Learning about color.

I don't claim to know much about color and I have no problem admitting that since I started beading - one of the biggest learning curves for me has been colors and the color wheel. I never knew there was so much to it - complementary, analogous, triads...I suppose that sounds funny to anyone educated in art.

I have learned so much since I started beading in 2005 and continue to learn each and every time I work on a new beading project. I see colors so differently now, often amusing the man in my life who is an artist and has been from the time he was a child. Many times he urged me to look at the multitude of books on art and color he has accumulated over the years, but you know the old saying, you can lead a horse to water...

It wasn't until I bought a book "The Beaders Guide to Color" by Margie Deeb that I started really paying attention. Prior to picking up that book I couldn't remember really looking at a color wheel. If you have ever struggled with color - I highly recommend this book, it has so much information on color in a wonderful, easy to read format and it's chock full of great photos.

A while back I was compelled to bead something for a very generous woman I met online through one of my bead groups - a very talented bead artist who's work I greatly admire (see past post a collaborative effort to view one of her wonderful beaded faces. In the online group to which we both belong we were encouraged our favorite beading colors - she listed 'analogous complementary' in blues/greens. I went strait to my Beaders Guide to Color to look it up and promptly challenged myself to bead something in that color scheme. The result is this heart.


Now, had I thought it out a little better - I would not have used a pink form - I find it a little distracting with the little bit of pink you can see beyond the beads.

This form is about 2 inches - made by Ronda Kivett, the face is from Sculpted Windows.