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Understanding Design & Color in Art

Guest post by: Barbara Garro

Article Overview: Color is amazing in its meaning and feeling. Do the activities in this articles and see if you don't understand what I mean, if you don't already know that certain colors make you feel good, other colors make you feel blah. Then, think about how those same colors interact with the art you have.

Understanding Design & Color in Art

"Without reason art becomes chaotic. Instinct and feeling must be directed by knowledge and judgment." Jay Hambridge

What creates good design? The single simple answer is unity, the ruling principle of artistic design.

What is artistic unity? Unity speaks to a harmonious whole from which nothing can be added or subtracted without diminishing the work.

What are the elements of good design? Here are my Guiding Magnificent Seven of Good Design:

Line is the backbone that suggests movement

Value is the light and dark dance

Shape is the realistic and abstract dance of two dimensions in painted images

Color is the expression dance

Size is the big and little dance

Pattern is the repeating dance that holds the interest

Movement is the push and pull dance that leads the eye

Andrew Loomis said, "art without color would lose much of its purpose." Most of the time this is true, however, there are powerful black and white images, some of which were created through the lens of Ansel Adams and pre-color movie makers.

So, here are my Magnificent Seven of Good Color:

Harmony - a unifying dance that complements unity, or vice versa

Contrast - the dynamic excitement dance of value, color, texture and shape

Thematic Repetition - another unifying dance

Rhythm - the dance that moves through the spaces of the work like a musical beat moves through a song

Texture - the rough, smooth dance

Balance - the aesthetic dance of placement

Dominance - creating the star dance with warm, cool, light, dark, intense, and muted color

Color rules decorating choices. Color feels familiar, because you have a lifelong relationship with color. Color drives your choices in how you dress yourself and decorate your spaces. Look at yourself. Look at the people in your life. Notice how

color choices speak to your personality and others you know.

Want to have some fun with color impact? Decide to wear a different dominant color every single day for six days and black on the seventh day in this order:

Day 1 - Wear Red and look for experiences of excitement, passion and rising emotions

Day 2 - Wear Green and look for experiences of tranquility and nurturing

Day 3 - Wear Orange and look for experiences of high energy, intellect and tension

Day 4 - Wear Blue and look for experiences of harmony, peace and understanding

Day 5 - Wear Yellow and look for experiences of delight, happiness and joy

Day 6 - Wear Purple and look for experiences of confidence, magical happenings and control

Day 7 - Wear Black and look for experiences of invisibility, inner strength and disconnection with the light

Think of the power of color when you make choices of those you will live with after making art and decorating choices. Used positively, color can heal, motivate, enliven your mind, warm your heart, and tickle your soul.

Johannes Itter says, "colors are forces, radiant energies that affect us positively or negatively, whether we are aware of it or not."

What are your favorite colors? How do they make you feel? Why not explore how changing colors can change your life?

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Article Tags: Choosing, Color, Coloring, Colors, Feeling, Harmony, Meaning



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