Exploring Context and Neutrals

I struggled with the exercises for June in the Quilters Color Quest using Quilter's Field Guide to Color by Rachel Hauser. I thought they would be easy, but though I thought I understood the concepts, I had a harder time visualizing them. I guess it's good to struggle with an exercise. I'm hoping I learned something. 

The first task was to compare a swatch of a hue with others of the same hue to see how context changes the look of a color. Perhaps I should have picked values that were more dissimilar? I'm not sure. But here are some groupings I played with. 

Red

For this one I chose Autumn as my basic hue. When I compare it with the top row it looks a bit cooler to me. With the middle row, it's a bit warmer, and it looks definitely classic red to me when I compare it to the bottom row. I do see the differences, but I think I see more variations when I use fabrics instead of swatches or when I compare them to other colors.The main thing I learned from this is that in a scrap quilt with red, these would all probably work together for variation and interest. 

I also looked at blue:

Yup, I see differences between the sapphire swatch on the left and the greener and more purply hues in the group.

And yellow green:

I could see the yellower and greener look of the Spring swatch compared with each row of other colors in this one even though they are all basically yellow green.

I probably missed the point of this exercise, but I did not stress out over it and decided that I had reached the limit of my understanding of color theory, and that it was time to move on to working with fabric. 

The next exercise was picking a fabric that was a problematic one and try different fabrics to go with it to see if there was a fabric that changed the context to make it an appealing one to use. I started with a print with red, purples and tans and chose a bunch of possible fabrics:

I thought I might like blue and red, as they also had hash lines like the base fabric:

But it all looked kind of muddy. Here's what I finally settled on. 

I like it better than my other choices. The tannish claws bring out the lighter colors in the paw, and the hash marks in the background fabric relate to the other hash marks and the red, and the lighter background brightens things up. I probably wouldn't have been likely to use this fabric in a quilt (except a scrap quilt), but at least I used some of it up!

I had a piece of greenish yellow fabric and tried a bunch of greens with it. 

But I had some HSTs left over from the previous month's exercises, so why not use those? Well, of course! I think the yellow green brings out the green tones in the yellow fabric, but lets the yellow speak for itself.

Another fabric I had never found a use for was this daylily print. I tried a bunch of ideas out, thinking I might like orange or dark green. But then I found a black print.

Here's the block. (I won't bore you with all the backgrounds I tried.) 

Again, I like the blocks and learned something, I think, but part of the reason I haven't used some of them is that I've moved away from those kinds of prints (at least in my mind, not my stash). They will continue to work in scrap projects, though.

I did try one more fabric because it is one I have quite a bit of (I bought it for a quilt, and then found that it was too strong for that one), and I've been trying to think of what to do with it. It closely matches the Spring swatch from my book. Here it is with possible variations of blue and turquoise.

Probably any (or all!) of these fabrics would work. But I think the thing that was stopping me before was proportion. So I decided to use the spring color more sparingly as the claws.

I could see this in a quilt, maybe along with some greens of a similar hue but different value and a whole lot more turquoises and blues. Okay, of all the above context samples, I think this one has the most potential for a quilt someday. 

The other exercises for June were related to using neutrals in blocks: white, black, gray and brown. Keeping with the same color palette with the spring green, I tried out each of the neutrals.

I had tried several grays, and found that I liked a cooler rather than a warmer gray.

I liked all of these combinations, but the black was a bit stark for me. It would make a vibrant quilt, but maybe a little too strong of a contrast for me. The white of course is what I had used in the turquoise/spring block above. The gray was okay, but a little too common, maybe?

The one that really grabbed me was the chocolate palette. I have always loved brown, even though it has not been a generally popular color for many years. 

For the last part of the June exercises, we were to make a block, thinking about the various neutrals, but especially brown. I realized at this point that two of my blocks from the context exercise had already used white and black, so I was eager to work with brown. I happen to have a whole drawer full of browns/tans/beiges from many years worth of quilt making. Many of my dark browns have sat for as many years. They tend to have a lot of red undertones. In addition, they are ditzy prints/calicos that don't really inspire me. But there is one modern print that I just love, but have never found a use for. I think that is because I don't have other modern prints in other colors that complement it. I knew I wanted to do something with turquoise. Many years ago I had chosen exactly that combination with a mild white to make a wavy design knitted afghan for the end of my parents' bed. I tried this palette two ways for my Bear Paw blocks.

Ooh, I like this one, especially with the gray bits in the background fabric.

But this one is my favorite of all the Bear Paws I made for June:

Now THAT's a brown block I could be very happy using in a quilt these days. And I wish I had more than the little piece of fabric this came from. 

That is the sum of my June experimentation.So what did I learn?

--I kind of get context, and will continue to challenge myself to pay attention to it in future quilt projects.

--There are some fabrics that I'm probably over. Finding colors that work contextually don't make me want to use them widespread in a quilt, and that's okay. 

--I think I have the confidence now to work out something with the Spring fabric. Proportions will be important to consider. 

--I do want to explore brown more!! It will be time I think to start looking for more chocolate prints with a modern vibe. Yummy! (And to either jettison the old brown prints or use them up in something really scrappy)

--I like the idea of using a modern white/gray print as a background fabric.

I think there are lots of seeds for quilts here. (Like I don't already have enough potential projects in my head.) We are next going to go into color stories. I think I'm going to be more comfortable with those exercises. If I can find the fabrics in my stash to interpret my ideas. After working with my available stash for four months, it really is time to expand my choices by freshening up my stash with more modern fabrics.

Before I go, I'll leave you with a few flower photos from the garden and a few close-to-home bike rides. It seems that will be the extent of our vacation this year, so I'm enjoying the little things along the way. 

Catalpa blossoms; how's that for color/quilt inspiration?

Chicory--one of my favorite roadside plants

I'm linking up with Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap for this post as it's all scraps right now, it seems.I have an RSC19 quilt I just finished (!!!) to share, but this post is already too long, so that will have to wait until next week, and who knows? Maybe my other RSC19 quilt will be done by then, too! (Depends on how comfortable it is in my quilting room during our current heat wave.) Until then, stay safe!!