Happy Monday Everyone! I am so excited today to have my great friend Lindsey here with us today. You might know Lindsey from her blog Ovenless Chef that offeres great ideas to those of us living without ovens. In addition to being a great cook, Lindsey is a really creative artist. I asked Lindsey if she would write a series of posts helping to explain how to understand colors. I am terrible at choosing colors for my projects and clothes and SOOO excited that Lindsey is here to help!
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Let's lay this out nice and simple.
First, get familiar with your color wheel. If need be, make yourself a color-wheel, be it painted, a small patch quilt, or just a handy printout.
The Basic color wheel contains 6 colors. Yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, and green. Your Primary colors are red, yellow and blue. What makes them primary? ALL other colors are derived from these three. You can not mix or make these colors using any combination of other colors... they are the roots. :)
Your secondary colors are green, orange and purple. They are created by combining two primary colors. yellow+blue=green, yellow +red= orange, and red+blue=purple.
You also have warm colors... red, orange and yellow
and cool colors... purple, blue and green
Then of course, we must point out complementary colors... these are colors that are opposite one another on the color wheel and will give you great contrast in your colorful creations! So... basic compliments are yellow/purple, blue/orange, and red/green.
These are the color wheel basics.
How does this help you color coordinate while crafting or getting dressed? Well, there are a few simple methods you can use to put this color wheel to work for you.
1. Simply choose one half of the color wheel. By this I mean you choose three colors that are touching, it doesn't have to be warm colors or cool colors, it can be yellow, green and blue... or orange, yellow, and green... or red, blue and purple... well, you get the idea. Choosing three colors that touch on the color wheel insures that your color scheme flows together nicely. Now if you happen to be throwing neons or crazy prints in the mix, this could throw off that reliability factor, but mild prints and solids are great to start with on this rule. Also... remember that you can use two of the three to dress with and then add the third in with accents like scarves, jewelry, hairpieces, shoes, belts and purses. So to start simple, try this technique.
2. For wow factors or attention getters, try using complimentary colors. These color combos are designed for contrast! That is why at Christmas, the red and green pop when placed next to each other. So... to brighten up your spring and summer wardrobe, try pairing those lovely yellows with pops of purples. Again, using accessories is the perfect way to pull this off. Remember that a little can go a long way and that your accent pieces do not all have to be in the same shade of purple... just so log as they are in the family! ;)
3. Warm colors and cool colors are another way to get some dramatic results. Because these two groups of colors fall into the the same rule as #1 above, they work well when paired together... but they also work well when used in contrast as in #2. So say you wear a simple blue dress, but want to jazz it up a bit... you can wow the crowd by adding accents that fall in the warm colors range. So maybe a necklace that has yellows, oranges and reds... or dangle earrings including the warm colors to make the blue pop. Same goes for wearing a warm color... if you wear a yellow top with your blue jeans and want to add some color without getting to crazy, use your cool colors to add a little contrast while keeping it tame. :)
Warm colors tend to be more bold while cool colors are more mild... so think about what type of statement you are trying to make or what type of mood you are in before choosing a color scheme for the day... or night! :)
Our next edition of Color 101 will include: Neutral Colors
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Lindsey, thank you so much! These are awesome tips on how to coordinate colors. I can't wait to see what you share with us next time!
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