Monochromatic Colors

What are Monochromatic Colors? 

First we have to do a little vocabulary...

Name as many different kinds of blues that you can.

Baby blue

Bright blue

Royal blue

light blue

teal

sapphire blue

etc....

These are all different kinds of "blue".  Blue is actually a BIG category with many different kinds of colors inside it.   Therefore "blue" is actually the name of a hue.  A hue is a big category of colors.  A color, such as baby blue, fits into the hue of blue.

Make sense?  I hope so.  

A monochromatic color scheme uses only one hue but many different colors of that hue.

For example, look at the painting The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso.

He essentially uses only one hue (blue) many many different kinds of blue. Yes, there is a little orange but work with me here...

Remember tints (a color plus white) and shades (a color plus black)?  Many times monochromatic color schemes will use tints and shades to make new colors of a hue.  Where do you see tints and shades in The Old Guitarist?

Color Schemes

We've explored the color wheel in class and how it is a way of organizing colors. 

You can use the color wheel to help you remember how to mix colors but what other ways can you use the color wheel?

You can also use the color wheel to put colors together in groups called color schemes.  

Remember complementary colors?  These are colors found across from one another on the color wheel.

Blue-Violet and Yellow-orange are complementary colors.  Complementary colors often aren't "matching" colors.  They fight for attention when placed next to one another and make each other look brighter and more colorful.  You can also mix complementary colors to make neutrals or different types of browns.

We can also take the color wheel and divide it into warm and cool colors.  Where do you think are the warm colors on this color wheel?  Where do you think are the cool colors?

Warm colors remind us of warm things such as fire, lightbulbs, or hot stoves and include red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange and yellow.  Red-violet and yellow-green sometimes can be considered warm but sometimes they are cool colors too.

Warm colors tend to pop out at us and make objects look like they are in the front of the picture.

Where do you see warm colors in the Van Gogh painting below?  Why did Van Gogh use the warm colors there and not in the background?  

Cool colors remind us of cool things like ice, water, or shade and include blue, blue-green, violet, blue-violet and sometimes red-violet or yellow-green.  

Cool colors tend to give a feeling of calmness to a work of art.  Cool colors also tend to make objects or areas recede or go back to the background in a painting.

Why did Van Gogh use cool colors in the background in the painting above?  Where is your eye go to first in the painting and want to stay?  What if he had used only warm colors in the background too?  How would this have changed the painting?

Read the next post about monochromatic colors!!!

Paper Sculpture

This week, instead of a sketch, I want you to create a paper sculpture of your own.  On Tuesday, bring in your completed sculpture and be prepared to explain how you developed the idea for your sculpture.

Here are some guidelines:

-  You can look at the link below for ideas.  Some of these we have looked at before and some are new.

-  Your sculpture has to be original!  You may not copy or reproduce something someone has already made.  For example, you may not bring in an origami paper crane and call it your sculpture.  However, you can use a paper crane as part of larger sculpture that is unique.

-  Your sculpture does not have to look like something from real life.  For example, you do not have to make it look like a dog but you can if you want to.

-  You can use any of the techniques we have discussed (paper cutting, folding, origami, etc), you can combine the techniques, or you can come up with something new.

-  You may use tape or glue if you need to.

-  You may use colored paper if you need to.

-  You have three days (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) to work on these!  I want GREAT sculptures because you have the time to complete them.


Here are some website links you can use for ideas:

A collection of sculptures created by masters of paper sculpture

Cut paper sculptures by Lisa Rodden

Collection of instructions of folding origami 

How to make a moveable Chinese Dragon sculpture  (I DO NOT want any Chinese Dragon sculptures but you can use some of these ideas in your sculpture)

Paper city

Paper portrait

Rolled magazine sculpture

Positive and Negative Shape Leaf Gelatin Prints

A special thanks to Hannah and Lesley Ann for taking these photos while I inked gelatin.. a lot of gelatin!

After discussing positive and negative shapes in art, students used a new-to-me printing technique to print leaf shapes on a gelatin "block".  

We began by inking a tray containing a half-inch layer of gelatin.  Then, student arranged leaves they previously gathered on the inked gelatin.

Carefully placing the paper on top and applying pressure all over the surface of the paper with their hands.

A pulled print reveals the negative shapes of the leaves.

But we aren't finished!  After removing the leaves, we made a second print using the ink left behind by the leaves.

A positive print!

Here are more examples:

These girls love printmaking!

Op Art Designs

Students looked at implied lines in art and the work of Op artist Bridget Riley.  Here are a few of their Op Art designs creating an implied line with alternating values.

Value

What is the difference between two dimensional and three dimensional?  

Two dimensional objects are flat like the circle drawn on this sheet of paper.  This circle only has height and width.

Three dimensional objects have height, width, and depth.  The ball sitting on the table is three dimensional.  You can walk all the way around the ball.  It has depth. 

So, look at the photograph of the drawing below.  Is the ball in the drawing two dimensional or three dimensional?

If you said two dimensional you are correct!  The "ball" is still only the circle drawn on paper.  However, I drew shadows (or lights and darks) to create the illusion that the flat circle is actually a three dimensional ball.

Adding lights and darks into a drawing is called adding value.  

Value can be defined as light, dark, and all the grays in between.

Below is an image of a value scale.  Artists use value scales to practice smooth transitions between black and white.

Look at the photograph above.  How do you see value in a world filled with color?

Often when artists capture value, or shadows, in their drawings and paintings, it is like they put on a pair of glasses that allows them to see the world in black, whites, and grays.  

Look at the same photo in black and white.  Do you see all of the values now?

Look at the drawing "Praying Hands" by Albrecht Durer by clicking here.  How has Durer created lights and darks in this drawing?

Positive and Negative Shapes

Artists are sneaky.

Remember when we discussed implied lines?  These were lines that don't physically exist in a work of art but make your mind think or feel like they are there.

Artists use sneaky shapes too.

A shape is an enclosed line.  In your homework, you learned about geometric and organic shapes.

Geometric shapes have names like squares, circles, triangles, dodecahedrons, etc.

Geometric Shapes

Organic shapes don't have names and you usually see them in nature.

Organic Shapes

Artists also use Positive and Negative shapes.

Positive shapes are shapes that are filled by objects.  

Where are the positive shapes in the photograph below?

If you said inside the flower, you are correct!  The areas that are filled by the flowers, flower buds, and stems are positive shapes.

Positive Shapes

Negative shapes are usually empty spaces in a work of art.  

Where are the negative shapes in the photograph?

If you found the empty spaces between the flowers, flower buds, and stems then you are correct!

Negative Shapes

Look at the photograph below of the lily pads.  The negative shapes are the dark shapes of the water around the lily pads.  Imagine there were no dark shapes and lily pads filled the entire photograph.  Would it be as interesting?

Where are the positive and negative shapes in the photograph below?  Why did the photographer leave so much empty space around the three objects?