Adding Color to your Art Quilts
Color is probably the art element that attracts and motivates most artists to begin work. For most people it is the most engaging aspect. For my take on this subject, I am going to focus on how I choose to adding color to my abstract art quilts. In general, I chooose 3-4 colors to work with. Then I find the range of hues from light to dark to add for balance and interest. I often use bright colors while I find a pale palette of beiges and whites to be very calming. I work on a large white flannel design wall.
To begin, Where do I get my ideas? How do I decide on which colors I want to work with? Most of my materials are from FABMO, a non profit that gets castoff materials from designers. Swatches of a wide range of colors with slight variations provide a lot of choices. Here are some ideas I have inspired me to get started.
A Photograph
A friend sent me this photograph of a colorful bird from Australia. Rarely do I work from photographs. I will not be using the bird however, the hues of purple,blue and black will be in an abstract art quilt in the near future.
Look Down
While working on a piece,I tossed the extra fabric in a box on the floor next to me. I did this repeated. At the end of the day, I looked down and saw these wonderful grey and lime green colors together. I gathered them up and put the in a special place to work on later. This was the piece inspired by leftovers. May I note that I usually don’t use these colors.
Using Up Materials
Sometimes I just start a project with materials or colors that I want to use up. I might have too big a piece of fabric or too much of one color. Some artists might find this idea very unorthodox or even unsettling. When I started City Lights, I had a pile of blue fabric that I wanted to diminish. Sand Between My Toes allowed me to make use of whites and beiges. Sea Turtles is not an abstract art quilts but I had a large piece of blue synthetic fabric that I used for the background. The turquoise plants are also created from fabric I wanted to use up.
Use the Palette of a Commercial Piece of Fabric
A fabric friend suggested this to me several years ago. I have to admit I couldn’t wrap my mind around this idea for a long time. Go to a fabric store. Look at the colors on the commercial fabrics. Very experienced designers work to create these prints. Choose a palette that you would like to use. You don’t need to use the fabric just let the colors inspire you.
In my abstract art quilt, Spring Break I did use some of the fabric. However, the process of chosing the materials was driven by the colors of the original piece of redirected linen. I looked for complementary colors from the fabrics I already had.
In conclusion, inspiration for art can be found in many unusual places. Inspiration comes from spending time in your studio. Keep your mind open and inspiration will appear.
Here are some other articles that you may be interested in.https://annbaldwinmayartquilts.com/2020/03/using-discontinued-fabrics/
https://annbaldwinmayartquilts.com/2020/01/creating-movement-in-abstract-art-quilts/
The following article is about Spring Break, art quilt.
https://annbaldwinmayartquilts.com/2017/09/abstract-art-quilts-a-work-in-progress/