Letters From Gene
A Study of Color and Design by Gene Wright

Originally published in Needle Pointers, Volume XII, Number 3, Summer 1984
Part 4 of 5

Dear Nellie,

Last time we discussed the characteristics of color and how they can be applied to your work. Now let's talk about some of the color schemes that you can use because the choices that are available are not only numerous, but it can make a big difference in your work if you understand how to use them.

As we discussed, we use a color wheel to organize a "color scheme." A color scheme is a plan or program of the colors to be used in any given piece. There are many different types and kinds of color schemes, some of them based on geometric planning within the color wheel (called "formal" color schemes) and some based on intuitive planning (called "informal" color schemes). Remembering that neither black nor white are considered to be colors and could be added to any color scheme for enhancement or interest without changing its nature, and also remembering that the definition of "tint" is white added to a hue, that "shade" is black added to a hue, and that "tone" is the complement added to a hue, let's examine just a few of the more common formal schemes, and examine how they can be extended for our uses.

The very most basic color scheme is the one using only one color -- the "monochromatic" scheme. But even that one can be extended beyond where it is usually taken in embroidery. Somehow, we have gotten into the habit of confining the monochromatic scheme to only one "family" of color as produced and numbered by the manufacturer - and we don't need to confine ourselves that closely. The term "monochromatic" means using only one color - true. But, nowhere is it written that a monochromatic scheme must be confined to only the tints of that one hue. Yet when a manufacturer puts a color number on a "family" of colors, that's exactly what he is doing. He is taking the most intense dye lot that can be achieved with that pigment, adding less dye (remember there is no such thing as white "dye") to each succeeding batch until he has achieved several tints of the color, putting series numbers on them so he can identify the dye pigment and the amount of dye used for his records, and calling it a "family." It would seem to me to be more properly called a color "series," because the term "color family" has other connotations. The term "color family" properly refers to a pure hue plus all tints, shades and even tones to the brown of the complement mix of the hue (remember, when you mix two complements in equal parts you get some form of brown). Let's discuss that for a minute so you will understand what is involved. Let's say that you are doing a monochromatic color scheme of a flower arrangement. You want to use Paternayan's color series 900-906, which is a rather shocking pink in some of the tints, for the major portion of the work. But you also want to add a bit of spark to the piece to make it really stand out. You have several choices that can be made and still confine the scheme to a monochromatic one:

1. You can use either white or black as accents. Since white and black are not colors, it would still be monochromatic in nature.
2. You could add both white, black and their offspring grays to the scheme and it would not change its nature for the same reason.
3. You could include some of the colors of Paternayan's color series 910-915 and color series 920-925 in the piece. (910-915 are shades of the hue and the tints turn to dusky pinks, and 920-925 is a tone series -- a complement mix -- of the hue which tends toward red-brown.)
4. Actually, if it was a large piece with many areas in it, and you wanted to increase the visual impact to a greater degree, you could add both black, white and grays and use the whole spectrum of the color family that is available to you (Paternayan #'s 900-925 inclusive) or selections from all three series.

Sounds like a pretty good method of increasing your color choices without the bother of having to learn anything more about color or depend on anything but a Paternayan chart, right? Well, there is a fly in the ointment. Not all of the Paternayan color series have corresponding shades and/or tones. The balance of the 900 series, for instance, is based on different hues from the ones named above. (900-925 are magenta based, but the other reds in the 900 series are either crimson or scarlet based and would not be considered part of this hue family). So there's no substitute for training your own eye to recognize the "makeup" of a color. This is what the teacher is introducing to you when you mix paint or dye in a class. Unless you experience what happens when colors are mixed with each other, with black or with white (the white of the fibers, in the case of dye) you won't be able to recognize what goes into a color series that you buy from the store, and you severely reduce your choices. It's not the relativity of the paint to needlework, or a question of whether you will ever care to dye your own yarns that is important (although you will gain that knowledge, too). It's the training of the eye to recognize what it is dealing with that is of primary importance, and the reason that the teacher puts you through the exercises of mixing the pigments. She knows that no matter how many books you read, or how much you are told that you make brown by adding one hue to its complement, you won't know which brown unless you do it yourself and train your own eye. No book can give you that knowledge. You have to experience it yourself.

The next most simple scheme would be the "analogous" color scheme. The term analogous means hues that lie directly next to each other on the color wheel. Blue, blue/green, and blue/green/blue are analogous colors. Or, if you are using a 12 color wheel, blue, blue/green and green. Again, all tints, shades and tones of the hues that you choose could reasonably be included, to the brown of the complement mixes. As an example of what you could be faced with in choosing colors for this particular scheme, and confining ourselves to simply the pure hue/tint and shade series of Paternayan, if the 500-506 "true" blue, and the 510-515 shade series of the same hue were used as the blue, then the 520-525 series of blue/green could be used along with the 530-534 shade series of that hue. But what green would go with the scheme? Sorry, Nellie, if you guessed the Christmas green of the 680-687 series you have to return to "go." That series is based in turquoise, not true blue. Want to try again? If you guessed the pine green of the 660-666 series you are right on target. But there's no shade series to go with it. If we were using tones of the other two hues, we could include the 640-645 series of khaki green, but since we aren't there's no sense complicating matters. So, what you have to work with in this analogous color problem are five color series (hue/tint/shades of blue, hue/tint/shades of blue/green and hue/tints of green). The next problem is how to plan your scheme so they won't end up fighting with each other.

Remember when we talked about the Principles of Design we said that the Principle of Dominance required that one color or area must be made dominant and the other colors or areas must be made subordinate and used for enhancement? Well, here's an application of that principle. We have three hues to work with - blue, blue/green and green. (The "shade series" of the two hues we decided on are considered part of the hue family, and are not separately considered for this problem.) So first we must decide which of those three hues we are going to make dominant in this particular design. This is a matter of the "volume" of the dominant hue used (that is, of how much design space we cover using the tints/shades of this hue) in relationship to the volume of design space devoted to the two subordinate hues we are using. We can use approximately as much volume of the dominant hue, as we do volume of the other two hues combined. So let's choose blue/green as the dominant hue and plan on covering about 50% of the space in the design with hue/tints/shades of it. That leaves us with the two subordinate hues, blue and green, and here we have to be careful. If we use equal amounts of volume of each of these colors, then they will end up fighting with each other, and we don't want that. So we again have to choose one of these hues to be less subordinate than the other. We have 50% of our space left in the design. Let's choose the blue to be the less subordinate hue - since we have a better range of tints/shades in the blue to choose from. As much as 30 to 35 percent of the design space can be used for the blue hue family, and the remaining 15 to 20 percent of the design area can be devoted to the green. I have included an illustration of this particular scheme layout for you to study.

The next problem that must be resolved is the volume of each tint/shade of each hue we want to use. This will depend to a great extent on the subject matter of the design, what it is going to be used for and what will surround it in the room. But as a general approach, you can begin by counting the areas that must be covered with the hue, and approach it much the same way that you did in selecting the dominant hue. You don't want to use the various tint/shades in any kind of an equal manner, for the same reason that you didn't want to use the hue families in equal parts - they will fight with each other. And you will probably find that you only need to include one of the pure hues of the analogous scheme. Each design presents several different solutions to these problems, and with a little practice you can master the various applications. Just remember, it's usually not advisable to use anything equally when you work with color.

The next most simple scheme is the "complementary" scheme. A complementary scheme is the selection of two direct complements, colors lying directly opposite from each other on the wheel, for use within a design. Again black and white may be included and all tints, shades and tones of the chosen complements may be considered. Dominance must be established by deciding which of the two complement hues will take up the most volume. Since we are working with only two hues here, instead of three as we were in the analogous scheme, the 50% figure would have to be changed, of course. We could devote as much as two thirds of the design area to the dominant hue, and only one third of it to the subordinate. If we chose our colors well and included the brown of the complement mix in the scheme, we would have a wide variety of colors to choose from and still remain within the legal boundaries of a complementary, color scheme.

Some of the other color schemes that might be of interest to you are the "triadic" scheme and the "split complement" scheme. The triadic scheme is composed of three colors equidistant from each other on the wheel That is, colors such as red, blue and yellow or blue-green, red-violet and yellow-orange make up the triad (or three hues) of the scheme. A split-complement scheme is one that is comprised of a hue, its direct complement and the two colors lying directly adjacent to, and to either side of the direct complement, such as orange, blue-violet, blue, and blue-green, on a twelve color wheel. Actually, in past years in order for the scheme to be considered a "true" split complementary one, the color blue would have been proscribed from the plan - but more recently it has become fully acceptable, though not actually necessary, to include it without compromising the nature of the scheme. As with all color schemes, you can add black, white, and grays to the tints, shades and tones of all the hues chosen to go into the piece and enlarge your color choices considerably.

There are many other kinds of color schemes, Nellie. On the "formal" side, some that we haven't covered are double complements (which means two sets of complements used together), double split complements (two sets of split complements used together) and double triads (two sets of triadic hues used together).

On the "informal" side only the sky, and your own imagination, is the limit. But we'll save them to discuss next time.

No one color scheme is more difficult to use than any other so long as you realize that you have to choose one of the hues to be dominant and use the others as enhancements, and have a fair idea of how to control the volume of the dominant hue you choose, you have a direction in which to go to solve your problems when they arise. Just remember, color and its use are your tools - and you are the master. You control it - it doesn't control you.

Fondly,
Gene