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Dreaming in Color - Color is Powerful with Jean Wells

Color is the big idea in your work. It emphasizes feelings. I am sure you have heard someone refer to moody blues, say red is a passionate color, or that green is associated with relaxation and growth. Violet is dignity and royalty, orange is confidence and enthusiasm, white is innocence and beauty, and yellow is sunshine and happiness are other color associations. What associations do you have with each of these colors? How do they make you feel?

Get out your journal, or a piece of paper, and write down the color names above and then think of a word that you associate with each color. You might try this exercise with a friend. It is a great conversation to have with someone, and you will learn even more about color in the process.

In this post, I am focusing on the emotions and associations tied to primary and secondary colors on the color wheel. Let's jump in with an example from my journal.

Today, I received a packet of Dwarf Teddy Bear sunflower seeds in the mail. The message said “A gift from your Sisters Garden Club! Sunflowers, the official flower for 2021, represents loyalty, adoration and happiness. Grow in pots or in the ground.” What a nice act of kindness to receive these on a cold, rainy, winter day! It makes me want to send you some sunshine from my garden last summer. Sunflowers are my pride and joy in the garden, and I can always depend on seeds from the past summer to sprout in April.

Yellow is the color of sunshine and always makes me feel warm, even when it is a soft pastel yellow. I feel hopeful when I see yellow for some reason. How about you, how does yellow make you feel? In quilt making, I use yellow when I need a light value, or a bright bit of color.

Green has been my favorite color for as long as I can remember and in the last few years bright yellow green has become my go to color. At the Stitchin’ Post the employees call this shade of green, “Jean Green”. For me, green is a calm, refreshing color that symbolizes growth and renewal.

We use our color associations when putting an outfit together for a special occasion (maybe a lunch date with a friend), when we are trying to come up with a new palette for a quilt, or when choosing new colors for a room in our home. It is the most emotional element the quilter has in their toolbox to work with. You become a “Colorist”!

Blues aren’t just moody after all, are they? They can be subtle, bold, uplifting as a beautiful fall sky. When you mix red and blue together you get violet.

The iris is a perfect example of complementary colors with the soft yellow center. See how the green acts as a neutral in this photograph? I always say in the classroom when someone is stuck that some form of green might save the day. In the next photo, the purple center in the yellow flower is very intense.

As we move to red, think about being alert or in danger, as red is used to warn others about danger or to caution them in situations. There is strong beauty in the color red. I enjoy seeing it move to red/violet in the close up image of a dahlia below.

Orange is the last hue in our basic color examination. It is a happy color and is associated with fall and Halloween. It can also be a dangerous color when it comes to forest fires, as you can see from the last photo that Betty Daggett shared with me from the fire in Gates, OR.

Clues are everywhere: magazines, Pinterest, museums, travel, scarfs. Study how other artists use color. The more you study this work the more you realize that color is an individual choice. Doug Phillips chose these colors to paint the garage door at their home. When you see his wife Tonye’s quilts, you can certainly see a connection.

Color is your special way to tell a story. Associations with colors will influence your use of them in your work. There have been times when I was asked to use a particular color in a commission quilt or group challenge that I did not care for. However, with that challenge I pushed myself to look for other colors that I liked that might play well with it. Be adventuresome and enjoy color challenges as you develop your favorite combinations.

Each month I select fabrics for new pencil packs to help get you started with your own color experiments. This month’s three new pencil packs remind me that spring is on the way.

My books also offer more color ideas and many exercises to get your creativity flowing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dreaming in Color - Looking

Looking Up - Looking Down - Looking All Around

Our environment is full of eye candy this time of year with all of the fall colors and textures. I really feel like an explorer trying to get last minute hikes and drives in before the snowfall. Lately, when I'm outdoors the intense blue of the sky catches my attention. I've realized that it is like a “neutral” in my photographs, because it seems to go with all the other hues. Going forward, I will certainly think of this sky blue more when I am planning a palette.

The vibrant colors of fall mostly fit into the warm category when you consider the temperature of the hues. In fall you see a variety of yellows - to oranges - to rusts. However, there are always the mavericks like the wine color in the leaf pile I captured. Once winter starts rolling in the hues become cooler here in Central Oregon. When you are out and about in your area, consider temperature when something catches your eye.

Our store neighbor Deanna, from Flowers by Deanna, really creates magical arrangements. In the one below, the bright violet and green awed me, and the deep orange like pods surrounded by the other greens. When you see something like this that strikes you, take a minute to put on your detective hat and figure out the proportion of each of the color families that you see. You are not only attracted to the various elements of the arrangement, but to the percentage of colors in relationship to the whole.

Texture plays a big role in this photo too. It makes me think about stitching, and how I could add that element in design.

One of my favorite classes to teach is Color Work Table Runner. It embraces the rulerless cutting technique, from my Intuitive Color and Design book, that I love to share with students. Fall colors were on my mind when I picked the palette for the runner below. The main print I selected really expanded my idea of fall with it's raspberry, light aqua, forest green, and bits of white.

Last Saturday our sky was so intense. I stood outside for several minutes taking photo after photo. My husband and I were commenting that when the sun starts moving south in the fall it sets behind the Three Sisters and there is something about the light that creates these marvelous colors.

Take a look around and discover what inspires you!

If you want to make your own Color Work table runner you can find the pattern here, and see a video of Jean talking about how she choose the color pallet for the five examples below on YouTube. Of course, you can find all the supplies you may need at stitchinpost.com .

Dreaming in Color - In the Garden

It’s August already! Where did the time go? Many of you attended my “Dreaming in Color” Lecture series late this spring. After experiencing the stay at home order, I was really excited when Valori asked me to do the color lecture series. I finally felt like I had a purpose, and I could once again connect with many of you, which is what I love most about teaching. Not being able to travel and teach, I spend more time than ever in the garden and I think I have my best garden yet.

Gardens are great teachers for all of us and keep us humble. Best-laid plans do not always work with temperature changes, and the ever-present wind that we get in the late spring. I learn a great deal about color as I watch my flowers begin to bloom and burst into color. The changes in the individual flowers are like color inspiration in itself. For me one of the best experiences is throwing out “Cut and Come Again” zinnia seeds and seeing what colors appear. I take reference photos all summer long to use as prompts when working on new pieces.

Paradise in the Garden was created several years ago after planting the seeds I mentioned above at our old house. I really had no idea if they would come up, then they surprised me and did. What I learned from these colorful gems is that any color can work when there is some form of green with it, and it really doesn't matter what color is next to the other. I tell my students that the color green is nature’s neutral.

Bright, intense colors became more interesting to me at that time, and I started using them as a light values in my work rather than white or cream. In this close up, you can see how the melon like orange works as a light value.

I have been preparing for an online class I am teaching, Adventures in Art Quilting, and use the color and value assignment on page 56 in “Intuitive Color and Design”, updated second edition. Choosing seven fabrics to work with is the first step. The apron display photo that I took in Morocco during the Creatives Retreat with Valori Wells and Kelly Sheets has been waiting to prompt me on color, so I worked with it. Working with a journal during the design process is very helpful to me.

The seven colors I choose are arranged in what I considered light to dark values. There are two surprises that appeared when I took a black and white photograph. The intense orange appears dark, and we know it isn’t in real life. (In black and white photographs brights will always appear as dark values.) The other surprise is that the last two fabrics on the right hand end need to reverse positions, as the raisin brown color is darker than the teal.

As I worked through the assignment of making nine simple blocks I found that the dull “raisin” color was very useful. So often as designers we forget the dull fabrics, and they really help the others colors in a palette to sing. I also found that the light pink worked well in most every combination. It is not a color I normally would have chosen to work with. Working from a photograph in choosing colors put me in a position of responding to what I saw that had interested me when I took the photograph in the tiny shop in Morocco.

Needing a setting fabric for the blocks I had created I started auditioning possibilities. Nothing seemed to work, and was a distraction with the blocks. I remembered Freddy Moran telling me that white is like a beacon of light in the garden. Her contemporary home is painted black and she has numerous white flowering shrubs and plants as well as bright zinnias and petunias in her garden. That motivated me to look for black and white prints to use in creating a setting for these blocks. In an earlier blog this year I shared the photograph you see below of the colorful beads draped over the pottery.

In studying the photo I saw that the density of black vs. white changed in the individual pottery pieces, just like it does in black and white print fabrics. I started pulling black and white prints. Value changes started appearing when I laid them out. At this point it dawned on me that the density in the print contributed to the value changes. That excited me to see if I could make it work with my nine colorful blocks. As you can see, one of the prints has some color. I was attracted to the script writing so I cut around the colors and pieced the script together. You will notice that two of the prints have more of a muslin color background instead of white. I welcome these variations as I feel they make the quilt more interesting.

For this particular setting I stacked the blocks creating a color story and surrounded them with horizontal strips of black and white -  beginning lighter at the top and getting denser at the bottom. I can hardly wait to begin quilting this piece, it reminds me of my fabulous adventures in Morocco.

This post inspired Jean to put together a new black and white Dreaming in Color fat quarter bundle. 

Dreaming in Color - "Surrounding Colors" with Jean Wells

Who would have thought we would be living through a pandemic and all it's changes? I am sure most of you are in “shelter in place” mode and that everyone is being extremely careful about being safe. Stitching and dreaming about color have saved the day for me during these difficult times, as well as other times in my life. I hope they do for you as well. 

Before we jump into the post, I want to give a “shout out” to Valori and her team. Since this all started, they have stayed in touch with all of you through the Stitchin’ Post newsletter, filled many desperate orders, hand delivered some of them at the back door, and donated hundreds of yards of fabric for masks. Everyone is really pitching in. Violette and Olivia, Valori's 12 and 14 year old daughters, were helping until home school started up a couple of weeks ago. The girls learned to answer the phone, take and fill orders, and how to mail out goods. Their teachers were impressed, as was I, on what they learned to do. Stitchin' Post is a true family business. 

Now, let's talk about color...

Spring is a fabulous time to observe color, as there are daily changes right outside the door. We are fortunate enough to be able to go on walks, and can take drives in the car, but stopping at parks and forest service viewpoints is currently prohibited. My friend Betty shared some photos from the tulip fields near Mt. Angel, Oregon with me. They reminded me of my tulip photo album, and how much flowers have been a color inspiration in my work.

Put on your detective hat when you study an image, and mentally take note of the proportions of the individual colors you are seeing. You are not only drawn to the color that jumps out at you, but the others that surround it. Those surrounding colors make the focal color interesting.

The yellow centers in the red tulips make the red even brighter. It is like a burst of sunlight. The duller greens surrounding the flowers allow the flowers to take center stage. In the photo of the feathered petal tulips, the glorious red orange grabs your attention, but notice how much green there is to support it.

The painterly feeling in the petals is so beautiful in the photo above. Notice how each of the flowers in the distance are slightly different color combinations. Look at how the white and the yellow become “beacons of light” in the composition. Years ago, my dear friend Freddy Moran shared that observation with me about white in a garden.

“Third Grade Art Class” is a quilt I purchased from Freddy that just spoke to me (pictured above). The wide variety of light values make the quilt more interesting than just one light color would. The strong intensity in the red and yellow brings life to the piece.

“Summer Garden” is a quilt that evolved over a year from my class samples, where I focused on similar summer colors. When I went to design the quilt, pure white just seemed to work to highlight the variety of design elements. Freddy and I used a similar palette, but the results are unique to each of us in the quilts we designed. This is the quilt that my publishers chose for the cover of my last book, Intuitive Color & Design.

I find myself going back to the basic color vocabulary that I mentioned in an earlier post whenever I talk about color. These descriptive words help you to have a conversation when you are working with color in a project, or just studying color. Let's review...

• Value - light vs dark
• Intensity - dull (muted) vs bright (clear)
• Temperature - cool vs warm
• Volume (weight) - light weight vs heavy
• Complementary Colors  - opposites on the color wheel (great when you need a spark)

I find myself using the descriptive words above when I talk to myself during the design process, when I am troubled, or looking for just the right color. It occurred to me that these are also forms of contrast that are useful in the design process. I have a tendency to love colors that are all “comfy” together and have an elegance to them, but deep down I know if a design is going to work it needs contrast of some kind. 

Living where I do, nature has been the inspiration I go to. There is something magical that I feel about the sky when I am standing in a grove of ponderosa pine trees looking up. The intensity (there is that word) of the blue against the green of the trees is so beautiful.

The movement of water in creeks and streams, and the colors that are created always interest me. I am so fortunate to live in Oregon, with clear, fast-moving water.

I am working on a mini group challenge quilt at the moment with the theme of “water dance.” All my stones are hand appliqued in place, and the French knots are the water droplets making their way through the stones. It is my current evening stitching project.

I have collected rocks and been fascinated by stone configurations my whole life… This newest untitled quilt of mine was inspired by high mountain streams and glacier stone. I began the process of gathering fabrics with the deep blue greens that I literally feel when I see these places. The ever present greys in the stones were just a given. As I built the palette, I remembered the intense yellow greens barely under the water that jump out at you, and the volcanic cinder stones. The palette just took on a life of its own when I let it, and this quilt was such a joy to make.

In closing, thank you for letting me talk about color and quilting, and feel like I am in the classroom again. I miss all of you special people! I cannot thank my daughter Val enough for carrying on so beautifully with the store and reaching out to all of you, along with her fabulous team, through her online newsletters. We can hardly wait to reopen our doors and set up a “socially distanced” classroom.

Jean fabric choices for this month's Dreaming in Color bundle were inspired by Freddy's quilt, "Third Grade Art Class." It, and Jean's other Dreaming in Color fat quarter bundles, are available here. 

How to: Piecing Free Form Triangles with Jean Wells

Jean is a home, staying safe and busy in her studio. She wanted to share a technique she's been having fun with: piecing free form triangles. 

Here are her instructions:

I stitched together several free form triangle blocks in a palette of fabrics from Cotton and Steel, In The Woods collection, that just called out to me to play with.

Notice in the sample above, none of the triangle shapes are exactly alike. The differences give it more of a playful feeling. Also notice that the triangle shapes do not reach the top of the blocks.

To create your own triangles...

1. Cut free form triangles, no two alike. Remember to allow for a 1/4” seam allowance on all three edges.
2. Measure the height of the tallest triangle and add 1 1/4” to that measurement. Cut a strip of background fabric to the measurement you just calculated, if using all the same fabric for the background. When not using the same background fabric for all blocks, cut as you go--but do make sure to have at least 1 1/4” more background fabric at the top edge of your triangle. It can always be trimmed off later.
3. Lay your triangle on the background fabric right side up. Place the straight edge of a ruler along the edge of the triangle. Cut along the edge of the ruler.
4. Place the background fabric on top of the triangle with right sides together. Begin at the bottom of the triangle, and stitch the fabrics together. Press the seam allowance toward the triangle.
   
5. Place the straight edge of the ruler on the right hand side of the triangle with right side facing up. Trim off the excess background fabric at the top of the block so you have a straight edge for your next seam.
6. Lay the triangle piece on the strip of background fabric right side up. Place the straight edge of the ruler along the right hand edge of the triangle and cut through the background fabric.  Sew, right sides together, as you did in step 4.
7. Trim your block into a rectangle as follows: Trim the bottom of your block flush with the bottom of the triangle. Cut sides a minimum of 1/4" from widest part of triangle, and the top should a minimum of 1 1/4" from the top point of the triangle.

This technique can also be used to create a border of triangles like the one below.

Keep the background fabric all the same and work from left to right inserting triangles. Cut a strip of background fabric the full length you need and cut and insert triangles one at a time as described above. 

 

 

Dreaming in Color - Color Balancing

The past two months have been filled with the bright colors of summer even though it is winter in Sisters. This is the time of year that I work on quilts that will be donated to fundraisers for Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. Our theme for our 45^th anniversary show this year is “My Kind of Town.” As always, I began my project by pulling as many fabrics as possible in the colors I choose to work with. Once that's done, I turn to balancing colors in my composition.

“Summertime” is my 22” x 34” quilt for the Storybook that Dan Rickards of the Clearwater Gallery creates for display during Quilter's Affair and Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. As I thought about this year's theme, what came to mind is our wonderful little town and looking out onto the landscape that surrounds us. As I looked at my fabric choices, I could see a strong contrast in temperature (warm vs cool colors). My challenge would be to balance this contrast out as I made my final fabric choices.

The top portion of the piece is mostly cool colors with a few bits of warm accents. I made a decision to use the deep magenta as an accent throughout. Since I was working mostly with solids, I looked for fabrics with visual texture that would add interest. You can see the textured blue in the sky and the two textures in the cottage.

The photo above is where I start transitioning into the lower field area, there you start to see more warm colors. You can see where greens and yellow ochre begin to play a bigger role. Notice that you still see the magenta, and a bit of really pale pink to mimic the pink in the sky above. Also in this area, French Knot embroidery adds a playful feeling and introduces the idea of a summer garden up close.

To carry through with the landscape feel, the sections of fabric became larger. It took me a bit of time to balance out the colors, always referring to what came above. Proportions of the shades of yellow ochre really came into play. I sketched a playful garden and planned to add over the top of this area. Originally, I was going to hand applique leaves and flowers there.

But, as I added the patterned fabric, it felt really busy and did not honor the colors and piecing above. So, I abandoned the idea and free motion sketched the lines and shapes, then filled in some subtle color with embroidery.

This just goes to prove the point that I tell the students in the classroom: When you get to the last one third of telling the story in the design process, the quilt will tell you what it needs. We just have to listen!

Another recent project related to the upcoming Quilt Show is fabric postcards. I created three 4” x 6” postcards for the WISH Upon A Card project, to be auctioned during Quilter's Affair (two are pictured above). The proceeds go toward an art scholarship for a deserving high school student in Sisters. If you are interested in making a card, go to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show website. You can contact them with your mailing address and request a material packet. During the week of Quilter's Affair, cards will be on display at the High School, and available for sale during the lunch hour. 

For those interested in experimenting with the color palette from my Summertime quilt, we've created a summertime fat quarter bundle with six of the fabrics I used. 

Dreaming in Color - Shades of Winter with Jean Wells

It is January, and as I write this blog it is trying to snow outside. To so many people, the winter colors in the landscape are dull and uninviting. When I take time to sit and really look outside, I see some very interesting combinations of colors. Seeing our Central Oregon sagebrush with snow opened my eyes to the subtle elegance of neutrals.

That imagery stayed with me and I started noticing other combinations, some even with high contrast.

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On a drive to the bay area a few years ago in early March, we came upon Grass Lake. I asked John to stop the car, so I could photograph the beautiful blue color reflecting from the sky on the ice with the warm cream colored grass. This image has stayed with me for a long time, and below you can see how I used those colors in Entwined.

During a recent hike along the Metolius river, I noticed the ice blue water again and then saw the contrast of the warm and cool neutral colors along the river's edge. On down the river, the red berries on the bare branches jumped out at me. This gave me the idea of using red for an accent in a neutral piece.

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It seems mother nature reminds us of the wonderful contrast of green in the moss and lichen you see in the woods. I feel like green is a neutral in nature. And if you look closely all the different shades and tones of green, all work together in nature. When I used to teach sampler classes and a student might be stuck, many times some form of green would save the day.

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This quilt was started in January a few years ago. I pulled mostly neutral fabrics with subtle hints of color that I start to see appearing in March as we approached spring in the high desert. The lichen type of green just seemed to work with this piece.

In 2020, I hope you will take the time to sit down and reflect on what you see, and take time to analyze it. Inspiration is all around us, but until we open ourselves up, it is invisible. Take notes of your observations, try finding descriptive words to describe what you see, and write them down. Happy New Year to all of you.

Jean put together a set of winter inspired fabrics for the January Palette of the Month Fat Quarter Bundle. Use them to spark your own inspiration. 

Dreaming in Color - The Value of a Library with Jean Wells

In my monthly Adventures in Art Quilting class we were discussing how to build a palette of fabrics for future projects. One of my students is very new to quilting and was a bit overwhelmed because she does not have a “stash”. She suggested that I talk about how to build a “library of fabric”, her name for a collection of fabric.

With the cost of fabric rising, many people are more selective and do not buy for their stash as much as they used to. My advice is to really think about the type of work that you are interested in doing, and the colors that appeal to you, as a starting point. When I shop at stores other than my own and make purchases I think about how I might want to use it. If it is something that might play a big role in a project, I purchase a half to one yard. If it is a color new to me and I am attracted to it, but not sure how it will be used I purchase a quarter yard. In my work I have no problem using several smaller cuts of a color if I do not have a larger piece of fabric.  I feel it makes my work more interesting.

In the beginning working from an inspiration photo, or a printed fabric, will give you suggestions where to begin. Then as you see a color that is missing add it to your library.

So my advice is to purchase smaller cuts of fabric and to arrange them in your library by color first and by type of fabric (like cotton, linen, silk, etc.) as your collection grows. This allows you to go to your library during your planning process to pull anything that might work, and then purchase more if needed.

This is a section of my fabric collection. I have chosen to keep prints separate from solids and I separate my stacks into cottons, silks, linens and other textures. Once I have completed a project I sort my scraps into small pieces, strips, and larger cuts of fabric. I keep scraps in Ziploc bags that are put in a drawer and easily accessible. Many times these small pieces add that bit of personality that I need to enhance a palette. It is a lot easier to grab a fabric out of a small bag than to find it on a shelf and cut a small piece that is needed.

Here is an example of how I begin. I took several photos in Pacific Grove, CA at the beach right after a rain when the ground was wet. I was so amazed by the intensity of the wet colors. I started identifying the colors and collecting representative fat quarters and scraps of fabric. The photo below is the beginning of that process. I am still not sure where this will lead, but I love the combination of colors and it is not a palette of colors that I would have come up with on my own. To me that is part of the magic and it is not the standard color harmony off the color wheel.

Several years ago I parked my car near an abandoned warehouse in La Connor, WA. As I was walking to lunch, I passed by a window and took the close up picture below. I love the combination of the blue and the golden yellow-green lichen. When I got home I went to pull a palette of fabric referencing the colors. I found that I had very little blue fabric and not the right color of blue from the window sill. I noticed that I had hardly been using blue in any of my quilts. Well, that has now changed. This experience made me realize the power of a color I was unfamiliar with. I created a small mock up of snippets of the fabrics and glued them to the paper to see how they might work in a quilt. I find this exercise very helpful.

Pinterest is another great source of color ideas. I especially like looking at abstract paintings. Below is an example of one I found.

I made a photocopy of the painting and did some cropping, isolating different combinations of color. Next, I created some small studies using the strata and rulerless cutting techniques that are described in my book, Intuitive Color and Design.

Once I pull any fabric that might work for a project, I arrange them by color in a container where I can see all of my choices. I like to corral the fabrics so that when I am not working it is easy to put them away.

Back to my student conservation, she also suggested that I put together packets of small cuts of fabric to help customers build their own fabric libraries. Here is our first “Palette of the Month” bundle.

Happy Sewing,

Jean

Dreaming in Color - Palette Play

Back to school for me is more time for creative pursuits. I am putting the garden to bed, and this weekend I cleaned the studio. I found so many lost treasures, and color stories started presenting themselves right before my eyes. “Palette Play” is one of my favorite pastimes. Usually a printed piece of fabric, a snapshot, or a memory will spark an idea. At this point in the creative process, I just play and have the question, "What if?", in the back of my mind. I pull any color that seems to want to play with the rest of them.

This floral print from my stash caught my eye. I kind of like the true red with the raspberry, and the pinks set on the soft rust that just felt like fall. To balance out all of the red families there is a bit of forest green, gold, deep navy, light blue, and white.

The fabric palette got my creative juices rolling and I started pull friends that might work in the creative process. As you can see from the pieces below I “pushed the blue” to a warmer turquoise and it felt right so I kept it. I also stepped up the reds.

I always feel better during this time of discovery when I cut into the fabric and make a couple of samples to see what relationships I can create. As you all know a color will look different depending who it is next to. Take a look at the two pincushions below and you will see that in the first one the colors are richer and there is more depth (read the end of this post to see how you can win one of the pincushions). 

In the second one I added the soft pink and the light gold. I am not sure about the pink. It almost feels like it should have been narrower. As I look back if I had taken more clues from the fabric I would have realized that the light pink is like little brush strokes. I could have repeated that in the composition and it would have worked better.

With my explorer hat in place, I wanted to try to simplify the colors using solids for my next experiment.

Here are more experiments.

Here is an example of pushing a color lighter, darker, brighter, duller in one family. I use this technique to create variety in my compositions.

What I have learned from an afternoon of palette play with these fabrics is that I will make a larger quilt from these and develop the plan working intuitively. Referring back to the two pincushions, my favorite discovery is the raspberry color and how it created more interest in each composition.

I teach ongoing workshops at the store using my two books Journey to Inspired Art Quilting and The 2^nd Edition of Intuitive Color and Design as the foundation for gaining confidence to trust your instincts and dive into the creative process. I purposely put text in the books about the creative process, and encouraging words that will help students who cannot be in the classroom.

Do you want to win one of Jean's pincushions? All you need to do is leave a comment on this post by Oct. 6th. We'll draw two names from the commenters on Oct 7th and announce the winners on the blog. Be sure to check back to see if you've won, so we can get in touch to ship your prize. 

Congrats to Kathy Sperle and Carmen Che!! You've each won one of Jean's pincushions. Please get in touch with your address. 

Dreaming in Color with Jean Wells - Dull vs Bright

Dull vs Bright --- A Form of Contrast

When I say the word “dull,” I find students kind of sit back, take a breath, and relax. The word itself is not very exciting and when you put a dull fabric next to a bright one, the bright one always says “Hey, look at me!” Use this to your advantage when you are choosing fabrics for a quilt, especially in scrap quilts. Dull fabrics create a foundation for the rest of the activity that goes on in the design.

Amafu is a New York Beauty style quilt that I created over fifteen years ago and is still one of my favorites.

 

I would call this a scrap quilt and as you can see, there are traditional fabrics as well as ethnic ones, batiks, hand dyes, and solids. This style of quilt takes a long time to make so there is plenty of opportunity to add fabrics along the way. I really enjoy the process of letting a quilt take on a life of it’s own. When you do, you will look for what the quilt needs and not get stuck on having to use your favorite one.

The blocks for this quilt came from an out of print Karen Stone New York Beauty Book. We do have Radiant New York Beauties by Valori Wells with 14 paper pieced quilt projects. 

Kaffe Fassett is a master when it comes to color usage and I have learned so much from him and his textiles. Many of his fabrics read as bright, intense, or colorful. When you look closely, you will see that there is usually a duller fabric that becomes a platform for the bright ones. Most of the time the color of the dull fabric falls into the category of what I call a “no name color,” because it is not a pure color like you see on the color wheel. It will get a name like stone or ash, because people want to describe it and end up naming it after something. 

Pine is one of my favorite contemporary quilts. When I went to choose the color for the darker image I did not want black, so I choose a variety of darker, duller shades (forest green, charcoal, deep purple, brown). To me, it made for a more interesting image. As a shop owner and teacher for 44 years, I can tell you that dull fabrics are the last to sell in the store. They get lost, but when I can show a customer or student how they make the other fabrics sing, the light goes on. Setting the darker, duller fabrics on the warmer gold tones seemed to create a warmer feeling in the quilt.

In March, we visited about opposite colors on the color wheel, and I recently came across these blocks which are opposites on the color wheel–orange and blue. But, the orange has been pushed into deeper orange tones and the blues into teal colors. I will be working on this in my Intuitive Color and Design workshop in May, and will give you a progress report then.

As you can see from my work, solids play a big role. I have found that solids allow me to explore color relationships without the interference of pattern, and I learn even more about color. Kona Cotton solids are my favorites. 

-Jean Wells