheel.
Here’s how i’ve been using these cards in color expieriements lately:
"Lately, I've been diving deep into color experiments with my Color-aid cards, focusing on the dynamic tension and harmony between colors. Here's how it goes:
I start by selecting two colors that are opposites on the color wheel, like red violet and yellow green, ensuring they are of similar value. At first glance, these colors seem to clash, creating a sort of 'vibration' when placed side by side.
To soften this tension and weave a sense of harmony between them, I search for intermediary colors that act as a sort of “bridge”. I’ve found it helpful to build an analougous color scheme around these two colors, providing a gradual transition that balances the initial discordance.
Using the Color-aid cards as my guide, I select pigments with the right color bias (i.e. a warm yellow vs a cool yellow”, laying them out in a simple yet telling stripe formation. I pay close attention to where I want to create tension and where I want to create harmony within the composition.
Here’s a weeks worth of these expieriements:
Color is notoriously elusive, its behavior changing dramatically based on its surroundings: the impact of neighboring colors, the texture of the paint on the canvas, the transparency or opacity of specific pigments, and, crucially, the lighting conditions, all play pivotal roles in how a color is perceived and experienced. As a beginning painter, this is why color is a huge fuckin’ headache.
"In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is — as it physically is. This fact makes color the most relative medium in art." —Josef Albers, “The Interaction of Color”
Along with the Color Aid cards, I’ve been reading the book “The Interaction of Color” by Josef Albers. The book is full of color expieriements to help an artist build their sensitivity to color.
I plan to post these color expieriements weekly and share new insights about color theory as I learn them.
I hope this inspires you to be more adventurous with your color choices!
It’s really amazing how elusive color harmony can be as you said! I am always thinking of music and sound as I read this and when I think about color harmony like this it works the same way as sound and it is super fascinating. The similarities between sound harmony and dissonance and how they change depending on their context (just like color) actually makes me super excited for some reason! You can think about and experiment with it endlessly “bridging the gaps” as you said, and sharing a path to a new place or feeling… it’s a story! Or if you choose to create vibrations or a place/context that is uncomfortable or dissonant. Experiment with new feelings to process and plaths to walk. Allowing oneself to acknowledge the effect it has on you while you experiment is therapy and a huge part of why I make art and music. It’s one of the truest ways that when I share my creations (mostly with flute as I haven’t felt I a really reached this level of expression with my artwork) that I truly feel like you KNOW and SEE me for who I really am. I am the least lonely when I know someone can hear what I have to say in this form.
Thank you for the book recommendation from J Albert and the color tool seems really cool. I’m going to check that out!