Color is defined as a property possessed by an object which reflects light and is perceived in different ways by the eye depending on how it reflects the light. There are millions of colors in the world, and thanks to Kona, we can now quilt in 303 different solid colors. The availability of solid colored fabrics in such a variety has forever changed the quilting world and the modern quilting movement. In other terms, we have upgraded to the mega box of crayons. But just because we now have the envied 120 ct. pack of crayons, does not mean that we need to use all 120 crayons in every single drawing. With the availability of these colors comes with a bit of design responsibility to truly call a quilt 'modern'. The wildly bright and rainbow themed quilts have become the iconic 'modern quilt', but it is time we learn how to appropriately use color from an art and design perspective. In the first post of this series we will discuss color, mixing colors, the color wheel, and common color schemes.



Color 
All colors, in art, are created through mixing red, blue, and yellow. These three colors are referred to as primary colors. When mixing any two of these colors (in equal parts) we can create secondary colors. If mixing 2 parts of one primary color with 1 part of another primary color, a tertiary color is created.

Mixing Secondary Colors:
Red + Blue = Purple
Blue + Yellow = Green
Red + Yellow = Orange

Mixing Tertiary Colors:
2 Red + 1 Blue = Red-Purple
2 Blue + 1 Red = Blue-Purple
2 Blue + 1 Yellow = Blue-Green
2 Yellow + 1 Blue = Yellow-Green
2 Yellow + 1 Red = Yellow-Orange
2 Red + 1 Yellow = Red-Orange


Color Wheel
A color wheel is a visual way to look at color and mixing colors. Spaced at even distances from each other are the primary colors, red, blue, and yellow. Secondary colors are the colors evenly spaced between the primary colors. On each side of the primary and secondary colors are the tertiary colors. The very center of the wheel is white, as each color gets closer to the center they become lighter and lighter. (Imagine each color is being mixed with white paint.) The same idea can be applied to the outer edge of the wheel, except this time the colors get darker and darker until they reach black. The color wheel can be used as reference when mixing to get certain colors. If you want to make a particular color you can find it on the wheel and approximately how much of two primary colors, white and/or black you'll need to mix to create it. If you are trying to mix gray (which is not shown on the wheel) you can pick a color and then the color directly opposite, such as Red and Green. Mixing these two together in equal parts with white will create gray.


Introduction to Color Schemes
A color scheme is a particular combination of colors, usually used as a guide or plan in a work of art or design. Color schemes typically fall into one of these five groups, monochromatic, complimentary, analogous,  triad, or split-complimentary.


Monochromatic color schemes focus on one color and all the tints and shades of that single color. On a color wheel, this would be a very small slice of the wheel. Imagine having only blue paint, any color you can mix with that blue and white or black could be used in the monochromatic color scheme.



Complimentary colors are color which are completely opposite of each other on the color wheel. Such as blue and orange. These colors look brighter and provide a sharper contrast when placed next to each other. When mixed together these colors also create black.





Analogous colors are colors which reside next to each other on the color wheel. For example, the analogous colors of orange are yellow-orange and red-orange.






Triad colors are three colors even spaced apart from each other on the color wheel. Imaging drawing an equilateral triangle on the color wheel, the color at each point would be in the triad. Examples of these colors would be red, blue and yellow or green, purple and orange.






Split-complimentary color schemes are similar to complimentary, but instead of picking the color exactly opposite of the first color, pick the color to each side of of compliment. So if creating a triad color scheme of blue, instead of choosing green we would use yellow-orange and red-orange.



Color Resources
If you are interested in playing with color or color schemes, check out the resources below.
Adobe Color is a great tool for assisting you in choosing a color scheme. By dragging the color selectors around, the other arms will move and give suggestions on which colors work best with your original two colors. It is intended for UI/web designer to create color schemes using the RGB code at the bottom of the graphic. But who says we can't use it too. Not only is it a great tool, it is also fun to use.

Kona also offers a swatch card of all 303 solid fabrics for sale here.

Through google, you can also find a number of photo to color palette generators. So if you have a photo with a lot of good colors, these generators can pull those colors into swatches for you.

Part Two of this series will cover a few design principles and how to related them to quilting. For more frequent updates, follow @TheStudioOwl on Instagram.